The Day We Became Sand People

Yesterday we endured a very long drive from Marble Canyon to Great Sand Dunes. We made several pit stops including a set of dinosaur tracks (one of the oldest and most preserved set of tracks in the world!), Horseshoe Bend and Four Corners and we eventually arrived very late at night to our motel. 

Dinosaur Tracks in Arizona

At the Four Corners! We wish Alyssa was still with us for the fourth state!

Horseshoe Bend in Page, AZ

Today we spent the morning at Great Sand Dunes National Park. We rented sand sleds and headed to the “slopes”. We spent most of our time hiking up these mountains of sand and only rode down three times. The wind was unbearable and the amount of sand on and in and around our bodies was abnormal. We’re still not sure whether or not the awesomeness of sand sledding was outweighed by the horror of getting pelted by high velocity sand. We are 100% sure we will be scrubbing sand off our bodies for the next month. 

Katie’s first attempt

Nancy and Juliane attempting to climb back up the sand mountain

 In the later morning (because we didn’t last too long at the Great Sand Dunes) we took a death climb to Zapata Falls, a four mile drive from our hotel. It was really pretty, we had lunch on a rock in the middle of the river with the waterfall around the corner. It was lovely. Until we attempted to make our way back to shore. The website does warn against the slippery, algae covered, wet rocks that you must climb over and on to get to the falls. It does not warn against the frigid temperature of the water or the fact that you cannot do it with just sneakers on, or else they will get completely submerged in water. It also does not warn against the broken climbing wire they attach to the rock to “help” your climb. This was the downfall of Juliane’s fall. 

Zapata Falls

 So not only were all of our feet numb from the cold (and probably on the way to frostbite or something equally terrible), but our brave leader Juliane slipped and fell on the rock wall on her way back to shore, and Katie fell directly on her knee in the river with nothing to break her fall, because obviously saving her cell phone and Nancy’s DSLR camera from the water were more important than her personal safety. 

The injured.

But after a beer and some ice on our wounds to ease our pain, we attempted to go back to the Sand Dunes. We had two mini rides before we called it quits for the day and headed back to fill our motel shower with sand. And we’re probably going to sleep on farmer’s hours (sunset) because we have a 12 hour drive tomorrow to see Katie’s sister Carlin and her family in Dallas before heading to Austin.

An eerie view of Sand Dune National Park from a distance (Unfortunately that pink/grey cloud is from the forest fire behind it)

The Day That We Became Conquistadors

Our new favorite casino

Sunday we left the Wintings’ for the Grand Canyon.  After saying goodbye to Alyssa (she is returning to NY for real life), we took a pit stop in Las Vegas and Katie and Juliane both walked away winners! Obviously they won because the casino we went to was “New York, New York”. We had to win, it was our house (although there’s no Bronx section of this casino, not even for Yankee Stadium and we are not pleased). We walked away winners and now we just can’t ever go back because then we would lose, but Nancy can take a solo trip back. It also was our first foray into southwestern heat and we understand why no one leaves their hotels or casinos, you can’t or you might pass out. 

Part of our death march

 

We finally arrived into what we thought was the Grand Canyon very late at night, and then arose to discover we were not in fact near the stereotypical Grand Canyon (thank you misinforming websites). We finally made the group decision that we were in the Grand Canyon, just the sad cousin to the North Rim/South Rim part; it was the equivalent of an outer borough like Queens, still part of the city but not completely.

Our smiles are sheer joy at the fact we made it to the river

 

After we asked our breakfast waitress for a map of the area and where we should go, we concluded that she may have been out to kill us. The path that she recommended with “some rock climbing” turned into a mile and a half trek into the desert, with 30 foot rock formations that we had to maneuver. It was a long morning. She also recommended sitting out on the “beach” of the Colorado River, obviously blind to the paleness of Nancy and Juliane’s skin and had clearly never felt the ice that made up the water. As a sidebar, she also told us to go on a nighttime walk around our hotel without flashlights, we skipped this amazing opportunity. 

Traffic jams at the Grand Canyon North Rim. A herd of buffalo. Okay.

 

We rehydrated from our intense hike in the Arizona sun and drove back east the TWO HOURS to the actual Grand Canyon. After 6 hours of looking for, and hiking, to find the biggest hole in North America, we finally discovered the Grand Canyon. We may have been the first people to see it based on our excitement, so we’re pretty sure we’re letting you in on a secret; we’d like the credit though please. We soon discovered that it was indeed worth the journey and the pleasure of having nice paved walkways. We greatly enjoyed our dinner and drinks looking out onto the sun setting over the Grand Canyon. 

Hoping this doesn’t need to be explained

 

On our way back we stopped for the second time in two days for the best cookie in Arizona (we think), the second time no one almost died in our attempts getting to these cookies so we have clearly improved! They were amazing and we wish we stayed in the hotel that served them. While we’re at it, we wish we had stayed at the hotel that actually looked out on the Grand Canyon, instead of pretending they did, like our motel. 

Arizona is behind us, and while the Grand Canyon was awesome (in the literal sense) and this experience has given us… something (we’re not sure yet), here’s to hoping sand sledding in Sand Dune National Park and the Four Corners will treat us better. We’re sure everyone wishes they were our traveling companions now. 

The best.