Day 11 (Bryce Canyon to Grand Canyon)

Day 11 (June 20) proved to be an uneventful drive from Bryce Canyon to the Grand Canyon. The drive was pretty much all uphill and I battled a very fierce wind during the entire 5 ½ hour campaign. We stopped at the Wal-Mart in Page, AZ to completely restock for the remainder of the expedition. Upon entering Arizona, there were Navajo Indian homesteads that dotted the landscape and the occasional Native American stand where arts and crafts were the fare. We finally arrived at the East Entrance of the Grand Canyon around 3:30 and stopped by the first scenic view for a few quick snaps of the camera and gaze around. From there, we made another 30-minute drive to our campsite at Trailer Village in the Tusayan area. We were not very impressed with our housing arrangements as the campsite was directly behind a commercial area and some of our “amenities” were a chore to enjoy—to get our wireless internet connection required sitting in front of the camp office and cell phone reception was still very spotty. I did manage to call my father (who is in Northern Michigan making renovations to a property he and Mom purchased) to wish him a happy Father’s Day while I grilled my own Father’s Day steaks, which we enjoyed with sautéed squash, zucchini, and onions and homemade steak fries for dinner and a very delightful strawberry shortcake dessert. After the dinner dishes were taken care of, we all sat in the RV and watched “National Lampoon’s Vacation”, a quite appropriate movie considering most of the funny shenanigans occurred in Arizona (Clark walking through the desert after he ran off the closed road and Aunt Edna’s demise in the back of the station wagon). Upon the movie’s end, we all turned in for tomorrow’s tour of the Grand Canyon…