Tuna
Monday 22 April 2024
I also failed to write my blog last night as we had an epic day of seeing stuff and driving. It was an early morning rise, that is, I got out of bed before 8.30am, but I still had my coffee in bed. We were on the road by 8.00am, but after a few minutes we change time zones and it was an hour earlier. Arizona, for the most part, works on MST (Mountain Standard Time), but the Navajo Reservation region defies the rest of Arizona and works on MDT (Mountain Daylight Time).
Our first destination was the Grand Canyon. After extensive reading of the NPS website, the carparks at the Grand Canyon Visitors Centres get full very quickly and early. It suggested to either use the east entrance instead of the south entrance, or if using the south entrance to get through by 9.00am. The south entrance is the popular and extremely busy one. We were arriving by the east entrance and with change of time zones, we hit it around 7.30am. This was good, as there few people at this end of the park and we had the first view point, Watchtower, nearly to ourselves.
As we were going to be exiting the park via the south entrance, we agreed that we would stop at all the view points on the way in to the Visitors Centre.
The Grand Canyon is extraordinary, it is a really wide and deep and the colours of the canyon walls were varied and got deeper as the sun got higher in the sky. In this region there is Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon National Parks. All stunning, beautiful and unique in their own way. But if had to rank them, then it would by Bryce first by a long way and then Zion and finally the Grand Canyon.
We eventually made it to the main Visitors Centre around 9.30am, which was closed for the day, but did manage to find a carpark. I think that there were about 15 left. A wander around and out to Mather Point was well worth it. The gorge/valley/canyon was changing in look and colour as the day progressed. Also, it was getting busier, with crowds of people seemingly wandering aimlessly and getting in our way.
We decided our time was at an end at around 11am so we heading south and there was a constant stream of traffic heading towards the Grand Canyon. Not sure where they were going to find a parking spot. We were happy to have been able to get in early and see lots of stuff and leave early in the day to avoid the throngs of visitors.
Our final destination today was Phoenix, AZ, but we stopped at the Montezuma Well and Montezuma Castle National Monument (about 15mins apart). The Montezuma Well was a very pretty but up a steep walk to stand at the edge. They don’t know precisely where the water source for the Well comes from, but it keeps flowing into the Well. Due to the water containing arsenic and high amounts of carbon dioxide, fish cannot survive in the water, but leeches can. Urgh! I didn’t get near the water. There are a couple of small rooms that have been built into the side of the well, which they think are around 1,000 years old.
We then zipped over to the Montezuma Castle National Monument, which is a 5 storey block of flats built in to and high up a cliff face. Spectacular, but couldn’t work out how they would have got up there.
After stopping for a quick lunch, we headed back onto the interstate towards Phoenix. I thought Arizona was mostly flat, but I was wrong, like the other assumptions I have been making about the various states we have driven through. The landscape and vegetation kept changing and as we went up and down mountains.
Our last down was through road works with narrower lanes, concrete barriers and lots of tight curves, but that didn’t stop people from driving at over 75mph. But once we got down, the road widened into a four-lane freeway so everyone just drove faster. We were looking for a good spot to change drivers but there wasn’t anywhere convenient. I thought once we turned off the I-17 onto highway 101 loop road which goes through the outskirts of Phoenix, there would be good place to stop. Nope, wrong again. The 101 Loop Road is five lanes of traffic all going at speed and is aggressive. It felt like every car in Phoenix was on this road. We made it to Safeway without incident and The Albatross could relax after the hectic 1.5-hour drive. It is hot here in Phoenix, the car said it got to 101F at one stage. The carpark at the Safeway’s was undercover, thankfully, but the roof was all solar panels. Whilst jeans were a good choice when we started the day, they were a bit warm for visiting Montezuma and Phoenix. Will have to pull out the shorts for tomorrow.
Stocked up with food and drinks for a couple of nights we checked into our nice little apartment. First order of business was a beer.