Day 7 - 364.7 miles

Growing up in VA, the birthplace of the Revolution, it is easy to get patriotic on the 4th of July. Visiting the Grand Canyon on Independence Day gives an American a different sense of patriotism, one of Manifest Destiny perhaps? We left Flagstaff to make a short trek to the Grand Canyon after stopping by a Petsmart to find a doggie backpack to carry AJ around the National Park. We didn’t find one, and settled on a gym-bag type carrier with mesh sides. The day was warm, and we didn’t want AJ to get overheated or jump over the side of the rim. So we arrived at the park amidst a crowd of visitors. Just outside of the park is an airport offering helicopter and plane tours of the canyon, which would be well worth it given some time and money to spend. Apparently, everyone in Arizona decided to visit the Grand Canyon for the 4th of July, so consequently, we could not find a place to stop. Every available parking space was filled, so we joined the seemingly endless line of cars waiting to get a spot. We decided to drive past the first viewing area, and easily found a space. After crating AJ, which was also quite an experience, we got our first glimpse of the great expanse. Pictures cannot truly convey the majestic views we were standing on. The canyon is immense, and our depth perception was off when looking down, not realizing how far down the drop truly is. It kind of makes your eyes hurt. A great vacation would be to camp out in the woods nearby and take a mule ride to the bottom, or go rafting on the Colorado River, several miles below us. We took a great number of photos, and took a small hike away from the crowds. An interesting fact about our National Parks is that more international vacationers visit the parks every year than American citizens.
We heard French, Chinese, Russian, German, and Spanish spoken. The people were generally friendly, particularly the non-Arizonians. For the record – people from Arizona are mean. We met a family from Michigan who we had a random connection to, as their brother teaches currently at the Coast Guard Academy and at least has seen Tony around campus a few times. After a short but eventful time in the Park, we retreated to a nice local village where preparations for a parade were underway. The locals here were great and we got amazing food, and lots of post cards. Angela ordered some prickly pear tea that was surprisingly sweet and awesome.