Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit

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Finally arrived in Flagstaff after yet another Greyhound bus delay to find some tramp asleep and snoring on the steps of the bus station - looking good! Made it to the hostel safely and heard the most horrendous noise - the freight train - which sounded like it was coming straight for us, like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon. And then we found out it comes every 15 minutes throughout the night. Joy! But we soon got used to the noise and it didn't stop us having a great time in Arizona.

Flagstaff is a cute little town surrounded by mountains and is full of friendly people. You can literally walk around the whole town in half an hour. But the main reason we were there was to go to the Grand Canyon.

Michael, our tour guide/driver, was really sweet and made us hide our eyes whilst walking up to the first viewpoint so that we would get a big surprise when we first saw the Grand Canyon. We did look very stupid but it was so worth it - the view is absolutely amazing and totally different from the last time we came. We spent ages taking photos and looking for some rare birds that only live here. We stopped off at lots of different viewpoints along the South Rim, including lunch right on the edge of the Canyon - lots of quality photos of us looking like we were climbing up the inside of the Canyon. We also did a hike, along the South Kaibab Trail, which takes you down the inside rim of the Grand Canyon. We didn't quite make it all the way to Ooh Aah Point, which is about halfway down the trail, because we the thought of the uphill hike back was constantly in our minds. Ten people die each year in the Grand Canyon and we didn't want to add to that number so we turned round and started the slow, steep journey back! The views we got from down there were worth the hike though and it only took us about an hour to get our breath back!

On the way home we stopped off the Navajo Native American reservation which was more great views across the Colorado River Gorge and also has lots of stalls selling jewellery. Our new friends, Chryssy and Steph, spent ages buying up all the jewellery there. At the end of the day we were knackered and just about to drag ourselves across the street to the takeaway and liquor store for dinner.

Flagstaff comes highly recommended and it was great to see the other side of the Grand Canyon - we can't decide whether the North or South Rim is better, they're so different! We did take about 800 photos so you can help us decide when we get back!

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