Humongous Things

today i walked about 8 miles along the south rim of the grand canyon. praise the lord there was a shuttle bus to bring me back -- i am exhausted. it is HUMONGOUS. i took tons of pictures, none of which do it justice, so all of you will just have to make the trip to see it yourself! when i stopped to have lunch, a squirrel climbed INTO my pack. i guess he could smell the apple in there from like 100 miles away and was just waiting for me to sit down. of course, all the fools nearby who had never seen a squirrel before thought it was so cute, but i shooed it away and beat a quick retreat -- i am not going to let a squirrel attack ruin my vacation! you may be skeptical, but the guide on the shuttle informed us that squirrel bites are the #1 injury in the canyon, with 20-30 idiots getting bitten each day. i have to be up early early for the mule ride tomorrow (i saw some going down into the canyon and they looked verrrrry tiny!), but hope to take a peek at the book i picked up in the park: over the edge: death in the grand canyon, which contains "gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in the most famous of the world's 7 natural wonders." according to the back cover, 600 people have died in the canyon since 1869 and ALL of them are in this book.

i am staying at the historic grand canyon hotel in williams, AZ -- the oldest hotel in arizona. there is a sign outside that says "rooms $3.50 & up." it is fabulous here. i love this town. i love it so much i've decided to stay an extra day. even though the town revolves around tourism and could easily become a ridiculous & intolerable tourist trap, williams has managed to retain its charm. it's on route 66, which old people seem to think is a big deal. if that means it is lined with shops like "the turquoise teepee" and restaurants like the "pine country restaurant" then i am cool with route 66. the pine country restaurant is 1/2 a block from my hotel and has about 30 different types of pies and cake each day (see left). i havent had ice cream for breakfast yet karrie, but i did have a HUMONGOUS piece of carrot cake for dinner tonight. and last night i had the chocolate banana cream pie. :) this is totally justifiable. 1. im on vacation. 2. i drank a LOT of milk with it, so i got a lot of good nutrients out of the meal.

on my way out of the white mountains yesterday, i stopped at tonto natural bridge state park to see the largest travertine bridge in the world. it is HUMONGOUS. it's hard to tell just how humongous it is in the pictures without any scale ... but very impressive, with traditional limestone formations on the inside and some really neat moss that grew like mushrooms. here is me under the bridge. i went on another great hike through the park -- lots of jumping rock-to-rock and climbing on a not-very-well-marked trail next to the creek with lots of trees and shade.

i also drove about 50 miles out of my way to stand on the corner in winslow, AZ. cute town, but not much going on.

on a final note, arizona is the only state i've ever driven in that has reasonable speed limits. a flat straight road in the middle of nowhere -- 75 mph. a hairpin mountainous road -- 35 mph. everytime i pass a speed limit sign i look down to happily realize i am traveling lawfully!

stay tuned for the possibility of more HUGE things tomorrow ... like the huge pain in my ass from sitting on a donkey for 7 hours.