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After Moab we headed down to Colorado and Mesa Verde National Park, site of ancient indian cities, and entertaining park rangers. We took a tour through the city which was built right into the rock, then Marsh had a go at making fire, and succeeded!
After that we made our way, via Navajo Monument National Park to the Grand Canyon - the highlight of our trip so far. We had intended to stay for a couple of days but ended up deciding to go on the waiting list for a back country permit, this meant we could camp down in the canyon overnight. Over a couple of mornings we waited at the office and met Nick, a local Arizonian who told us all about the canyon, as he'd been down every trail it has. We also met Andrew who twisted our arms (in a good way) to come down with us and sleep under the stars at the bottom of the canyon. On
Friday morning we set off into the canyon, it was a beautiful day and we saw lots of wildflowers along the way. When we got to the bottom we had to cross a bridge to reach the campsite,
and there we pitched our lack of tent (you have to carry everything with you so we elected not to bring a tent, luckily the weather was fine and we didn't get rained on!) We went to Phantom Ranch which is a lodge at the bottom of the canyon and had a celebratory beer. We had few more back at the campsite that evening with our new friends as well.
The next day we set off at 6 and climbed up. The first half was lovely and we made good time to Indian Garden, a lush campsite half way up the canyon. After that the sun came out and the climbing began in earnest - switchback after switchback with the path winding up and up. Exhausted we reached the top in just under 5 hours! We spent the rest of the day trying to keep moving because our muscles seized up whenever we stopped.
After that we went to Lake Havasu, a lake in the middle of the desert. Its the place where the old London Bridge now lives, after an american millionaire bought it and shipped it to the states. We went to the bottom of the lake and
cliff palace
looks like a damn cool place to live to me!swam to cool off - it was 39 degrees - unbelievably hot. The next day we headed to Joshua Tree National Park, another blooming oasis in the desert. We saw all sorts of palm trees and lizards and cacti on our hike to Lost Palms Oasis. Another day another inland body of water, this time the Salton Sea - however the name says it all - its salinity is increasing all the time, so much so that the shoreline was peppered with dead fish - didn't smell very nice at all!
Back to the california coast where the sea was clean and healthy, first of all San Clemente and then the lovely Encinitas where we swam in the surf. And now we're in San Diego being hosted by Loni, a friend of Heloise's, who has generously put us up for our time here, its nice to be sleeping in a real bed again! We had a yummy sea food bbq last night and this afternoon she's teaching us to surf! Don't know how successful she'll be. We'll let you know.
On Tuesday the American portion of our adventure will be over as we head to Guatemala...
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Nick & Laurel
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enjoying your blog
Laurel and I are really enjoying following your blog especially all the photos. However we await the Guatemala update and anxiously hope all is well. Nick