I have always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, especially since it is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, so I set in my mind that this would be the year to make that a reality. I’d never planned a trip anywhere where I was responsible for coordinating everything and with other people who also had not visited the location. While the planning for this started in November, it took a few detours to get there. I’d been feeling burnt out on all of the other things happening in life that felt like they were colliding at the same time – job, relationships, health, random things that just appeared out of no where, which led to me dropping the ball on planning for my dream trip, almost making it not happen. After miscommunications, me taking ownership for dropping the ball with my friends, a revamped plan, and rescheduling from March to April, I found myself in an uber at 5:30 am on a Friday morning headed to the airport to fly out to Phoenix. I’d been checking the weather all week trying to figure out what to pack. It was projected to be as high as 85 degrees in Phoenix on one of the days and snowing at the Grand Canyon the very day of my flight. As a girl raised in the South, I was perplexed and nervous. On the plane, the blinds went down over the city and went up one nap, devotional reading, and viewing of Crazy Rich Asians later to a view of the desert. I was in awe. It was so much prettier than the images on Google Earth that just show the whole west coast as a huge, brown space on a map. I knew I was in for an adventure!
When I got off my flight, messages came in that both my friends were going to be arriving late due to delays. With 5 hours to kill, I called an uber and headed over to the Desert Botanical Garden of Phoenix, considered one of the best gardens in the U.S., determined not to let any time go to waste even if I was alone. Driving through Phoenix was fascinating for the simple fact that it is a city in the desert. When I got to the garden, it did not fail to impress. They had all kinds of plants native to the desert, a walk-in butterfly house (where one flew right into my forehead), and even a vegetable garden. I learned that aloe is originally from Africa, which is why it has always worked so well with my hair and that of Black women. In the background, I could see desert mountains spotted with cacti. Everything felt so new. It was calming, although also very hot to which I found myself taking shade underneath a large cactus. Towards the end, I was literally running through the garden trying to see everything before my friends picked me up. We grabbed lunch at a Caribbean spot (Caribbean Isle, if you’re ever in town) before heading on the road to Flagstaff, where we stayed for the trip. This was about a 3 hour drive, enough time to see the weather completely change. As we drove along, we saw the desert, what appeared to be a plain-like area, mountains, and the red rocks of Sedona, which we detoured into the town to see. They were truly breath taking. By the time we got to Sedona, it was definitely too chilly for the biker shorts that I had on. We took pictures and hopped back in the car for the 45 minute drive left to Flagstaff. As we pulled in to Flagstaff, it was snow flurrying. I had seen everything – spring to winter in one day. Needless to say, the weather was enough to keep us in the Airbnb for the evening. With the time change, travels, and flight, I had been up for 21 hours, so crashing was inevitable.
Saturday morning, we found ourselves slowly creeping out of bed with the sun already up, later than planned to start our 1.5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon South Rim. It was time for the main event, and I was excited! I truly think that Arizona has some of the prettiest drives because the diversity in the landscape in just an hour was awe-inspiring. We got to the Grand Canyon around 11:30 am, and it was already busy. After $35 for the car, we headed into the park and got lucky to find a spot to park very quickly thanks to my keen eyes. The canyon is not far from the visitor center. After walking a few minutes away, we were right at the edge and looking into the vastness of the canyon. It was stunning! The colors of red, white, brown, orange, and earth just seemed to go on forever. Before actually seeing the canyon, I looked into possibly trying to go down into the canyon. Walking was said to take 4-5 hours just going down, during which novices and amateurs have gotten stuck and needed to be airlifted out of the canyon. The other option was to pay to ride mules down into the canyon, spend the night camping along the Colorado River, then riding back up in the morning. Since I could not sell my friends on the mules, we decided to walk around the rim of the canyon. Honestly, I still laugh at the thought of trying to walk down into the canyon because we would have been those people needing to be airlifted out. The rim was enough. Every spot along the rim gave a different viewpoint, so just one picture can not do the canyon any justice. We walked the trail closest to the visitor center before taking a break. I honestly would have been happy to just walk and taken in that view forever. We took moments to pause, take in the scenery, pray, and express our gratitude for life.
It was 55 degrees, and the snow from the day before had cleared to give us nice weather for visiting. The South Rim had buses to go to different parts of that area of the canyon. We decided to go to the furthest part of the canyon and hopped on the bus for the Hermit Trail. There were 9 stops, but we were only able to see 2 of them since the day was winding down. We decided to get of at the Hopi Point first, as the driver said that it and the Mohave Point were the best views of the Canyon and Colorado River. It seemed like Hopi Point had the secret name of “Instagram Point” because everyone was there trying to get the perfect picture of themselves sitting on the edge of the Canyon. I must admit that I spent a good bit of time here as well to get some of my favorite pictures (probably to the annoyance of my friends lol. Let’s just say my hair was casting some funny shadows, and I was not pleased. The struggles of big hair.) At Mohave, I was able to see the most beautiful view of the Grand Canyon with the Colorado River flowing in the background. We spent a bit of time here just taking in the Canyon before getting on the bus to make our long journey back to the car then Flagstaff. Once we got back, we went into the downtown area and ate at a cute place called Craft Banderas Tacos where I had a brussel sprouts taco that sounds strange but was good enough for me to think about until this day.
Sunday was spent exploring Flagstaff, which has its own interesting history. It honestly deserved its own trip, or at least an extra day. I love history and science. Once I learned that that it was home to Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered, I made sure that was a stop on our trip. We were able to see the home of the telescope that discovered Pluto along with the Clark Telescope that did moon mapping for the U.S.’s astronauts that traveled to the moon. Afterwards, we went to Walnut Canyon where they had Native American cliff dwellings that had been abandoned. The last place we stopped was the Pizza Patio to grab food before rushing back to our AirBnB for my friends to watch the Game of Thrones premier (because it took precedence even over exploring Arizona lol).
Monday morning, as we drove back to the airport in Phoenix, I took in the view one last time. While the trip to Arizona was definitely a highlight as far as my adventures have gone, the thing that I was most grateful for was the two friends that accompanied me. The start of the year had been filled with turmoil and time to decompress was needed. I was glad that I did not give up on the trip when my plans fell through the first time. It still happened, just not on my timing. If anything, this year has consistently taught me 2 things so far. The first is that while I may want things to happen, I can’t always force my own timeline and have to be flexible and take ownership of my role in situations. The second is that it is so valuable to have people in your circle that can speak words of life, truth, and encouragement into you, especially during times it is not easy to do so yourself and when you’re resetting. Being in Arizona ended up being a bonus to having life poured into me by my friends. I am thankful.
What are some areas where you can take ownership for your actions or role in a situation?
What areas in your life that could use some more flexibility, readjustment, or understanding?
Who is in your corner encouraging you on your best and worst days?
P.S. My final lesson from the Grand Canyon was that my arms are too short for selfies lol. I tried to take one of me and the canyon, and it was majority my head and hair. I have always laughed at selfie sticks but am now strongly contemplating making that investment. Anyways, happy wandering!
