It's been far too long. I swear I'm going to try to do this thing more often. Anyway today is my first real day at the Grand Canyon. I got here yesterday evening, but didn’t have the chance to do much. I went to the National Geographic visitor’s center and looked and souvenirs and watched a pretty interesting IMAX movie about the history of the canyon. I also signed up for a bus/walking tour of the big spots of the canyon. I guess it will be ok. I have some misgivings about being carted around in a bus or van with a bunch of other people and pulling over from time to time to see this or that spot. I’d rather just get out and walk around more. But, I think I can do this, get a kind of introduction and then later in the day or the next day I can explore more on
my own.
Monday I left Bryce Canyon, Utah. I got there on Saturday night and just had a late dinner and stayed in my hotel. It was a nice room, but kind of odd there. It was definitely more like a resort than I was expecting. I picked the place because it's really close to the park, even closer than I realized. But, the proximity also means it's kind of an isolated little fake tourist town. I really didn't like that feel. The people were nice and my room my first night was very nice, but I didn't like the big tourist groups that came in on buses. I like a little more personal experience. But, inside the actual park was very different. There were some tour groups, but I only bumped into them once at one of the big lookout points. The rest of the time it was mostly couples and small groups of people together. The views there were amazing. I think I counted 250 pictures that I took. I'll try to pick a few of them soon and put them up. It was really beautiful, but at the same time you get to a point of looking at things and taking pictures where it all starts to look the same. I think especially with the pictures. You just can't capture how great it looks.
Looking back I wish I had hiked a little bit more. I was afraid of getting into a big hike because I wasn't really prepared for it. But I did hike down to the canyon floor at one point. It was only 2.5 or 3 miles. I could have gone around a loop at the floor and stretched it to about 5 miles, but I decided against it.
It was a little lonely out there, though. There were tons of people, but they were all in groups and absorbed with their own people. My Chungdahm friends are going to be surprised by this, but I'm dying to find a bar. Whether it turns out good or bad, the bars have been good places for me to meet people. There weren't any around Bryce Canyon. I haven't talked to just another normal, non-service person in days. It's a little strange.
Well, I've got lots more to say, but I have to go so I don't miss my tour. I hope you all are doing well, and I promise I will post another update very soon.
Oh! One more thing. Check out this guy www.jessesteiner.com who is biking to Argentina. He's probably way cooler and more interesting than me.
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