Our Not So Grand Trip to the Grand Canyon

The Holiday Inn parking lot glistened with freshly fallen snow. I had finally slept the best I have ever slept in the car whereas Chad had pitiful sleep. We packed up and headed out to find gas and a restroom. Not really hungry but knew we needed energy for our trip to the Grand Canyon, we found a Mexican breakfast restaurant and ordered a pretty awesome enchilada. We walked downtown and peaked into a camping store, an overly priced rock shop and lastly an exclusive Patagonia retail outlet. Practically representatives of the brand, we strode in to check out the articles of clothing not available at other retailers. Dressed head to toe in Patagonia, we jived with the cashiers and I tried to find some hiking pants. American thighs and a tiny waist are not what Patagonia tailors to and I was out of luck. Oh well. Chad meanwhile had been keeping to himself and had a troubled look on his face the entire time. Come to find out, he needed to find a restroom and violently relieve himself. Prik Nam Pla traditional Thai spice (diced Thai peppers in fish sauce) from the night before was the culprit and I was glad I had only had a taste whereas Chad had multiple scoops added to his meal. I guess his tolerance for spicy had been lost on this trip of anything but spicy food. (I guess if you don’t use it, you lose it.) Haha. Looking alive, Chad began the drive to the Grand Canyon. The snow was coming down and people on the side of the road took advantage of the picturesque landscape. Chad mentioned that he was looking forward to using his Canada rated snow tires and we raced around slow, newly snow experienced drivers. We reached the Grand Canyon a few hours later after dodging and weaving sight-seers. Unfortunately, the giant snow storm coming in hindered any view of the canyon and the rangers had said that this storm was one of the larger storms they have had in a long time. They urged travelers to leave as soon as possible. Chad and I jogged along the rim, not being able to see or do anything else while we were there. We were able to have our picture snapped from another tourist as I made jokes about the beautiful vast canyons behind us.

Adrenaline junky Chad raced out of the park going the speed limit as everyone around us was only going around 15 mph. He bobbed and weaved again around cars until we made it to a divide between two major highways. We chose highway 180 due to the lack of cars taking this road and we spun down the freeway in what seemed like average Minnesota weather. To everyone traveling, this was an absolute blizzard. We spun down the road ducking around cars with ease. Bless you Canada rated snow tires. Chad challenged himself as he stooped into the shoulder multiple times to let a plow pass or to dodge around a flailing cars. We came upon what looked like a major accident on a rising hill with over 10 cars stopped. After asking the parked car in front of us, we discovered that no one could climb the hill because it was too slippery. Chad hunkered down and slowly made his way passed every single car. I could feel glares and hear the voices inside my head from others cursing us as we passed so easily. We stopped almost halfway up the hill to help a car that had slipped to the right side of the road. Chad attached a tow rope as I reversed the car down the slipper slope to meet his other hook. I instructed the driver of the stuck car on how to maneuver when getting out of snow while being pulled and Chad took his place the Diesel Jetta. Language barriers and unfamiliar to the snowy conditions, the Indian family shook with cold and worry. I heard a baby crying from the back seat as the car lurched free and drove slowly to the left side of the road. We helped as much as we could but the whole lot behind us were trapped as they couldn’t climb the slop. They would have to wait for the nearest plow to come, which shouldn’t be too long. Chad resumed climbing the hill and the many more after this. By the end of the trip back to Flagstaff, Chad had successfully shaved off 30 minutes in a snow storm from our travel time that brought us to the Grand Canyon. I was just happy to be alive, warm and well. Serious, these tires are awesome and we didn’t slip once on our 2.5-hour drive. Hardly passed 7pm, Chad and I grabbed Subway for dinner and headed to the movie theater again to watch the new Starwars movie as if the snow storm travel never happened. I was full instantly and saved the sandwich for later while Chad killed it on the Ruben. Come to find out the next morning, if we had gone on the other highway while returning from the Grand Canyon, we would have been stranded as they had closed it due to extremely poor conditions. Holiday Inn housed us again that night and it was Christmas Eve. Hunkered down in our sleeping arrangements, we were again shielded by the falling snow.