Driving between vistas

Looking back at all the photos I took, what was supposed to be a rather uneventful driving day ended up being quite the scrapbook of beautiful vistas. 

Breakfast dishes with a view

It started on a quiet piece of unclaimed land in the Valley of the Gods, back in Utah - did I mention we changed states today? The sun rose quietly, hidden away behind a line of clouds on the horizon, but still illuminating the sky with its rays. Mario and I watched from the comfort of the bed, then from outside with cups of coffee in hand. After breakfast, we battened down the hatches and began the slow drive through the Valley of Gods, 17 miles' worth of bumpy driving through the most awe-inspiring landscape. We are surrounded by red dirt cliffs, rainbow layers of rock, mammoth buttes jutting up into the blue sky, creating the most artistic-looking photos. Little turn-offs are hidden everywhere, some occupied by other campers, others waiting to be filled - we make note of some for our next trip here. Towards the back of the valley, the cell service is strong, so a coffee break is in order. Mario goes exploring, I get some blogging done. We've been connected to the interwebs most of the time, but often it was barely enough to check our directions or find the location of our next campsite for the night, and certainly not enough to upload photos. I've been prepping most of my stories off-line, selecting and resizing photos, that sort of thing. The sun is getting high in the sky by now. 

Forrest Gump Point

Seventeen miles later, we find the paved road again, and make our way through the Monument Valley area. You can't visit without a guide, except one loop road through the valley, and that route is not recommended for RVs, so we decide not to take the chance. Anyways, our drive through the equally spectacular landscapes his morning more than makes up for missing out this afternoon, and we observe the monolithic formations that rise up from the desert from the comfort of our vehicle as we cruise down route 160. We also drive past what is know as "Forrest Gump" point, a location on the highway where an important scene from the movie was filmed. It's the one where Forrest Gump is running across the country - you know the one - and he suddenly decides he is tired and wants to go home, turns around and does so. Well, like most locations that are made famous by their inclusion in movies - think Trevi Fountain and tossing coins - this place is now bending under its own popularity. There are scenic pull-offs all along the road, full of cars, and people are stepping out into the middle of the roadway to pose for their pictures. Cars are still driving by! We even saw one girl walking the length of the highway while a drone tailed along behind her, likely for some Instagram story...Unless you get there early in the morning, you are not going to see the highway empty like in the movie, I can guarantee that.

Desert view Tower art	View from the top of the Desert View Tower
	Lunch time!

Up and up and up we climb, up to the Grand Canyon plateau, snacking on handfuls of Cheeze-its and iced tea, cold from the fridge, until we reach the eastern entrance to the park and the Desert View Tower. Now, visiting the Grand Canyon is a relatively new experience for us. Yes, we've been here before, but last time is was winter, and everything was covered in snow, and hidden under a thick layer of fog. We are seeing a lot of these vistas again for the first time, and they are certainly not disappointing. Of course we climb the tower, admire the Native Art all over the walls, mock the tour group from Quebec that just happens to show up behind up. We also have an eye on some rather nasty looking storms circling around the park, but the clouds seems to moving parallel to the canyon, so we're not worried yet.

After a couple more stops at viewpoints along the canyon, we pull off onto a gravel road leading to the Kaibab National Forest, which borders the Grand Canyon National park directly to the south of the main canyon rim road. This is a fun little find - you can only camp in designated campgrounds in a National Park, but you CAN camp, and overland, in National Forests. So as long as we make sure to cross from the Park to the Forest, we can have free range of the area! It's a relatively well-known place, too, as most of the pull-offs in the forest are already occupied, but we do find a quiet spot to park for the night. Curiously, we drive through some rather deep puddles, through a foggy forest where it looks like a fresh layer of snow has just fallen. Turns out those rather nasty storms hit here while we were climbing a tower, and dropped not only a ton of water, but also a good deal of hail. What is with this weather we are experiencing?!

And so here I sit, listening to the birds flit about in the forest outside the campervan, typing away at my keyboard while I upload my photos. Not only is this site nice and quiet, but it is perfectly placed right next to a cell tower. Five bars of pure power, anybody?  The perfect opportunity to finally get completely caught up on my blog!