Taking the Scenic Route

Hola Amigos!

Eliza and I have begun our journey south and we thought we would share some pictures and stories about our trip so far. We had a pretty crazy weekend before we left because there was a big music festival in Boise that Tim's brother was playing in and Tim was part of the band. So besides all the normal packing and preparing for a big trip, we were also seeing lots of cool bands and staying out way past our bedtime, but it was a lot of fun and we figured that we could "siesta" when we got to Mexico :)

On Tuesday March 25th we said our tearful goodbyes to our family and hit the road down through Utah. On our way out of town, the car was running kinda rough and the engine light came on, which is a bit disconcerting when you about to drive 1000 miles. But after praying and driving a ways, things settled down and we decided that it must have been some bad gas because it hasn't been a problem since.

Wednesday and Thursday we explored Bryce Canyon National Park, which is quite a bit colder in March, due to the elevation, than other times I've visited in the summer. We actually got a couple of inches of snow overnight and decided that sleeping inside the car was a better idea than the tent. Somehow we managed to move all our luggage into the front 2 seats so that we could stretch out in the back and it worked pretty well, although I'm not totally convinced that the "ice box effect" of being encased in metal and glass is much warmer than a tent. We took a nice walk down into the canyon and were impressed by the contrast of the bright red rocks formations against the white snow.

From there it was on to Zion National Park which we came to through the east entrance. We were blown away by the scale of the rock walls that towered above us as we drove in. We managed to grab one of the last available spots in the campground, which was a blessing because we didn't have reservations and it was Spring Break weekend. We did some more hiking around the park into a hidden canyon and also walked up a freezing cold river for over an hour until we couldn't feel our feet.

Our next stop was at the Grand Canyon where we were able to watch the sun set over the rim of the canyon. On the top of Eliza's wish list for our visit was to walk down into the canyon a ways, she was dealing with some knee trouble after previous hikes and wasn't sure if she could make it far. To her great joy her knees felt great the day we went down and she was able to go down further into the canyon than originally planned (5km, decending 1,100+ft). Of course then Tim wanted to go further! We felt like we able to experience it more up close and personal than you can when you are just looking at it from the overlooks above.

It was an awesome week of exploring and seeing some amazing parts of the American West. By now, as you might imagine, we were ready for a shower, real food and a warm bed, which we were kindly given by friends, Dave and Stacy Mansfield in Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas. We had a nice couple days with them and their kids and getting caught up on rest and doing some laundry before our last push down to Tijuana.

So (spoiler alert!) we are now safely at the YWAM base, which is situated between Tijuana and Rosarito, but we will wait to send out a separate post about our first days and impressions which we will write up in the next few days. Thank you for your prayers for a good, safe trip down and we hope that you can enjoy the journey along with us as we share our experiences from our school through this blog.

Until next time,

Tim and Eliza

P.S. Check out our photos from the trip on Eliza's facebook...

#ontheroad #nature #hiking #mexico #travel #adventure