Day 4: Arizona, Part I
27 June 2008This entire trip has more or less been planned around getting my mom to the Grand Canyon, to the point where I was a little nervous that she would just turn around and start walking home after we were done there, convinced that she had done enough on this trip and ready to be rid of the Prius and her daughter, who was finding a new and exciting way to get a completely ridiculous sunburn each day (today’s special: back of the knees). We spent Day 4 driving from Santa Fe to the Grand Canyon and it was the first time I saw my mom break 80 miles per hour. To say that she was pretty excited is the understatement of the century. This day was just supposed to be devoted to getting to our grand canyon hotel on time so that we could spend as much of the following day as possible fulfilling all of my mom’s natural wonders of the world dreams, so we didn’t make very many stops along the way. We did find time to grab lunch in Flagstaff, where I was amazed and delighted to find out that they sold liquor in their CVS. And we drove through the painted desert, where I learned how to use the self timer on my camera.
Here I am, wearing yet another version of khakis and a black top. My commitment to variety amazes me on a daily basis. Don’t worry, at the halfway point of the trip we’ll stop to do laundry so you get to see all of these outfits again.
Along with the lack of daylight savings time, the long list of things I didn’t know about Arizona includes the fact that there are dinosaurs there. Or, were dinosaurs there. The painted desert dumps you out into the petrified national forest, where they have both dinosaurs and tiny models of dinosaurs trying to eat one another. I was thrilled to see both. 
All of this was basically just a Grand Canyon appetizer, though, so I went to bed around 9 knowing I’d need a lot of energy for the following day, when every sentence my mom or I said would start with “Jesus!” or “Oh, My God!” while looking at a giant hole in the ground.
One Response to “Day 4: Arizona, Part I”
June 27th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
It’s a leopluradon, Charlie!