23/06/2005 : We arrived in Flagstaff which is the nearest town to the Grand Canyon on Tuesday evening. The town itself is very 'American' with little diners and old buildings everywhere. Yesterday we went on a tour of the Grand Canyon which was organised through the hostel where we are staying. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there but when we did it was amazing. The tour guide made us close our eyes and he led us to on of the viewpoints and then when we all opened them we had the most amazing view of the canyon. We ate lunch at a little picnic spot which overlooks the south rim of the canyon and then went on a mile hike down the side of it. The weather was great in the morning - clear blue skies but in the afternoon (when we were in the middle of our hike) a huge thunderstorm hit and lightening started to strike so we had to rush to get back up to the top again. It was pretty scary as the wind was blowing really hard and rocks and sand we being blown into us which made it hard for us to see where we were going. We managed to make it back up to the top unharmed but soaking wet! Not quite what we were expecting from our trip to the Grand Canyon!! We spent today just chilling out and wandering around Flagstaff which is a really nice little town. Our flight to Las Vegas is at 7am tomorrow so we are just going off to pack now and then its an early night for us as we have to be up at 4am!! We'll write again when we get to Vegas. We hope everyone is ok at home, lots of love K &M x x