Houston to San Fran…just a hop, skip, and a hike! Part I

Whew! This last week has been a whirlwind. One of my best friends in the world, J, decided to move to San Francisco, so I took off a week of work to pack her car full of her whole life, and drive there with her. Houston to San Fran in three days, yep, we got this. The first day was long. We woke up at the crack of dark (not a typo!), prepped breakfast, packed up and got on the road. We drove through Dallas and Amarillo, and made it into New Mexico to spend the night. 

On day two we peeled ourselves out of bed…or maybe that was just me. J is happy and bubbly and ready to listen to party music in the morning. This is something that I will never understand, as I strive for simple morning duties such as not running into the door or looking overly cranky. Fast forward five hours and our mid trip destination awaited us, the Grand Canyon.

For anyone who’s been there, I bet you would agree that pictures don’t do it justice. We decided to go on a hike a mile and a half down and back up, on the South Kaibab trail. The red dirt path was roughly two people wide, with a wall on one side, and a straight shot for miles down on the other. The entire path went down for 6+ miles, but we did not have enough water, or enough time before sundown. Personally, I’m not much of a hiker so the 1 1/2 miles down was perfect. My favorite part was when we got to our mid point before ascending back to the rim. It was beautiful the way only nature can be beautiful; vast and expansive, with the peaceful the sound of the wind sliding like silk ribbons through the canyon. J climbed onto a huge downed branch to lay down, and I climbed up onto a large boulder, sat down and took in the view. If the impending evening and our diminishing water supply hadn’t been calling, we could had have stayed there all day. The lack of animal life in the canyon was shocking. In the forest all around the actual canyon, animals are everywhere. It is illegal to feed them, but they will walk right by, unafraid. Very refreshing too, I might add. On a side note, I did see two birds and two squirrels on the trail. One was gigantic, but I guess that’s what happens if you share a canyon with one other squirrel, ha!

Leaving the national forest, we ended the night inhaling anything we could get out hands on at a Mexican restraunt. The chips and salsa were extra good that night! 

Next stop, California!