May

The Grand Canyon is cool enough that I'll excuse it for not being in Utah. I was there on a road trip with my friend Dirk. He had never been out west and wanted to get a taste of the parks out there. We flew into Las Vegas and did a whirlwind tour of the Southwest, hitting as many National and State Parks as we could: Valley of Fire, Zion, Bryce, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point, Arches, Monument Valley, Horseshoe Bend, and the Grand Canyon. (Side note - if you are reading this and want to go out west, feel free to ask me for suggestions. Talking about Utah is one of my favorite pastimes.)

We arrived in the Grand Canyon the day after Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving that year was very non-traditional. We watched a stunning sunrise over Dead Horse Point, then we had our big Thanksgiving meal as a breakfast in a diner in Moab, then we hiked to a few arches near Moab because Arches NP wasn't letting cars in, then we sat on a sand hill eating turkey sandwiches with binoculars watching the entrance to Arches until they let cars in, then we toured Arches for the rest of the day, ending at Delicate Arch were we watched the sunset. Unlike previous trips to Delicate Arch, I didn't get to stay up there to see the stars, as we had to keep moving south. Our Thanksgiving dinner ended up being a taquito from a gas station somewhere south of Moab. 

The following day we watched sunrise over Monument Valley from Forest Gump point, the iconic view of the road cutting through the desert heading straight at giant sandstone buttes. After a quick visit there, we drove on to the Grand Canyon, making a stop at Horseshoe Bend along the way. We stopped at most overlooks along the way and made it to the visitor center not long before sunset, as it was only a few weeks from the winter solstice, and the days were quite short. There were a surprising amount of people spending their holiday there, which was simultaneously wonderful and annoying. This meant that we barely found parking somewhat near where we wanted to watch the sunset, but it also meant that we were able to walk along a rim trail to get there. 

As we walked along the trail I saw the opportunity for a great shot and told Dirk to keep going and walk out on the rock point seen in the photo above. Dirk's brain doesn't work properly just like the legendary rock climber Alex Honnold, he doesn't react to heights as normal people do and has no issues with them. Not this this point was particularly dangerous, but should you be alarmed, know that Dirk was not in harms way. After I shot this picture, we continued on our way to Yaki Point where were watched a vibrant sunset over the many layers of the canyon. I won't try to describe the view more because you have to see it for yourself.