We woke up dark and early in Albuquerque - my alarm went off at 5 am and at that time in the morning all I could manage to say was, "GO!" to Judy - get her moving to get ready for the day. I had the car all packed up and we were ready to roll by 5:35 am (that might be a record for Judy!). We plowed on into clouds and fog, then snow sometime around the New Mexico-Arizona border. Finally, sometime after noon, we rolled into Grand Canyon National Park. It was snowing lightly, with some snow on the roads and lots of clouds and fog. We went to the Visitor's Center on the South Rim and walked out to Mather Point to check out the view. Despite the fog (and cold-cold temperatures), it was beautiful and completely worth the two hour detour.
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| iced over shrubbery |
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| judy and me at the grand canyon |
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| looking deep down into the snowy canyon |
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| about the most expansive view we got |
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| yep, bike rentals are still available! |
We headed back toward Highway 40 and stopped for lunch in the quaint town of Williams at Pine Country Restaurant which was decorated with fun signs.
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| williams, az |
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| fun signs |
The rest of the day was spent driving with a purpose - the goal was to meet Debbie in Santa Clarita to watch the Hobbit (in 3D), early enough for Debbie to be at work by 8:00 the next morning, AND it is nearly a three hour movie! Despite snow and pouring rain, we got there in time for a quick dinner of pho and enjoyed the movie before crashing for the night at Judy's place.
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| there was only one person besides debbie, judy, and me in the theater! |
I slept in for a bit the next morning before heading back up to Northern California. It was an uneventful, sunny drive, and I arrived at my parents's place before 3:00 pm. Unpacking the car took the better part of an hour, followed by some sorting and rearranging of my stuff. We then headed up to Newark for Chinese dinner with my mom's Taiko drumming friends. I sorted and repacked a bunch of my belongings for temporary storage in the garage since we expected a houseful for Christmas and I was leaving again the next day.
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| taiko buddies carol jo, jen, and mama |
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