Westward:
After months of anticipation, it was finally time to head out to Arizona. We were all excited. Ashley was excited because she got to fly (among other things I guess). As usual, I was up late the previous night wrapping up stuff and barely got to sleep before we had to wake up at 4:30AM. We got to Phoenix on Thursday 5/31 and rented a car and drove to the Embassy Suites. We traveled separate from the team. We met the Abhazis on the flight. The trip was uneventful. Unfortunately, the team didn't have such a smooth flight. Thanks to Airtran, some were left in the check-in line, others were left in wrong gates. Everyone made it to Phoenix sometime during the day.
Phoenix:
We spent the afternoon indoors (away from the 105 degree heat). Judy and Ashley went to the pool for a very brief time. They beat a hasty retreat when they realized the heat (dry or otherwise) was unbearable. We visited the Desert Botanical Garden and were there from 6 till about 8PM. This park was quite neat. It was small enough to be covered in 2 hours but was packed with all kinds of native and non-native cactii. The plants were also blooming this time of the year. We got back to Scottsdale and drove by Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. We wanted to visit the place, but didn't think the entry fee for Ashley would be justified... We had dinner at a chinese buffet on Cactus Blvd near the Embassy Suites. The best thing that can be said about that is that the food was served with no delay.
We were all still on Eastern Time and so were pretty beat. So it was off to bed. I noticed the nice golf course and the hills just south of where we were and thought the sunrise would be pretty cool to capture and so set the alarm for 5:30 AM and slept. I woke up at 5:15 when I realized the room was already pretty bright. Apparently, the sun rises pretty early out here.. explain that to me. There were already folks out on the driving range and a queue was forming on the first hole waiting for the sprinklers to finish.
The plan was for the team to meet at the lobby after breakfast and head out at 9AM. We loaded the car and headed to breakfast at Tatum's and there was a long line since pancakes, eggs, etc were being cooked to order. After the dinner the previous night, I did not mind the wait for a good breakfast and it was good. I met the other hikers at breakfast. Most importantly, I met Sandy and confirmed that she did have my hiking poles. Since they were a bit unwieldy, she carried all our hiking poles - there's a leader for you. I noticed there was an REI just opposite the hotel and I guess I could have bought a pair if mine had been misplaced. In fact, there were some hikers who went over for last minute stuff.
Sedona:
The plan was to stop in Sedona at about 10:30AM and spend till 1PM when we would head out to the Grand Canyon. I followed the two buses for a while, but they were going too slow through the mountains so I figured I would pass them and let them catch up as we got closer to Sedona. We never saw the buses until we got to the Grand Canyon. We got off the highway and drove to Sedona, via Cottonwood, AZ. My decision to leave the highway and take the back roads was rewarded by a Starbucks at the exit :-)
The terrain in Phoenix was stark, drab and brown. I know some people love it. Seeing Phoenix, we realized how much we love the greenery in the eastern US. The scenery got better as we headed north. We took a detour through the main street in Cottonwood, AZ and then headed out to Sedona.
Sedona had these neat Red Rock formations. We stopped at the Red Rock State Park, took pictures around the visitor center and then it was on to the downtown area. We drove around looking for good locations to take pictures. We got a bite to eat at the Burger King (yeah, I know it doesn't sound very exotic) and then drove to the Coffee Pot rock. The rock formations all had names. Coffee Pot rock, Sphinx Rock, Capital Butte, Chimney rock, etc to name a few.
We spent about an hour taking pictures from a couple of spots, did some shopping at the Safeway and headed north on 89A to Flagstaff. On the way we made more stops at the Midgely bridge and at a spot in the Coconino National forest to look at the Oak Creek Canyon. These were all dramatic and it seemed to slowly raise our expectations of what we would encounter at the Grand Canyon.
We reached our hotel in Tusayan at around 5PM. This was just outside the entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park and the team had arrived earlier and visited the park. For several hikers, it was their first view of the canyon. As for me, the first view had to wait until the next morning.
Inspiration Dinner:
A temporary archway made of hiking poles greeted us as we entered the Canyon Star restaurant at the Grand Hotel. We had a buffet that featured lots of pasta. Hikers who had raised over 10K were recognized. The GA team had two hikers namely Cathy Lewandowski and David Markert who had raised over 10K. David in fact had at that point raised slightly over 20K. We also recognized all the LLS staff, the mentors and the hike leaders who have been crucial to our journey these past few months. The last group of people to be recognized were cancer survivors who were now hikers doing their part to beat cancer. The Georgia team had two survivors as well - The husband and wife of Anne & Ed Abhazi. There was no more doubt as to why we were there.
After Dinner, there was a dance presentation by members of the Navajo tribe. The GA team met briefly to go over departure times, etc and then gathered for a group photograph.
I had earlier been told that I would have to report for breakfast at 3:45 AM and that my group would have 13 hikers - 11 from GA and 2 from Columbus, OH. We left for our rooms at about 8:30PM. Judy and Ashley crashed almost immediately. I packed my Camelbak, made sure everything I needed for the morning was readily available and settled in with the Gladiator playing on TV. The last thing I remember before sleeping was "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next." I was very sleepy, but I didn't sleep for long.....
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