One long creepy drive along desolate Highway 64

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And we've made it to the Grand Canyon!

However, before leaving for the Grand Canyon, Chrissy and I enjoyed seeing parts of Los Lunas and Albuquerque with my cousins Jennifer and Gianna as tour guides. They took us to Blakes Lota Burger to enjoy delicious green chili breakfast burritos followed by a tour of an Indian reservation nearby where Chrissy took some illegal pictures. I'm not sure the reservation was what I expected to see (there was a lack of tepees), but they have cool looking outdoor stone ovens where they bake bread (yes, Chrissy photographed one). Then we drove down Old Route 66 into the Old Town portion of Albuquerque where we walked around and did some souvenir shopping.

After a sad goodbye to Jennifer and Gianna, we were off on our way to the Grand Canyon...but not before washing our cars - finally! Good thing the wash was only $5 because it rained in one part of Arizona during our drive - not to mention some strange snow dusts that thrusted across the highway (which we thought was sand until I used high-beams in the dark to spot the snow).

The ~6.5 hour drive was fairly uneventful with the exception of the last 50 mile stretch down Highway 64 which was completely devoid of any form of life except the creepy pick-up truck we followed going 5-10 miles under the speed limit. Some unidentified animal also ran across the road in front of my car about a mile before our hotel, but we will never know what it was.

Now we're resting comfortably at the Holiday Inn after a quick dinner at the sports bar located in the Best Western next door (the only restaurant opened with the exception of McDonalds). Well, the Coronado Restaurant in the Best Western was also opened, but I'm not one to eat Rattlesnake eggs or sliced Elk (for real) for an obscene amount of money.

Now it's time to rest up before a full day of Grand Canyon, FABULOUS Las Vegas, and visiting Chrissy's cousin! Chrissy will probably do a good job of singing me to sleep since she loves to sing about hoagies and grinders and sloppy joe...until tomorrow, goodnight!

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Photos

Stefanie at breakfast
Awesome green-chile burritos

Illegal?
Here's my take - I can only not photograph if there's a tribal ceremony going on

Ovens
This was taken from the road

Gianna
Gianna wanted a picture with her lollipop.

Highway 6
The greatest road in all the land!

Quemado
I wondered what kind of fire disaster happened when I saw the ground here, then I saw the sign. "Quemado" means "burned."

Comments

[Amy]

That's my favorite napkin and I love Gianna's lollipop, too!

[mom]

red rocks and stuff
So there are also red rocks in Colorado, actually I think I went to a place that was called redrock. Also there are tumbleweeds too, if I had known, I would have taken pictures of them. Have you seen any prairie dogs or are they not in those areas? I am sad that you won't see the Rockies, they are pretty cool. What has happened to Stacey?

[cjekyl]

prairie dogs
Maybe a prairie dog is what ran in front of Stefanie's car! I actually have no idea if they have them here. You should have taken pictures of tumbleweeds. Amy and I love them. I'll go see the Rockies sometime. Stacey is still parachuting in my car. Maybe I can get a Grand Canyon pic with him.

[cjekyl]

Lolly
I was confused because the napkin you speak of is actually a bag. And it is awesome! Gianna had that lollipop for hours. It was hilarious.

[Michelle]

I LOVE the bag! They should sell t-shirts like that. The red rocks are beautiful! Actually, everything is beautiful!

[Amy]

Just waitin' for a new blog
And missing Stacey.