We had the time of our lives driving out to the Grand Canyon! We left late Friday night due to a serious accident on the freeway, and drove through the night. Now, most of you who know me know that I am NOT a night owl. 9, 10pm, I'm out for the night. However, I made it until 3 AM before chugging the nasty energy drink. I taught Grant and Nicole how to drive my truck (a stick shift), and we were off. I've never driven through Arizona before, and sadly, I didn't see a thing since it was the middle of the night.



Nasty Necessity

I didn't know there wouldn't be any gas stations along Interstate 40....so about 2 am we had to pull over and thank GOD we had reception on our iPhone's to find the nearest one. Good Ole' Roy was kind enough to turn on the pumps for us (he must do this regularly) in the middle of the night to fuel up; at the tune of $3.59/gallon!! On our way back to the 40, we decided to take a different way and this happened...

We found the Route 66!



Sunrise on the way to the GC.

We finally arrived off the 40 about 4:45 am, and drove the remaining hour to the sight of the sunrise. I was so amazed at the landscape around me; again I've never been out "west". I took photo after photo, and just couldn't stop! We drove straight to the South Rim, at about 6am. The park had just opened and it was deserted. Seeing the Grand Canyon as the sun was rising, on a crystal clear day was something out of a movie. I've never seen anything so incredible; it almost seemed fake. No photo could ever do it justice.

Little chickens wouldn't venture out with me!

One of my favorite photos.

Nicole, Grant and I


Waiting for the sunset. We had the best seat in the house!

I still can't believe we didn't sleep for almost 40 hours! Other than a 20 minute cat nap here or there, we powered through the day. We were hoping to luck out and get a campsite IN the Grand Canyon National Park, but that didn't happen. Luckily the Park Ranger told us that we would camp anywhere outside of the GCNP, for free. Well heck yeah! We found the first dirt road, turned down, and claimed our wild spot. It was in a perfect clearing, just right for a fire pit. Grant was quite the nature man (he claimed watching Bear Grylls helped:), and made us the best rogue fire I've ever seen. After a good night's sleep, we were on the road again back to SoCal. We were all so surprised at the Arizona landscape, seeing as it was pitch black when we drove the night before.

It was a whirlwind trip, I was exhausted and slept A LOT when I got home, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. What better travel buddies than Grant and Nicole?! Oh, and the love bug bit them somewhere on the trail. They're now dating. How cute :)




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