Trips I want to go on: Grand Canyon

It's not that Craig doesn't care, or doesn't have ideas of his own, it's more that he is just not a "planner."


Me?  I'm a planner.  


I know most of the time things change, but that's usually OK.  Sometimes I think planning is more fun than doing!  


I would rather "Just Do It"  but if thats not possible, I'll have to settle for planning!




My #1 trip is to go to the Grand Canyon.  Yesterday a friend sent me a file of excellent Grand Canyon pictures and I made a desktop slide show with them.


  Every five minutes I have another breathtaking view of the canyon.


I WAS there once.  For about 15 minutes.  In 1984 we moved from Dallas to San Jose.  Craig had a new job, so we didn't have a lot of time to make the drive.  We left a few days after Christmas, and I believe he needed to be at work on January 2nd.


We checked whatever long range weather was available at the time and decided to take 40 straight across.  Our other alternative would have been to take the Southern route thru El Paso.


I looked at maps and figured out about how far we could get each day, and hoped we could spend most of an afternoon at the Grand Canyon. A place I had ALWAYS wanted to see. I knew it wasn't very long, but this wasn't a vacation trip.


As we drove that morning, Craig started looking at the map.  He saw that the Petrified Forest was also along the way and decided we should go there. Out of our way by  100+ miles round trip, plus hike time, plus visitors center, plus gift shop ...  well it took most of my Grand Canyon time!


When we got east of Flagstaff it was already late afternoon.  I remember taking a winding road east of the canyon that didn't have very many signs and no traffic.  I remember being a bit upset because it was mid-winter and we were driving a very old van, with two kids, and the gas gage was running very low. I was worried that if we broke down or ran out of gas we would freeze in the night. 


 I remember we got to a gate that was closed, but the padlock was not locked. We had no choice but to go thru it, because we were pretty sure we would run out of gas if we turned around and went back.


I think it was a back entrance to the park. 


We continued our climb, and got to a vista point just as the sun was setting.  The view was breath taking.  I wish I had been more relaxed instead of mad and worried about the gas tank.  


We might have been there for 15 minutes, not much more before it got dark.  


I do remember  I picked up a small stone and mentally attached all my worried about starting a new life in California to it, and tossed it into the canyon.


We did get gas in time, and drove half way into the night.  I think we slept in Needles.  


Someday I'm going back and I'm going to stay there for a lot longer than 15 minutes!


Next time I'll have a plan!  (And an RV.)