We're back! :)

Well, 32 hours of driving/riding, 25 hamburgers, and 496 laughs later, we're back from the Grand Canyon. My only advice to anyone thinking of making this trip from Tulsa, America to Grand Canyon, AZ: FLY!!

To say the drive was boring is an overstatement, although we did get plenty of laughs in along the way. For the first 9 hours of driving the highlight of the drive were the bajillion small bushies that you can always see as far as the eye could view. Flat. Flat. Flat. Land.

We stayed at a pretty nice place in Albuquerque. Tammy and I got a massage, which was the best hour and 50 bucks I've spent in my life! So relaxing after 9 hours of sitting in the car.

We drove on to Williams, AZ the next day. (Yes, Doug, I got your message about the Deer Farm...sadly it was closed BOTH times we drove through Flagstaff.) :( Williams was...umm...well, let's just say the highlight of that little town was the family dollar and the Safeway. We tried to find a game to play at both places to keep us entertained, but alas, there was nothing.

The next morning we took the Grand Canyon Railway and rode the train 2 hours to the Grand Canyon...kind of neat. I was a little nervous when we woke up and everything was cloudy. But God is good...by the time we got to the Grand Canyon, the sun was shining brightly and the Grand Canyon was breathtaking!

We spent the night at the Grand Canyon in one of their lodges...more laughs were exchanged between the 3 of us, and after visiting every gift shop available on the Grand Canyon grounds, we broke down and bought a deck of cards to keep us busy. Keep in mind, we rode the train, so we didn't have our own car to drive us around. We were forced to take the free shuttle that circled the park. The only problem--the shuttle only went one way, so if you wanted to go back to the place you had just come from one stop before, you had to ride the entire shuttle route which took an hour...trust me, we know how long it takes! :)

The next day we rode the train back to Williams and we decided the day before that there was absolutely nothing to do in Williams, so we cancelled our reservation at the Railway Hotel and decided to drive back to Flagstaff the following night. We were spoiled by the Flagstaff Hotel: indoor HEATED pool, free internet, a full complimentary breakfast...everything was wonderful. We did a little shopping at the Flagstaff Mall, then drove back to Albuquerque.

We spent the rest of our money in Albuquerque and spent the night at the hotel we had stayed in the first night we were there. We decided that to make it home before dark the following day, we would need to leave the hotel at the crack of dawn (aka 7:00 CST). So come 6:30 (5:30 NM time) we crawled out of bed, brushed our teeth, and hit the road.

We made it home just before dark, but only after a VERY long, boring 10 hour drive back through the bushies and flat ground.

Ahh, aren't vacations fun?! :)