Road Trippin'

We went camping at the Grand Canyon over Thanksgiving weekend and had such a great time. I think I must have been living in denial about how long of a drive it was going to be, though, and had somehow fooled myself into thinking just about the camping part of the weekend. DUDE was that a long drive! But Rob was a rockstar and drove the entire way for us (11 hours there and 10 1/2 hours back, blech!) and of course we made it fun.

We have a weird tradition (and I really have no memory of how it started) that my childhood stuffed Grover comes with us anytime we go camping. Of course he came with and was the co-pilot in the car.

We left really early in the morning before the sun was even up - it was super foggy and gorgeous driving through the San Diego hills and up to the high desert. We spent a "Twilight Zone episode" moment in Borrego Springs and got the hell out of there, weirdness at the gas station! Then we drove to Joshua Tree, by the Amboy Crater and then got on the 40 for the straight shot into Arizona.


Out in the middle of the desert, it's the weirdest thing to come upon this HUGE "lake", the Salton Sea. It looks like a mirage from far away but it's an honest to goodness, gorgeous blue lake! To the Wikipedia!

There really are no words...

Joshua Tree had these fields of crazy fuzzy-looking alien cactus (cacti?). Bizarro....

The Amboy Crater is really cool - it's huge!

Going a little stir crazy! Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Getting friendly with the locals just outside of the Grand Canyon

I was a little nervous as the weather changed the closer we got to the actual Grand Canyon. The temperature plummeted and we started seeing snow on the nearby hills....yikes! Have I mentioned I'm a San Diego weather-weenie now? I've totally lost whatever thick skin I had previously developed in Colorado.

We were trying to race the sun to get to our campground in time to set up in the daylight. It wasn't meant to be, but at least we got a gorgeous sunset out of the deal.

Next stop: our campsite! In the sub-artic tundra!