There’s this place in Arizona that most people don’t visit because it’s tucked away and off the beaten path. It’s called the Grand Canyon, and even though it doesn’t get very much press, it’s a really cool place and I highly recommend visiting it if you’re looking for something new and unusual to do in the South West.
The two of us spent a couple of nights camping out at the bottom of the Canyon, about a mile down from the rim. The hike down took us only a few hours, and despite a bit of soreness in our leg joints it was a relatively painless descent into the bowels of the earth. The Colorado river (which looks like a trickle in photos but is really a massive body of water) was a pleasant and refreshing reward at the bottom of the canyon – it was a toasty 80 degrees down there – and there was even a little beach where we lounged and watched the sunset.
For two nights we camped out under the stars, spending the day in between on a long but flat hike and hanging out at a waterfall. And we saw a rattlesnake, which was awesome and scary. So it was generally a good time in the Grand Canyon.
Tuba City is officially one of the all-time-greatest place names. And although it’s not full of big-cheeked brass players, it does have a brand new skatepark. Deep within the Navajo Nation of northeastern Arizona, Tuba City is pretty short on pavement, so when this was built it was instantly swarmed by the Hopi and Navajo kids who live in the neighborhood. They hadn’t even opened the place yet but no one seemed to mind hopping the fence. Gwen and I hung out for a little while, talking to the kids while I skated. Unfortunately, I managed to tape over the majority of the video we shot, including some of the voices we caught (and all of the AMAZING tricks I landed) so here’s an abbreviated version. And yes, I almost crushed that kid.
On our way from Tucson to the Grand Canyon, Christopher and I spent a couple of days cleansing our auras and getting in touch with our inner children in Sedona, the New Age capital of the world. Under the whimsical and fancy-free watch of the Earth God Kokopelli, Sedona is home to a number of Vortexes and desert hiking trails that attract New Agers (aka: old hippies who became financially secure in their adulthood) from far and wide. Gift shops selling crystals and T-shirts with words like “spirit” and “earth” line the town’s main drag, and scattered among them are holistic treatment centers where visitors are invited to get their souls pampered for a modest fee. Continue reading →
Out in Southern Arizona we had the luck to spend an extended period in the desert on a family ranch. You don’t really need to hear about it, but we spent a couple weeks lazing around, riding mules, and helping to build stuff. Very low key. We mention it only because it was such a huge part of our trip – it was where we caught up with ourselves, stopped to learn the names of cacti, and really started to get a sense of how ridiculously different that part of the country is. So… thank you Mule Mountains and Rancho Nando. Hope we’ll see you again.
Recession Road Trip 