I left my campsite around 8:45, headed for the Grand Canyon, at last! I had to stop in Kayenta, an hour and some from where I started the day to make phone calls to my electricity company as I had received an odd call from them a few days before. I was finally able to get through to them and had to speak to so many different people, I think I had to make seven different calls in that hour and 40 minutes I spent on it, but after that, everything was sorted out. It was almost noon when Luna and I left Kayenta and we had an uneventful drive to the Grand Canyon. The most eventful thing was arriving at a gas station that actually worked nicely! These are a rarity in the US, most of them I have to go inside to pay, mostly because I need a zip code if I use my credit card and half the time it doesn’t understand my debit. Occasionally the pump just doesn’t work and this happens way more than it should. So, when I arrive at a gas station that easily allows me to pay at the pump so I can fill to the right amount, it is absolutely wonderful; although I have gotten pretty good at guessing the perfect amount to put in! The final road to the Grand Canyon was much longer than I expected and I was appalled to find the $30 entrance fee (much more than the $8 I found online!), the fee is good for a week, so that is a relief. As soon as I payed, I continued on in search of the campsite, which he recommended going to as soon as possible as it tended to fill up fast. I drove quickly, expecting to see it somewhat soon, nope, it was probably a half hour drive in to the Grand Canyon Village and I was relieved to find several sites still available. Across from the site I had chosen and very close by, several elk (around 7?) lay in the grass amongst the trees, very calm, some napping, others chewing, it was a lovely sight. After claiming my spot, I drove back to the visitors centre area and took a walk along the Mather Point area. As soon as we got out of the main area, it was very peaceful and we could enjoy the viewpoints to ourselves. After walking a ways, enjoying the views and playing with Luna in the small amount of snow at the side of the trail, I headed back to grab a few things (another dog bag, a different lens and some ibuprofen), then I headed back to a nice area I had found just inside the rim where Luna and I could enjoy the sunset. We sat for awhile, I tried out some breathing exercises, then I lay down with my head resting on Luna, she took a quick nap. It was beautiful, although not extra-spectacular as the sun was behind us and the sky was mostly cloudless. We headed back, stopping at the tourist view point, that gave us a very beautiful view of the canyon at this time of day. A couple young Chinese people (around my age), inched over to pet Luna, they did not seem to know english very well, but absolutely loved Luna, the young guy sat down to stare at her and stroke her when she went over to him, I continued watching the canyon, letting him have some time with Luna and eventually walked away to see more views, he was still sitting there. So many people were commenting on Luna there, both meant for my ears and not. “What a beautiful dog!!!!” one woman quite a ways behind us gasped very loudly, “Such a pretty dog!” a man just starting to turn around our direction said immediately, “That dog looks like a fox!”, a girl walking with her family told them, and on and on, it’s not uncommon for people to comment on how beautiful she is and her likeness to a fox, but this was quite ongoing and almost totally not meant for me to hear. I headed back to the campsite, made dinner and headed in to my car for the night. I was just about to finish reading and go to sleep for the night when Anne showed up, she had gotten a flat tire on the way to the canyon, so was way behind, I did not know where she was spending the night, but we planned to meet for sunrise in the morning. She ended up parking in my campsite for the night and we spent a good half hour catching up on the day, me in my sleeping bags sitting by my car door and her just outside. After she went back to her car, it was already 9:40 pm, so I went straight to sleep to get some good hours in before my 6:00 am alarm.
Some beautiful views on the drive between Canyon de Chelly and Kayenta
This elk looked so peaceful as it napped, it's too bad I couldn't get my camera to focus on it rather than the trees!
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