My original plan after spending the day at Mesa Verde was to get a hotel room in Albuquerque and then head home the next day, but after being on the road all week I just wanted to sleep in my own bed, so I drove through the night and got back around 2am.  I didn’t even unpack, just walked in, locked the door and passed out.

There are so many things I’ve been thinking about, so many things I wanted to include but that just didn’t fit in my other blog posts, so here I go…

• The overall theme of this trip turned out to be water.  It rained, stormed or sprinkled every single day except one, and that was the day H- and I hiked the Narrows and I was anywhere from calf to chest deep in the Virgin River for 5.5 hours. It could have been really annoying, but instead it became more of a running gag.
• If/When I go back to the Grand Canyon, I really want to see the North Rim.  There just wasn’t time this trip.
• I’d also like to hike down into the canyon and back up, but I realize I’ll need to be in better shape for that, plus I’d want a hiking partner or two.  I’ve already started dropping some not-so-subtle hints to people about that 😉
• I’m pretty sure the state of Arizona hates me.  My tent collapsed in the Grand Canyon due to a storm, it started raining the minute I crossed into Arizona from Utah and I got caught in a sandstorm on the way to the Four Corners.  Yet another reason not to move there.
• In Zion I didn’t hike Angel’s Landing even though it’s probably the most famous hike in the park for a couple of reasons.  (1) We really only had time for one all-day hike and the Narrows was it, (2) I don’t think I’m in quite good enough shape for that (I could make it to the top, but it’d take forever and a day), (3) H- and B- had already done Angel’s Landing and, with the exception of the small trails we did, we tried to do some hikes that were new for all of us and (4) H- and I were more than slightly concerned I’d hurt myself due to a combination of the hike’s chains for handrails and steep drops and my lack of hand-eye coordination, lack of balance, lack of depth perception and general klutziness.
• I’ve now been to 4 out of the 5 stops on the “Grand Circle”.  Now I just need to hit Arches National Park in Utah at some point…
• Doing Mesa Verde all in one day was totally exhausting.  If you have more time, I recommend splitting it into two days.
• I had very decent cell service in all four national parks.  Weird.

Overall, my trip was 7 days long.  I drove over 1600 miles and took more than 450 pictures.  It was completely exhausting and I can’t wait to do it again 😀