Finally we arrive in Phoenix for one of our 30th anniversary trip.

After an uneventful trip and 3 hours drive to check in to our hotel in Tusayan. We are staying at the Holliday Inn in town as most of the places were sold out even though we were booking months in advance. Turned out to be pleasantly surprised with incredibly friendly staff, very large suite with a separate living room which works great for us as I am an early riser, and great breakfast! We decide to drive the 15 minutes to the Grand Canyon village and Mather’s point. What an amazing scenery that opens up to us! Truly spectacular and we know there are no pictures that will give it justice!

We make our plans for our hikes the next days and go back for a Mexican dinner in a very cute restaurant called Plaza Bonita. Portions are extravagant but my first organic margarita with agave syrup is excellent!

On day 2, we make our way very early to the South Kaibab trailhead full of energy. Very quickly as we descend though, we realize that the trail is narrow and the height will make this a nightmare for Chuck.

We go back up and decide to hike a bit more of the rim trail on our way to Bright Angel Trail. Without realizing, we are piling up the steps and the kilometres! Amazing how everything is well maintained….no garbage on the ground and anything in back condition. The paved Rim trail is incredibly scenic.

After restocking in water, we make our way to Bright Angel trail head and start the descent. We are warned that it takes an hour to get to the 1.5 mile resthouse and 2 hours to go back and that it is steep all the way but it gets very steep at certain points. We resolve to take our time and make it there.

The view and scenery is absolutely fantastic. Hard to capture in photos or describe with words. This is one that must be witnessed in person!

We make it at our destination in one hour and feel good but are worried about the hike back so we decide not to continue to mike 3.

Although very tough on and off, we realize that our pace going up is the same – we make it in one hour as well. We could have continued on…. A project for another time. Once back at the top, we go to the geology museum and take stock of the amount of dust on our legs and shoes. Incredible!

We catch the Grand Canyon IMAX movie in town and back at our hotel after dinner early.

Ready for tomorrow’s move to our « glamping » in Utah.

The road to Utah is awesome and we take our time stopping multiple times.

First we stop at a scenic overlook called Liban Point, just west of Navajo Point. What a view! This is our favorite view of the Grand Canyon – we can see a large section of the Colorado river as well as the famous rapids that drop 3 buildings! Luckily, there is a gate for Chuck 🤣 Pictures again do not do it justice but here we go.

Then we stop at the desert watchtower – again the canyon is beautiful from different spot.

As we are driving along 89, we see a variety of cliffs ranging in color from yellow to deep orange. We feel that we are on a different planet! We make a stop at Marble Canyon – vermillion cliffs. This is different as we can see the cliffs from below and the play of light shows different Shades of colour. We can see why this is considered one of the most beautiful highway in the world!

The Under the Canvas luxury tent campground is exactly as we would have expected! The interior of the tent is spacious and well appointed and our view to the Grand Staircase from our porch is fabulous. The dining hall with its outdoor patio is also lovely. We go for a short hike on the property to their small slot canyon and enjoy a very informative talk from geologist Gary in the evening. He shares so much information about the “making” of the Grand Canyon but also shares about the water crisis they are currently experiencing. From an average of 6 inches of water a year, they were down to under 1 inch last year. Their local lake Powell created by the dam is down to 27% of its historique high, threatening their very water supply and the whole Colorado river water level. Astonishing that not much is being done to address this overconsumption of water.

Today is the day for the antelope canyon – the very reason we drove up here.

We rise early and have a lovely breakfast on the patio chatting with two ladies from Bahamas. We learn about their handling of Covid and the crazy patriarchal society that does not give ownership to children of a Bahamian woman born in Bahama unless the father is Bahamian – crazy! She shares the best islands to visit and we take extensive notes!

Next we drive to the Navajo tour check in and go on a jeep with our guide Abraham to the entrance of the canyon.

This is beyond beautiful – words can not describe it. The play of light on these orange/pink walls, the carving made over millions of years by the water brought through to this day by flash flooding in the summer – amazing! This is all embellished by the great narration of our guide, sharing history, legends and the best photos spots. He takes the best photos for us and simply makes this tour amazing!

We then go to Horseshoe bend trail and hanging garden trail. Two nearby short trails with a great view of a rock formation peaking from the Colorado river at the first one and some maidenhair fern popping from the walls of a cliffs at a most unexpected spots at the second. Again we walk on the trail to take us there surrounded by a landscape reminiscing of the moon! Desert and cliffs as far as the eye can see. We are also reminded of a trail we did in Newfoundland.

Off for lunch to a super cute roadhouse called Grand Canyon brewery in Page. An absolute must! The decor and atmosphere are really neat and I can not resist sending mathew pictures of some of the menu items. Cheese curds (our favorite) are fried and breaded 😳….and some variation of Mac and cheese.

We spend the rest of the day at the campground surrounded by the very loud noise of a wind storm – relaxing while reading our books and listening to lovely live music! Off to Sedona tomorrow.