Arizona and the Brother Blowup

We left Vegas pretty early expecting a rather quick drive to Flagstaff and then the Grand Canyon. Turns out there's a huge dam on the way, the Hoover Dam. I remember thinking we would cross it when planning for the trip, but it had totally slipped my mind when we stumbled on it. We parked and snapped pics and reveled in the fact that people made this massive structure. It looks like you could slide down it if there were enough water below, but there is definitely not enough water below.

We continued on our way to Flagstaff from there and planned on grabbing some lunch before going north to the canyon. Out of curiosity, I had looked up brewpubs in Flagstaff prior to leaving Vegas, and sure enough there was one called the Beaver St. Brewery and Whistlestop Cafe. More beer...We ate there and went on our way. Flagstaff seemed like a real cool spot. When you think of Arizona, you think it's all desert, but Flagstaff surprises you with forests and pleasantly cool temperatures. It's right off Route 66 too, so there's all sorts of classic roadside motels and diners.

On to the canyon. It was a little over an hour from Flagstaff and it was surprising to find a little town of sorts right before hitting the park entrance. Why I didn't expect this of corporate America, I don't know, but I'm sure it's nice to have if you work at the canyon or can't afford the lodges. We pressed on through the entrance and progressed slowly along the main road in the park. I kept expecting the road to just stop right in front of the canyon, but it really just winds along the side. We parked and hopped right on the Rim Trail...........................................................

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okay, you get the point. It is a breathless site, one words are completely useless on, pictures are completely inadequate. We walked twenty yards or so, stopped, looked over the edge, and repeated this for a mile or so. It was just amazing.

Off in the middle of the canyon, there are these plateaus that appear to just be islands in the canyon. I looked down to see a couple perched on one of these plateaus and immediately knew what my future held for me. I must climb down to one of these plateaus. I saw one particular one that was incredibly thin, but rather easily accessible, so I bolted down leaving my camera with my brother. They thought I was NUTS! The tourists around them thought I was NUTS, but I did it anyway. I climbed down and never really looked down or up until I reached the thin little strip of rock. Then, I looked back up at them and could have sworn my knees were gonna shake me off the edge. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life...(not sure if that's overly dramatic or not but who cares). I think I royally pissed off my brother by doing this...but this is not the brother blow up. That's next.

We left the canyon after sunset. Unfortunately a good bit of our time was wasted trying to find parking a little closer to Bright Angel trail and the lodges. - Why we couldn't just keep walking, I don't know. It's not about me, no, no. Just my car. I am but an escort. So anyway...we found a decent little overlook just before sunset and grabbed some pictures. It took several stops and starts down the road to find the best picture...Don't know if you can tell, but I'm building to the brother blowup. I promise. Finally I stopped the car and walked down a trail to get some alone time with the sunset and the canyon. It was the best alone time of the trip so far.

At dark, we headed back to Flagstaff, but I had given in to the idea of a hotel because the others didn't seem to keen on camping in cold weather (mid 40s at night there). Oh well. We found a Travelodge and set up camp there only after driving around feeling like an escort again. (We had kinda done this in Moab if you remember from my other post).

The hotel was fine and even gave me wireless access to look for a hotel in Phoenix for after the Diamondbacks game. I found one right by the stadium, a Super 8, not too expensive. We got there around 2pm or so and I figured we'd check in and just walk to downtown and stay there til the game was over. Nooooooo. It was too hot for that. My brother just kinda looked at me and said why walk when you can drive there. My response (this had been building up for awhile now)

"Well Fred. You tell me what to #$%ing do. I've been trying to %$#ing please you this whole %$#ing time!!!!"

Did all this warrant a blow up? Probably not, but it was totally ridiculous to drive in circles looking for a free place to park, wasting gas, when all we really had to do was walk. How hard is that? We ended up finding a place to park equally as far away from the ballpark as the hotel, but it was close to a Subway so we ate there and then decided to drive back to the hotel and then walk to the stadium. hmmm...Might I mention I almost changed lanes into another car during this drive...It was kind of ridiculous and a little juvenile, but this little blow up opened my eyes to something I hadn't quite realized about my brother and I. We are quite different in our attitudes and opinions. We may like a lot of the same music and enjoy beer and baseball, but down a little further we are quite different. I think I'll save the rest of my thoughts for the next post. This is something that's been brewing in me on this trip and I'm gonna do a bit more overthinking before I share.

b-bye for now.

**Oh and the Diamondbacks game was great. Very nice stadium. Saw Randy Johnson pitch although not well. Saw a guy thrown out for disorderly conduct. Killed a guy with a trident.