We Only Live Once

It's been three days since the last time I posted something in my blog, and these three days were definitely something absolutely out of the ordinary. So get comfortable, because this post might be a little longer than the previous ones. This has been a trip where time has stopped, and space has turned into a reality that seems to be completely alien to mine. I am really trying to convince myself that it IS me living this...but it is hard. On Monday we woke up really early and headed to Mesa Verde. We stopped in Durango to eat something and kept going. We didn't know much about Mesa Verde, and of course I was very naive to think that we were going to have time to do both Mesa Verde and Monument Valley on the same day. It was around 1pm when we arrived in the park. But I had no idea that it was SO big! You drive and drive from the entrance of the park to the visitor center. It was close to 2pm when we got to the visitor center. For those of you who don't know, Mesa Verde is a national park that preserves a record of the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived there more than 750 years ago. It has several places that you can visit on your own, and three places that you must go with a tour. The most popular one is the Cliff Palace, and there were not tickets available until 5pm, so we decided to do the Long House one. It is the second largest dwelling preserved in the US. We still had to drive 45 minutes from the visitor center to the place where the tour started. It was absolutely worth it. Really interesting, lots of history and interesting facts about the place. When the tour finished it was almost 6 and the park started closing, so we headed to Blanding. I definitely want to go back with more time to explore the rest of the park and learn more. We arrived in Blanding a little late, really tired. We drove a lot and did some walking too. We ate and went to bed. Then on Tuesday we woke up super early again and headed to Monument Valley. Whatever words I decide to use to describe the way to Monument Valley and what you see when you get there is not going to make justice to it. You have to go to see it for yourself. It is like walking on a calendar or postcard. At some point on the road you start seeing the valley at in the back, and you start getting closer to it...those rocks, the colors, the sky...you could seat there looking at that for ever. Once we got there we had a lot of fun taking pictures with the rocks behind, and I also took a moment to seat in silence and just contemplate that. Then we drove to the Grand Canyon, south rim. It was a very intense day, with regards to everything. Weather wise we went from one hundred and some Fahrenheit to a hail storm. We drove through desert, flats, forest...we saw birds, deer, cows, elks, squirrels...we got soaking wet...we went from 3000 feet to almost 9000 get above the sea level...And emotions flowed like that too. The Grand Canyon national park is huge. You drive and drive and drive and think you are never going to get there. We arrived in the Desert View first, got down and saw it...it is like your mind can't process what you are seeing. Then we got back in the car and drove to the Mather View. We had to wait in the car forever because it was pouring rain. But I was starving. So I got my poncho out, my mom got her rain jacket out (didn't work that well) and ran to the visitor center. We had something to eat and an awesome coffee. Everybody was waiting for the rain to pass. It finally did and the view that we got to see after the rain is something I will never forget. You can't help but feel small and feel a lot of respect for nature. It doesn't seem real; it is intimidating. And we were there, witnessing such a wonder. There were a lot of people, but it wasn't too bad. After a while we decided to head to the hotel because we still had a while to drive. On the way out we saw a bunch of cars stopping on the road, and we saw the elks. We also stopped and got out of the car to see them. I had never seen elks in real life, much less in the woods eating. The are magnificent creatures, and they didn't mind all the people around them looking at them. Everybody was very respectful and quiet. I got really close to them, I couldn't believe it. It was the perfect closing for the day. We got to the hotel and went to bed. Today we woke up early, but not that early, and we headed to the Grand Canyon north rim. It is a very long drive, but I have to say I liked it a lot more. The drive scenery is a lot better than that of the south rim. We really enjoyed it. When you arrive there you don't really know where to go, but there aren't many options. There is a big hotel, so we walked in. It is a beautiful hotel and it has the most wonderful view of the canyon. It has a huge living room with huge windows and couches for you to seat there and enjoy the view. We walked outside to the terrace that has a line of chairs right in front of the canyon for you to seat down and enjoy. We walked down to the rocks to get a better view. I cannot explain why, but the energy there is much different than the one in the south rim. To start with, there is much less people, and different kind of people too...it is so peaceful that when I got to the rocks I started crying. We stayed there for a while. We walked a little farther down and took more pictures and enjoyed the view, the smell, the sun...it was the perfect day. We had something to eat and then we sat down in the balcony for a little while. Sadly we had to leave, we still had to drive a couple of hours to get to our hotel. But I am definitely going back to the Grand Canyon, I am going to stay there for several days and explore as much of it as I can. We arrived in the hotel at...I don't know...we have been changing times so often that we are lost right now. Yesterday and today we were in Pacific time, tonight we are back in central time...tomorrow we will be again in Pacific time. But like I said, time in this trip doesn't exist, and it feels wonderful.