Still wi ... No, impossible!

 

Since our hotel in Kanab didn't offer breakfast we decided to delay it until Page, AZ, about an hour and a half or so away. Once we were on our way I punched the name of the restaurant I had found online into our GPS. Nobody thought of checking the map again; we had decided on the route, after all. Strangely, we received instructions to turn left, and left again, when we reached the next little town, Fredonia. Something didn't seem right. Now we consulted the map – no wonder we were being sent back: we were on the alternate route to the Grand Canyon, and Page was no longer on our way. We hadn't taken into account that our Sun n' Sand motel was on the way to the smaller scenic route – also Hwy. 89 – that would take us through the Kaibab National Forest. Fine. Apart from the fact that we needed to look for a different place to have breakfast this was likely the more attractive option.

The road climbed higher, and the snow in the pine forest left and right of the road got deeper and deeper. The access road to the north rim of the Grand Canyon branches off the highway at Jacobs Lake; during the winter it is closed, of course, and the entrance to the Jacobs Lake Inn parking lot was framed by huge snow piles. Here, we thought, we had a good chance of getting breakfast: it was open. Open, however, was only the gift shop with its beautiful native jewellery and art; due to a current staff shortage they didn't serve breakfast at the restaurant, though we could order some to take along. Neither sitting outside in the freezing wind nor eating it in the car were desirable options, so, hoping for better luck in the next little town along the way, we decided against it.

Now the road declined until, finally, it led us parallel to the magnificently coloured rock walls of the Vermilion Cliffs. No more snow here. We met hardly a car on the lonely road, the stunning cliffs to our left glowing red, pink and purple even though the sun didn't break through the clouds. We passed the few houses comprising Marble Canyon, then Cliff Dwellers – no breakfast. We passed the turnoff to Glen Canyon, the starting point for rafts going through the Grand Canyon, and Navajo Bridge where we saw the condors on our first trip to the Grand Canyon ten years ago, though none today. The breeding-in-captivity program in the Glen Canyon area has been very successful, and there is now a healthy population of these magnificent birds. Finally, at Bitter Canyon, we left the scenic route to rejoin the bigger Hwy. 89. Traffic increased considerably: this is one of the major pathways to the Grand Canyon. At the Cameron Trading Post, right at the turnoff to Hwy 64, we finally found what we had been looking for for the past hour and a half: a restaurant serving breakfast. It had been worth waiting for: the 'Navajo Taco' – Navajo fry bread topped with chili beans, ground beef, lettuce, cheese, tomato and mild green chile – made up for the fact that it took to 11:30 to finally find a place to eat.

Thus sustained we were now on our way to the Grand Canyon, or rather Tusayan right outside the south gate, about an hour more on Hwy. 64. Once again we had made reservations at the Seven Mile Lodge, the motel where we stayed every time we visited the Grand Canyon. It was hard to believe that we hadn't been here for seven years!

It was just as hard to believe that we were once again back to winter, but there was no doubt: after standing at the Little Colorado River Gorge, only about half an hour from the Grand Canyon, pummeled by wind but in warm temperatures, the road continued to climb, and by the time we reached the eastern entrance to the park there was ample snow, and the temperature was not much above the freezing mark.