mybigadventures.com

Neither of us slept very well, in anticipation of our early getup. Before we knew it, it was 4:30 AM. Dani’s alarm went off, but my phone had died during the night so didn’t. We hurriedly dressed and gathered our things, having laid them out the night before for speed. We managed to leave the room by 4:40 AM, to make the short walk over to where we would catch the bus to Hopi viewing point. Having checked it out last night, we decided to walk and catch the bus, rather than getting the connecting bus from Maswick Lodge. It meant we got an extra half an hour in bed, but also meant we had to find our way to somewhere we hadn’t been before, in the dark. We took the tablet with us for directions and it turned out to be surprisingly easy. It was only about 5 min walk and before we knew it, we were sat in the bus stop with a number of other tired-looking people, to wait for the bus.

It quickly became apparent that it was cooler than anticipated and, although Dani was wearing a jumper and I was wearing my hoody, we were both a little cold. The bus arrived about 10 minutes later at about 5 AM and the journey only took about 10 to 15 minutes, arriving at Hopi. Getting off the bus, we got our first views of the Grand Canyon. The sky was starting to lighten in anticipation of sunrise and you could see quite a long way. It was very impressive and awe-inspiring. We set up the gorilla pod and camera on the metal railing that stop you from falling in the canyon. The sun came up at about 5:40 AM; it was a very soft light that started to fill the canyon, initially making it look very misty. It was fantastic to see the changing colours of the canyon as the light crept over the different layers. We stayed for quite a while with more people arriving just before and just after sunrise.

Having taken lots of photos were decided to head off about 6:30 AM. We had to walk around to the Powell viewing point, a few minutes walk around on a clear trail, as the bus only stopped there on the way back. We took the opportunity to have a look from that viewing point, where there was a monument at the end - I think it was a memorial to the first explorers. Having heard a bus, we ended up running back from the point, to the bus stop, arriving just in time as it was about to leave. We arrived back at our room just before seven, where we dumped our stuff and headed over to the lodge to get some breakfast. On the way over we saw some mule deer, walking through the car park. There was a mummy, a daddy and three babies. Dani was very excited about the baby deer and got a little bit giddy when she saw them bouncing around in the woods, just next to the car park. We took a few photos and then headed on to breakfast, also seeing some small squirrels/chipmunks? We both had a ‘Grand Canyon breakfast’ consisting of bacon, 2 eggs, breakfast potatoes and toast. It was very tasty; we sat and ate it in the shared food hall (it was about $15).

After breakfast, we went back to the room, showered and got ready for a day out. They recommended you didn’t hike between 10 and four so we decided to do the 25 mile desert view road trip, along the south side of the rim. We drove along, enjoying the air conditioning, stopping at various viewpoints on the way, all of which offered fantastic views of the Grand Canyon. We kept seeing big birds flying above, but we think they were actually crows or something similar. Still on the lookout for another condor.

At the end of the road trip, was the desert view watchtower, an ancient-looking tower, although in reality a modern replica, designed to look like an original Native American Indian tower so as to blend into the landscape and look authentic. We parked and wandered over to the visitor centre. Before we got there, we got attracted by an assortment of weeds, in a lovely pale pink; they were covered with butterflies and what appeared to be hummingbird moths - stripey little beetle-looking creatures with a long-beaky thing and extremely quick wings. Ben took lots of photos! We had a look in the visitor centre, which had an interesting relief model of the canyon, showing us where we were in the different points along the route.

From there, we went down to the tower, went up the spiral staircase looking at each floor as we went. Inside there were lots of murals and paintings, designed to look like a native Indian paintings. On each floor, especially at the top, there were 360° views across the canyon and the desert. Pretty spectacular! You could also see the Colorado River, weaving through, looking particularly muddy. We had a good look from all of the available viewpoints, taking panoramas and watching the lights on the different layers of the canyon. Had a look in the gift shop at the bottom and then bought a Coke to share at the cafe, sitting and watching a squirrel wiggling around. Walked back to the car, stopping at the general store to buy an ice-cream and we treated ourselves to a reusable Grand Canyon bag!

As we drove back along towards the lodge, we stopped at a couple of different stops. At the Lupin viewpoint, where you get a particularly good view of the river, we happened upon an impromptu geology talk by a ranger called Brian. It was really interesting - he talked about how the canyon had been formed, in the different layers of rocks that formed the canyon and how the river actually created it. He answered loads of questions we had, plus he implied that we looked 20-ish, so that was awesome too. Took more pictures and then moved on.

