Weary Travellers

Here we are sitting in the Phoenix Airport. It's 1 am Florida time and 10pm Phoenix time. It's been a long week, but a very adventure filled one. We both had a lot of fun at the Grand Canyon. On Thursday, we drove from Las Vegas to Flagstaff, AZ. We saw the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, and got to see about half of Northern Arizona. Friday Morning we went to the Grand Canyon and took a quick look around. At 2pm we went on a Helicopter Tour of the Grand Canyon. What an amazing adventure! We had the view of a lifetime of one of the grandest views of all. I will not attempt to describe the beauty of the Grand Canyon, I do not have the words to adequately describe it. I can only tell you the the pictures we took will still not do it justice, and that each of you who reads this absolutely must visit it one day. I've been to Yosemite, Yellowstone, and now the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is the most amazing of them all. Yosemite and Yellowstone each have amazing beauty in their own right, and they are both worth seeing, but if you can only see one, make it the Grand Canyon. So, back to us being weary travellers, neither of us slept particularly well last night and we both got up very early this morning. I think I originally woke about 3:30 and tossed and turned until 4:30 when my alarm went off. Then we got ready and Patti dropped me off at a shuttle station to take me to my early morning hike. We started the Hike on the Kaibab trail at about 7 in the morning. We hiked about 2 miles and we dropped 1140' in elevation. It was a guided hike and very informative, besides the amazing view, I saw fossils, and ancient footprints, as well as learning about the various ecosystems in the Grand Canyon. The hike down actually wasn't that bad, the hike up was another story. What a trek! I covered the distance in about 45 minutes, but I had to stop and rest like 8 times! I was so out of breath. Hiking at 7000' above sea level is much different than hiking in Florida. After our hikes Patti and I checked out of our Hotel at the entrance to the Park and started our Drive to Phoenix. Patti drove most of the way so that I could have a break. We then saw the Mesa Temple which was very pretty. Although to be honest, I probably didn't appreciate it as much as I could have, owing to the fact that I was baking like a potato in the sun. The Desert is SO hot! Who knew? So after seeing the temple Patti and I had 5 hours to kill in Phoenix and nothing to do. So we decided on dinner and a movie, and we left for the airport, which brings us to our current situation, which is very tired and ready to be home. Tomorrow we will arrive in Orlando at 9:40 am and we will rush home, shower, change, and go to Church like a good boy and girl. Then we will crash for naps, before I go to the Bumby Chapel and attend a Seminary Kick-Off Fireside. Monday will be my first day teaching seminary.
By the way, Pictures will be forthcoming on the blog of our adventures, we also have a movie we took and a DVD given to us by the Helicopter company of our flight if anyone would like to watch either of those.