Preconceived notions of geographic locations tend to paint mental pictures for us. If you say “California”, close your eyes, and what do you see? The ocean? Do the same with Arizona. I bet you imagine a beautiful desert decorated with the famous saguaro cactus. It’s hard to remember that each place is marked by geographic borders that don’t necessarily follow a geologic trend. In California you also have mountains covered in snow year round, forests full of the largest trees in the world, expansive, sandy deserts and even large fields of agriculture. Arizona is pretty diverse as well, so don’t be surprised when you see landscapes dotted in more than sand and cacti.
I woke up early today and left my brother’s apartment by 3am PST. It was still dark out and I wanted to near the California state line just as the sun rose. As I drove along the highway, slowly leaving the populated city of LA and entering the mountainous great outdoors I realized how early 3am was. I tried all my usual tricks in the book to get my blood pumping, such as singing along to the radio and alternating hot and cold air but I knew what I really needed to do. I pulled over at a rest stop after I left the mountain range and took a short 15 minute nap. This is probably one of the most important safety tips of traveling: KNOW your limits, and succumb to them when necessary. The sun starting rising and the silhouette of the pine trees stood out against the brightening sky. It turns out the cold air and the nap were exactly what I needed, so I got back on the road and made my way into Arizona.
I was driving near Las Vegas and had considered a detour, but I kept my heading. I wanted to see the Grand Canyon and nothing was going to stop me. It was one of the great geologic marvels of the world. There are few places you can gaze upon so many exposed rock formations. I stopped at a gas station about an hour into the Grand Canyon State and decided to go inside to get some snacks and my ritualistic supply of Sugar-Free Red Bull. This is the fuel that energizes most of my long drives. In the gas stations I saw something that caught my eye and made me laugh, so I asked the clerk about it.
Flavored aerosol cans of oxygen.
She laughed a bit too and said it did make you feel a little more awake, refreshed, but she said it certainly wasn’t energizing as the can claimed. I pondered for a moment, considered buying one just to say I had tried it, but decided against it. My fuel of choice had served me well thus far.
One of the things I enjoy paying attention to along my travels are road signs. There are always some amusing names of roads, and sometimes the graphics of the signs are interesting as well. Something I am used to seeing are the yellow signs cautioning you of deer that may cross the road. I have often wondered what determines a certain area to be more prone to deer crossing than others. In Missouri these areas don’t seem to correlate with where I have hit the silly animals.
In northern Arizona, however, there is a more daunting sign cautioning of large mammals crossing the road: Elk. When seen up close, when stopped on the road, it is a close resemblance of the silhouette of an Elk. When seen from driving on the interstate, however, it looks a little bit like a comical animal. Bubbly and cartoon-ish in form, every single one of them made me smile a little.
I reached the Grand Canyon around noon. It’s time to throw that stereotypical image of the Grand Canyon out the window. Today the sandy desert that clouds my memories of Arizona is replaced by snow, and lots of it. Huge piles of it lined the roads where snowplows had dumped what had once accumulated on the roadways, enough to rival that which has fallen in the Midwest in the last few weeks.
In comparison to the wonderfully beautiful and enclosed world of Carlsbad Caverns that only costs $6 to tour, the vast, wide-open Grand Canyon costs a whopping $25 to drive to. It isn’t such a bad deal if you are going to be in the area for a while, as the pass is good for a full week. It also is fairly decent if you are traveling with a vehicle full of people, as the price is per vehicle. When you are traveling alone, however, and only plan to stay for a few hours, $25 is pretty steep. I honestly wish they had a pass for just a day rather than an entire week.
I found a parking spot on the sheet of ice that was formerly a parking lot, between an SUV and a small compact car. I walk along the icy, snowy sidewalks to get to the first viewing point of the Grand Canyon, passing by bus loads of Asian tourists that I could have sworn have been following me. It seems other countries appreciate that natural wonders of the world more than Americans. I could go into a large discussion about the failure of the U.S. government to stress education and development of the sciences, and the fact that we are falling behind across the board in education, but I will save this for another day.