We also stopped at Mather Point, one of the main viewpoints at the canyon. We parked in the visitor centre car park and then walk to the viewpoint. It was distinctly hotter by now, so we didn’t spend a long time there. Admired the views - from a different angle again - and took some photos of Bruggers in front of the canyon. We drove back, feeling very tired, and stopped when we saw a wolf/fox-type animal, slinking across the road and into the woods. We also saw a woodpecker, right next to the road and some bluebirds - very vivid blue with tufted feathers. Took some photos, but all of them moved too quickly for a clear picture. Also saw some Elks - casually crossing the road.

Got back to our room and felt shattered. Slothed about for a bit, and did some washing, and then headed over to the main lodge for tea. I had fettuccine in tomato sauce, with sausage and peppers. Ben had fettuccine with tomato sauce and meatballs. Nice, though a little odd, in my case. Finished up with lemon meringue pie again - yummy!

As we were also planning to see sunset over the canyon, we got ourselves organised to go about 7 PM-ish. We walked down to the bus stop in the village, but there was a huge crowd waiting to do the same thing - we assumed that even with more regular buses, we probably wouldn’t get there, so we set off on foot. There was a clear path and although it was going uphill, we managed to cover about 2 miles within about 30 min! Impressive! We were planning on going to Hopi Point, but given the number of other people also heading that way, we stopped at Powell point instead - not quite as far around, but with as good a view.

There were quite a few people about, but we got a good seat! Ben set up the camera on the gorilla pod and we waited. And it was worth the wait! Amazing! An orange-flooded sky, with amazing shadows being created by the light. It was beautiful. We stayed around for quite a while, thinking we would wait to see the stars coming out. As people left, it started to feel very isolated, so we decided against it - with no lighting and potentially a very dark walk back, it didn’t feel very safe. So we headed to the bus and managed to get a seat. At the next stop, however, at Hopi, loads of people were waiting to get the bus. So, it was lucky, in more ways than one, that we only went as far as Powell! Feeling peckish, we headed to the main house for a slice of pizza. It was really busy, but we got a table. I waited, while Ben ordered a pizza slice and beer each. He got ID at the cash desk and the rather flustered waitress was embarrassed to discover that we were both nearly 30! Enjoyed our pizza and people-watched. After, feeling tired, we headed back to our room and sorted our stuff, ready for our journey tomorrow.

Today we visited Crook Hall and Gardens, it's one of the oldest inhabited preoperties in Durham dating from 1217 and is literally a stones throw from the hotel. It was £8 each to get in, and you eneter through the cafe at the bottom of the garden. As you enter the garden there is a fabulous maze, it was planted in the year 2000 and is simply aMAZEing. After a few wrong turns we found our way to the castle in the centre; you can climb up and have a view across the top of the maze, brilliant! The gardens were delightful, broken up into small sections including a secret garden, walled garden and an orchard to name a few. There was also a number of lawned sections throughout the gardens with tables setup where customers were enjoying afternoon tea.

We were treated to much nicer weather today with quite a bit of blue sky and sunshine popping through the clouds and it made for a nice warm wander about. We also had a wander around the manor house which is still the private residence of the Bell family. It is part medieval and part Georgian and most of house is open allowing visitors to wander freely. We unfortunately didn't encounter the white lady, ghost of the property, perhaps next time!   

I'm really getting pretty bad at updating this now we've got back! It must be this busy lifestyle I'm living! We are at this moment back in a hostel - this time in London on a flat hunting expedition. We've seen a fiar few places so far but the final decision is still evasive! Theres a couple of places we're interested in so far but the question is do we choose the really nice or fall for the mildly cheap!?

I think the cheap has the edge for me (predictably some might say) but I think the nicer one currently has the edge with Dani. We shall have to have a second look - and probably by the time we reach a decision the one we want may have gone :-S - I do hate this flat hunting business! It's Dani's birthday on Friday and we're going to the zoo which should be very exiting - I can't wait to see the elephants (my favourite). Other than that there isn't a terrible amount of news, we had a holiday in Swansea a little over a week ago, which was pretty cool - lots of sunshine and some excitement with an air ambulance (which blew a couple of tents away).

Right I better get back to looking on gumtree, checking email and hitting a few more estate agents (not literally). Congratulations to anyone reading this, I think I may have lost my readership since stopping the email updates. See you all soon!

Cheerio ta ta