What an amazing sleep with the fluffiest, most luscious pillows! I must've passed out coz my bed didn't even look slept in.

We had kitty breaky at the van before setting off around 9.30am to head to Grand Canyon. After driving only half an hour or so we stopped at the spot where Forrest Gump ran - there's even a little sign there! It was a nice straight stretch of road with Monument Valley in the background. We took some open road photos on the road, in between traffic of course.

We drove another hour or so before stopping for lunch. We went to a place called Sonic which is similar kind of food as Maccas but you drive in and there's bays with speakers. So you park in a bay, order your meal and they bring it out on rollerblades. Our van + trailer was too big for the bays, but there's a small area with a few tables and a speaker so we sat there and the roller dude brought it over.

Then we drove 5 mins down the road to stop at Starmart general store...they sell everything from underwear to guns, quadbikes to jewellery. We bought bandanas as JD wanted us to blindfold ourselves, make a train by hold hands, and he'll guide us to a magic spot for the unveilling of our first view of the Grand Canyon. I also found some cheap sneakers since my current ones were not only filthy but I had a blowout a few days ago and part of the sole was ripped and not comfy!

Back on the road for another hour or something (so easy to lose track of time out here!) before stopping at a row of little market stalls selling jewellery and other Navajo items. We had 20 mins to browse. OMG...women and jewellery in 20 mins?!?! I could easily have spent 2 hours poking around.

Drove a little more before we reached the place for the blindfold train. It was so much fun! JD led the train and I was the last carriage, which was great as I wasn't responsible for leading another blind person, I just had to hang on to John and follow to the magic viewing spot. The unveiling was amazing and took my breath away. Stunning.

We spent only 10 mins there as we were going up in the helicopter for a better view later on.

We drove some more and ended up at the helicopter place at 4 for a 4.30 departure. We had to be weighed so they could seat us strategically in the chopper. There was 3 in the front and 4 seats in the back but only 6 of us went. I got a good spot next to the window in the back row and a spare seat beside me so I wasn't squished. The flight went for 45 mins and was amazing! I hope my pix come out ok, because of where the sun was at that time of day, a lot of the time I could see my pink shirt in the reflection.

After that JD picked us up and we drove down the road to check into our motel. Oh boy, double beds again!! It's too good to be true!! Definately prefer these over bunk beds in hostels!

We then had a meeting in JD's room where he went over all the different hikes you can do and we made decisions and plans for tomorrow, including survival skills like take lots of water and peanuts for the salt. We even made sandwiches to take as there is no shops or cafes in the Grand Canyon!

After that we just went to the little shops across the road for a get yr own dinner. I had pizza with Chris & John, and afterwards we went to the general store for supplies.

Oh boy I'm excited!! We're getting up super early to go and watch the sun rise over the Grand Canyon! Meeting for breaky in JD's room at 4am....yikes!!!

Better get some sleep!!

Later,
Tracey.