September 7, Day 5

It was cloudy and rainy in Zion this morning, and the campgrounds and roads were pretty empty. We enjoyed a stellar drive out the side of Zion Canyon, which took us through a long tunnel. We thought the colors of the canyon were even more beautiful on a cloudy day!

We left right after we got up, with no breakfast, so we had fun stopping for breakfast at Houston's Trail's End Restaurant in Kanab, a homey, podunk, cowboy-themed place where the food was (predictably) amazing.

It felt like we drove FOREVER today. I guess we're not in (what Colby calls) "car mode" yet, because driving all day made us antsy.

We drove through red rock cliffs pretty much all day. I'm surprised the NPS hasn't tried to make the entire four corners area into a national park, because really, the red rock extends forever.

We stopped at Pipe Springs National Monument on a whim, because we saw a sign for it on the road and it wasn't too far out of our way. It turned out to be really cool, an old tithing ranch owned by the church (and, like most interesting/valuable land in the west, originally owned by Indians).

We got to the Grand Canyon toward evening. It was just as beautiful and startling and dramatic as always! We loved stopping at the overlooks, and finished Mockingjay, the book we've been listening to, on the way in. We enjoyed it but were dissatisfied with the ending.

We had a big "carb-loading" dinner at Yavapai Lodge in the park, then went back to our campsite and laid things out for our hike tomorrow. We're getting VERY excited.