Yes, that 4:30 wake up call did come very early. Needless to say, we were up well before dawn.
The balloon ride was great – really haven’t had another experience like it. It’s exhilarating for the first few seconds, and then it’s just pure pleasure the rest of the time. Floating around, spying on the world. Only two sources of noise; the sporadic blasts of fire shooting up into the balloon to keep us afloat, and the nonstop blasts of words shooting out from the mouth of our pilot, Dan. I think Dan is afraid of silence. As somebody else commented in his pilot’s log, “Dan is a wealth of information”. That’s a nice way of putting it.
We saw the sun rise, we saw the various red rock formations that Sedona has to offer, and were also fortunate to see quite a few animals, including a well antlered elk, momma and very young baby deer, jack rabbits and even a hummingbird.
Ballooning is altogether different from helicoptering; both were great, and I’d happily go again. You should too.
After Dan dropped us off and the silence of the day was re-established, we ate a quick breakfast and then hit the road north, destination Grand Canyon. South Rim this time.
Nice drive through the evergreen trees, and then plains of Arizona. Quite a state – they’ve got a bit of everything (though they’re a bit light in sustainable water sources). The South Rim is very different from the North; loaded with cars, construction, tourists galore (damn them) and miles of accessible vistas. We spent a few hours walking the top of the rim, exploring the views that millions of others have seen before, but were (mostly) new to us.
We’ve been pretty fortunate to see three very different views of the Grand Canyon … and picking a favourite is like picking a favourite child* but I think we’d have to go with the North Rim. It’s a more intimate view; there aren’t as many people and it’s just a more pure experience. I’d be happy to return to any of the three, and would really like to see the canyon on foot or from water to really shake things up. Always nice to have a reason to come back.
Even with our very early start to the day, we still found ourselves running short on time. A couple of unexpected stops at viewpoints overlooking the canyon, the desert and even a watchtower. Sun was fading, so we sped northeast to Kayenta, a small town in Navajo country, on the edge of Monument Valley.
The place is quite remote; no phone service, no internet, so I was rendered helpless and informationless. Nothing left to do but sleep.
Up with the sun to get a few shots of the rock formation before hitting the road deeper into the valley of the mid-1900s western movie. Not exactly certain about the route today, but I expect that we’ll touch in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado, finishing the day in Durango. Another great place for mountain biking that I’ll likely end up seeing from the backseat, and not the saddle.
* At this point, I think it’s pretty clear which child my parents would pick
1 reply on “Balloons, Trees, Canyons and Monuments”
Two things: 4:30 am?!
As their only daughter (and mother of their only grandchildren) – yes-I do think it is obvious who the favourite child is!