Day 6: To the Grand Canyon

We packed up and left the hotel by 8am this morning. Getting out of Vegas at that hour was fairly easy. We were excited to be heading over the Hoover Dam, but the new bridge is built such that you can't see the dam from a smaller vehicle. So that was a bust. And I was a little surprised to see that the water at Lake Mead is just as low as it was last time I was in Vegas. Hopefully the snow melt will keep helping that.

In Kingman, AZ we gassed up the car and grabbed breakfast at Sonic. Then decided to also get a Sonic Blast for the car ride. The weather in Kingman was really nice and cool compared to Vegas.

We were on the road towards the Grand Canyon by 10am again.
Once we got to the park we located our campsite. Unfortunately it started raining as soon as we parked. So we had to work fast to set up the tent and then ended up spending almost an hour in there with little to do. Finally the rain let up and we were able to make plans for the day. We grabbed the map and some water and headed for the visitors center and the rim trails.

The first views of the Canyon were spectacular. We walked along about 2 or 3 miles of trail near the edge of the Canyon. There are tons of educational markers too so we learned all about the rocks and the formation of the Canyon as we see it today.

For dinner we went to the Maswik Lodge which has a small pizza pub. There's a fire ban in the park and we wanted a hot meal, so a restaurant was our best bet. Plus we were both craving pizza. Then we stopped at the general store to get a few beers and went back to our campsite. We headed into the tent again because the rain had started back up.

And with that our day at the Grand Canyon came to a close. We had decided to get up at 430 am to see the sunrise so we fell asleep early.

Day 3: Leaving Oregon

After we lost the battle with the mosquitoes and hit the hay early last night, we woke bright and early this morning to start the long drive out of Oregon. I managed to start a decent fire and get some coffee going before Tim got up. Then he took over the fire tending and we had toast, cream of wheat, and hard boiled eggs for breakfast. We broke down the campsite and we on the road by 8am.

We crossed the border in California and stopped in Susanville to grab a late lunch and gas up the car. Within an hour we had made it to Frenchman Lake and were setting up camp. The weather was a bright and sunny 91 degrees so we put on our swimsuits, slathered on the sunscreen and walked roughly a mile to the water. The water is a pristine blue and the sage brush and red rocks surrounding the shoreline make for a beautiful picture. We followed a small, winding trail and found a rocky inlet to the water. After a quick pep-talk we took the plunge into the icy water. It was well received by both of us since we were hot and sweaty from the walk. A bit later we headed back up the trail and towards camp. On the way we spotted a few lizards and what Tim identified as a ground squirrel (I named him Jacob). Back at the campsite we gathered wood and made a nice fire to cook dinner: hotdogs and toasted cheese sandwiches. It was delicious! Complete that with a few drinks, some chips, and puppy chow and s'mores for dessert. It's been one heck of a day.

We're off to bed early again to hit the road to Las Vegas in the morning!