The view was breath-taking, a not simply because of the icy breeze that chilled you as it blew across the vast canyon.
Everyone knows the Grand Canyon is the largest of it’s kind in the United States. It is world-renowned for it’s beautiful colors of rock layers and how large and utterly overwhelming it can be.
Seeing it in real life, however, is a whole different story. It’s kind of like looking at a picture of a warm beach in the Caribbean and actually lying on said beach. You know what it is like, and you can even mentally feel the warmth of the suns rays and the gentle breeze, the soft lapping waves of the turquoise-blue waters. Seeing it in person, however, is an entirely different experience.
The cold seemed lessened because of the beautiful view, and apparently I was not the only one to think so. Hundreds of tourists were making the same delicate trip to viewing platforms along the edges of the cliffs that overhand a gorge that is over one mile deep, stepping lightly on the packed ice to avoid slipping. There were rails and fences, but it wasn’t hard to imagine slipping and sliding right under the gaps in that fence. I have to say I prefer caves. I feel safe in them, the limestone walls like a comforting blanket that promises I won’t fall forever. I knew there was a bottom to the Grand Canyon, but I certainly couldn’t see it. …The view was worth the worry.
Looking across the grand canyon feels as if you are on top of the world. You can see for miles, and the wind that blows across feels like it is coming from a world away. You can see so far that you can imagine lightly jumping and landing on that cliff way across, but you know it’s actually several hours, or even several days’, hike.
I took many pictures of the Canyon, and did my good Samaritan work just as I had done at all the other sites I had visited alone: took pictures of couples together for them with their cameras in front of whatever scenic view pleased them most. I even took a picture for a large family, and I imagine they had spent a lovely holiday vacation here at the Grand Canyon and had yet to get a picture without one of them behind the camera.
The breathtaking beauty of the canyon was eventually overtaken by the breathtaking, chilling winds of a snowy winter and I decided to head into Grand Canyon village and get some lunch. I chatted with the cashier about the weather as I ordered my sandwich and she talked to me as if I were from the area. She seemed to assume I worked here and was just enjoying a lunch break. I get that a lot on my trips. Perhaps because most people don’t sight-see alone?
After spending another hour braving the cold to take more pictures from another viewing point, I decided my time at the Grand Canyon had been spent. After dropping off my postcards into a mailbox I headed back onto the highway to head towards Phoenix. I was really excited to see some friends I hadn’t seen in some time. They had moved out to Arizona from Missouri not quite a year ago.
When I hit Scottsdale I made the turn south towards Phoenix, yet again forgetting what state I was in. Another norm you don’t usually think of for Arizona: The typical alpine, mountainous forests covered in snow. The highways were periodically lined with families sledding down hills, like they had never seen snow like this before. I imagined that most of these people were from further south in the state and had made the trek up to enjoy some winter sports. The drive between Scottsdale and Phoenix was beautiful, transitioning from snowy mountains, to plateaus, to desert mountains as the sun set, filling the sky with various colors.
Phoenix was exactly the Arizona I knew and loved. A warmer area, surrounded by mountains, with the whimsical Saguaro cacti standing as if they were people. I always found the Saguaro cactus to be amusing, imaging each of them to be a different type of person. Some grouped together looked like families, with the Mother and Father and little kids. Some were your traditional 3-armed cacti, looking like a head and two arms raised up in the air. Everyone is individual, and tells it’s own story.
In one day, and through only two states, I had driven from Ocean views, city-lit streets, snow-covered mountains, barren deserts, rising plateaus, larger-than-life canyons, and deserts vegetated with cacti and brush. The world isn’t as simple as we make it out to be. Arizona is much more than the Saguaro cactus and mountain-shadowed deserts.
It is still the part of Arizona I remember the most, as does most of the nation. I love those whimsical saguaros.
