Since we’d missed the opportunity to see the Grand Canyon at sunset, we decided to set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. so we could see it at sunrise. Right. When 5:30 came around neither one of us could remember why it was so important to get up so early, especially after such a long drive the day before. It doesn’t take much for the best of intentions to be defeated! And I think we were both suffering from the effects of the altitude, with headaches and congestion, not uncommon at 8,000 feet. Besides, the best road trips allow for flexibility. . . We went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and had the misfortune to arrive at the buffet just after an entire busload of Japanese tourists. We were too hungry to contemplate going somewhere else, plus the meal was included with our stay, so we slogged through the line and filled our plates. All of the tables were full when we got to the dining area, so we asked a couple of young women if we could join them at their table for four. 
It turns out they were Australian, here on a 4-week tour of the western U.S. They were very nice, very enthusiastic about their stay so far, and very entertaining. We ended up having a great visit and it started our day out on a positive note. Guess the Japanese tourists had good timing after all.
The low down on the Grand Canyon: it’s beautiful and grand and overwhelming even at 10:00 in the morning. At each new stop in the road we were greeted with a view more awesome than the last. We were also greeted by increasing winds and freezing cold, and we found out that there was a weather forecast for possible snow. After a hot day previously in the desert, it was quite an abrupt change for our systems, and the cold seemed somehow at odds with the red rock views, but the weather certainly put an exclamation point on the
morning. After stopping at all of the view points and taking lots of photos, we decided it was time to push on north.
We decided to rest at a small outpost on the Navajo reservation called Cameron, which has a restaurant, souvenir shop, gas station . . . mostly we stopped for the gas station. Opportunities to fuel up were few and far between, and we had no desire to find ourselves stranded in the desert without cell phone service to call AAA. The Navajo have the largest reservation in the U.S., with something over a million acres, but much of it is wind-blown, 
tumbleweed filled and devoid of any development. The wide open expanses and soft colors are beautiful in an understated way, though. I decided to try a local specialty at the restaurant, called a Navajo taco. It’s a plate-sized puffy Indian fry bread topped with chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato and chopped green chiles. It was actually very good. I’d never had fry bread before, and I’m not sure I’d want to eat it on a regular basis (after all, it IS fried bread), but Lauren and I both gave it a thumb’s up.
Our next destination was Monument Valley, home to many of the iconic red rock formations we’ve all seen in photos and in the movies. Again, we decided it was time to put the top down on the car so that we could get the full impact of driving through this park of giants. The route through the park was unpaved, mostly consisting of
red-rock dust and washboard bumps. The speed limit was 15 mph, and there was no way we could have gone any faster. Not that you’d want to – around every turn was another awe-inspiring view to ogle. Again, the cameras got constant use. At one view point we got out of the car and made friends with a couple of little puppies who appeared out of nowhere, probably belonging to one of the Indians who worked in the park. Lauren got a good fuzzy four-legged fix, as she’d been really missing all of our cats and dog. The little pups were very friendly, jumping into her lap and giving her lots of licks, probably prompted by the cheese stick offering she had for them. Sometimes the little things can put an experience over the top, and that was definitely a memorable moment of the day.
We left Monument Valley full of the sights of the day, a bit sun burned and driving a now orange-dust-colored car.
The downside of having the top down meant that the dust got inside the car too, on the upholstery, on our road maps and in our hair. After a brief stop on the road so that Lauren could re-enact the scene from Forrest Gump when Forrest is running through the desert (her favorite movie), we drove the rest of the way to Moab, Utah for our next night of recuperation.
It turns out they were Australian, here on a 4-week tour of the western 
morning. After stopping at all of the view points and taking lots of photos, we decided it was time to push on north.
tumbleweed filled and devoid of any development. The wide open expanses and soft colors are beautiful in an understated way, though. I decided to try a local specialty at the restaurant, called a Navajo taco. It’s a plate-sized puffy Indian fry bread topped with chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato and chopped green chiles. It was actually very good. I’d never had fry bread before, and I’m not sure I’d want to eat it on a regular basis (after all, it IS fried bread), but Lauren and I both gave it a thumb’s up.
red-rock dust and washboard bumps. The speed limit was 15 mph, and there was no way we could have gone any faster. Not that you’d want to – around every turn was another awe-inspiring view to ogle. Again, the cameras got constant use. At one view point we got out of the car and made friends with a couple of little puppies who appeared out of nowhere, probably belonging to one of the Indians who worked in the park. Lauren got a good fuzzy four-legged fix, as she’d been really missing all of our cats and dog. The little pups were very friendly, jumping into her lap and giving her lots of licks, probably prompted by the cheese stick offering she had for them. Sometimes the little things can put an experience over the top, and that was definitely a memorable moment of the day.
The downside of having the top down meant that the dust got inside the car too, on the upholstery, on our road maps and in our hair. After a brief stop on the road so that Lauren could re-enact the scene from Forrest Gump when Forrest is running through the desert (her favorite movie), we drove the rest of the way to
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