The Schooler's

Repeat, Spring Break 1994, Detour.  That about sums up our final day at the Grand Canyon.  Let's start with the Repeat.  You have to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon - it's amazing.  Rebecca has been wanting to go with me to see it, and we decided the last day was our best shot.  If you're curious, sunrise at the Grand Canyon was about 5:20AM.  Yes, that's 5:20AM...

So, Rebecca suggested why don't we do the hike she and Christy did the day before to see the sunrise.  She's a trooper - two canyon hikes back to back.  We talked about it for a while and she didn't seem to tired from the day's hike so we're in.  We did shorten the hike a bit - after all we have a long drive the rest of the day.  So we're up at 4AM to catch the first bus of the morning - 4:30AM pick up.  Surprisingly, we were not the only people on the bus.  There was a group of runners who were going to run Rim to Rim - about 20+ miles.  Yes, I am very intrigued at the prospect of running/trekking across the canyon in a day - but even I was thinking - ya'll are crazy!  Hiking with Rebecca, enjoying the solitude of the trail, the beautiful landscapes as the light begins to cut through the canyon - it was a definite highlight of the trip for me.  Rebecca is an impressive hiker.  She was careful, always aware of her surroundings, and said Hi to absolutely every person we passed on the trail.  Many people were impressed she was up so early and on the trail.  I enjoyed the chance for some father and daughter bonding - talking about life.

Now for Spring Break 1994.  After we finished our hike, we promptly hit the road and took the East exit out of the park towards Colorado.  The entire family was back asleep by about 9:30AM and slept for almost the first 3 hours of the trip.  Meanwhile, I past the trail head that I hiked over Spring Break with Randy Floyd and Dave Monroe - Grandview Trail.  After I hike, we crawled out on to a rock formation and had someone take our photo - here's a shot of the rock formation today, with an arrow for where we were standing.  Yes, we were crazy, and we actually found beer cans out there.  That trip was the best Spring Break trip I ever took.  I spent the rest of the drive that morning reliving all the fun memories from that trip.  By the way, the views for the first 50 miles out of the Canyon are about the best I have ever seen - period.  Unfortunately, the next 5 hours were miserable, and the roads were not that great.  Bummer.

Detour.  We opted to skip the drive through Monument Valley.  I'd been up since 4AM, and everyone was ready to get to Cortez, CO to put feet back on terra firma.  At this point in the trip, everyone has dealt with a little vertigo.  Some not so well.  I'm very thankful that even though my body feels like I've been on a bass boat for an entire day, or out deep sea fishing while I'm sitting still - it doesn't make me nautious.  It is a rather odd sensation and I can definitely feel it after the longer days behind the wheel now.