Road Trip – The Grand Canyon & Monument Valley

Day 11 – Friday 19th Nov. – The Grand Canyon

Today was sunrise at the Canyon.   Amanda, Ashlea & I were the only ones to get out of our toasty beds and brave the cold weather to be in position on the South Rim of the Canyon by 7.00am.
Firstly i had to take some hot water and clean off the thick ice from the car windscreen, before we could head off.
Sunrise was officially 7.14am and definately worth the effort (have a look at our photos on flickr). Back to the hotel by 8.30am and wake up the other 3.
…..Happy Birthday to me, today’s my 43rd!, the kids had made me cards.

 In the  mid afternoon, we went to the 7 storey Imax theatre in town (to see an amazing 1/2 hour journey into the Canyon), then it was back into the National Park, we parked the car in the park & then caught the free shuttle buses along the South Rim to see some spectacular views.
We ended up at a recommended viewing point for the sunset at 5.18pm, by this time the  weather was closing in and getting very cold.
We finished the birthday off, with dinner at Wendys!.

Day 12 – Grand Canyon to Monument Valley

We checked out and got on the road by about 10.30am. We drove back through the Grand Canyon National Park and stopped
at a couple of spots on the South Rim for some last looks. The drive to Monument Valley took about 3 hours. We checked into a Holiday Inn for free (using points, we accrued in Asia!). After a short rest, it was back in the car, for the half hour drive out to the reservation. Entry was $5 per adults. Then we spent the next two hours on the 17 mile off road track, taking in the spectacular scenery, you felt like at any moment John Wayne was going to come and ride past you!.