08.10.2021 - 13.10.2021: Part 2: In the Parks and Canyons

Calendar

08.10.2021
Valley of the Gods, Moki Dugway to Mulley Point, Goosenecks Point (San Juan River)

09.10.2021
Monument Valley, then drive to Holbrook

10.10.2021
Petrified Forest near Holbrook

11.10.2021
Drive to the Grand Canyon

12.10.2021
Grand Canyon (rain and snow in the morning), beautiful in the afternoon

13.10.2021
Drive to Palm Springs (CA)

Highlights

The Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley were certainly two of the highlights of our soon-ending canyon tour.

In Holbrook, we stayed overnight at a campsite in a bungalow, which immediately reminded us of our Alpenkreuzer and our countless wonderful vacations with the Buchser family in Elba and elsewhere.

However, the outfit of the American campervans is slightly different from that in Europe (see pictures). They would hardly fit on our European pitches. In addition, a different camping culture is cultivated here in the USA. The campers usually stay in their vehicles and are only regularly seen when they take their dog for a walk. The dog is a standard equipment of every motorhome. This is probably a precaution against unwanted guests if the revolver is not found in time. Milo and Pesche would definitely enjoy it here.

Quiet time at the campsite is around 7:00 pm. All restaurants here in the western US also regularly close at 9:00 pm. Therefore, we often have to hurry to arrive at the restaurant before closing because of our late dinner habits.

In Holbrook, we were reminded of the legendary Route 66, as it also passes through this city (and the Petrified Forest). We had already visited the endpoint of Route 66 in Santa Monica Pier. In Holbrook, we fittingly had dinner at the insider Route 66 restaurant, where we were the only guests (maybe the other guests had already gone to sleep)...

The Grand Canyon was the conclusion of our canyon trip. Here we embarked on a special adventure: we stayed twice on a ranch in a cabin with a view of the Grand Canyon. Based on the reviews on booking.com, we knew that the nearest restaurant was about 100 kilometers away and that there were no further shopping facilities at the ranch. Therefore, we already stocked up on provisions in advance, which proved to be necessary. However, this experience was clouded by the fact that the weather did not cooperate at the beginning and we looked at snow-covered mountains after the first night. Fortunately, the weather improved significantly during the day, but it remained cold the whole time.

Tomorrow (13.10) we are heading to Palm Springs, where we will take a few days of rest.