DAY4: Sunday morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast of
Blueberry Riccotta Cheese Pancakes with homemade warm honey syrup- yep it was
as good as it sounds. We got ready and
went to another ward's sacrament meeting (we had to leave before Mat and Andi's
church began), came home for a lunch of Nachos and then headed out as they went
to church. It was so wonderful to see everyone and hard
to leave (even knowing we would see them in a few short months). We became so close to Mat and Andi's family
when they lived near to us and it was hard to have them move but it made it a
little easier (just a little) seeing how happy they were and what a beautiful
house and place they are now in. And it
is always so fun to see Michael and Taylor and spend more time with Page.
After leaving Mesa we drove straight to the Grand Canyon and
made it just before sunset. I do not
have the words to describe the Grand Canyon, even now I sit and think.....
nope, no words. It was magnificent but
to a scale that made it seem fake and unreal, like a big painting instead of an
actual landscape. It was also slightly
terrifying; both standing on a ledge looking at the drop but also seeing the
wide expanse and realizing your personal size and insignificance compared. It was awe inspiring that the world could
hold such an amazing natural beauty and that our Heavenly Father made that
world for us, for me.
We were at the wrong side of the canyon to see the sun set
over the mountains but we got to see the color changes on the rock wall and it
was beautiful. We stayed, long after the
sun was down, and continued to watch as we enjoyed our picnic of McDonalds (a
little lacking in such a majestic setting). It got pretty cold on our hike out and
Elizabeth was exhausted but we are glad that we stopped.
Driving out of the park we were one of the only cars on the windy
mountain road when suddenly Ben slammed on his breaks and swerved. I was not paying much attention but I knew
that if Ben, a very good driver, was driving like this then something was
up. I looked up to see a HUGE 5 point
elk standing right in the middle of the road; if we would have hit him.... he
would have won. That scared us both and
made Ben drive a little slower and more hesitant the rest of the way out of the
park.
By this time it was about 9pm and I thought we could push it
to Moab Utah ,about 6 hours away, so that we would be able to stop and spend
some time in a park the following day.
However after a fun filled weekend I was severely mistaken. I could not keep my eyes open and was out
quickly and Ben persevered; he stopped at got chips and soda to help him stay
awake (spitting soda all over the inside of the car, I mean all over, when he
took an over eager, overly fizzy explosive gulp) but was still falling
asleep. He made the executive decision
to stop and so we stopped at Kayenta, Arizona at a Hampton Inn, a small Indian town probably built there to help stupid
exhausted travelers like us. It was a
really nice hotel (probably more expensive than we would usually have stayed
at) and our room had two queen beds (Elizabeth got her own- lucky) and a GREAT
breakfast in the morning.
DAY 5: We woke up and got to see, in the sunlight, where we
actually had stopped and we stopped... in the middle of nowhere. As we drove we marveled at the beautiful rock
formations we saw by the road and talked about the rich history of the natives
that once lived in these lands, and still do.
We stopped at a park in Moab, to eat lunch, to let Elizabeth
play and to stretch our legs. It was a
hot but beautiful place. Then we
continued again and stopped at a rest area off I-70, where we got out and let
Elizabeth run around again. It always
seems like the last leg of the journey coming home is the slowest, when you
think, "I recognize this" and then time slows. We stopped at Cafe Rio off I-70 for dinner
and then made it home by 7. Elizabeth
was such a trooper the entire trip and did so good in the car.
We loved going on this trip and seeing family, and a little
bit of touristy stuff. Ben says that
next time we should fly to spend more time with family because two days does
not seem long enough. We cannot wait to
see everyone again in July!! But even
though we drove- we had a fun trip!!
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