Oct. 6/13 – I left Vancouver by water and got home by land…..
On day 4 of my trip, I was surprised to realize that I was homesick. Perhaps it’s because this is the first trip I am on without Deon within the last 2 years. Or, perhaps I am just anxious that I was leaving him “alone.” This feeling really discourages me now from travelling alone in the future, or at least not till Deon is bit more mature and independent.
My trip started with a 3-night cruise from Vancouver to LA with my mom and my 2 sisters (Julie and Lisa) plus their husbands (Ricky & David) plus my niece (Cadence) and nephew (Lucas). Golden Princess that weighs 109,000 tons can carry 2600 passengers and 1100 crew.
After we got to LA, we split up from Lisa’s family. They went to Disneyland while we rented a car to drive to Arizona after staying for a night in LA. We stayed with friends in Scottsdale for 4 nights, then I joined Captain Neil on a road trip, while Julie, Ricky and Mom flew home.
Our first stop was Sedona which is located in North Arizona, 2 hours from Phoenix. It is surrounded by RED sandstone canyons and rocks. Thanks to Davina for suggesting that we visit the Enchantment Resort for the view of the cliff. Luckily, our timing was great. We arrived at sunset and so we saw the shades of the rock changing colour right before our eyes. It reminded me of the sunrise in Taj Mahal, India 18 months ago. But to be honest, I was actually more WOW-ed by the sunset I saw here.
Our next stop was Grand Canyon (a place that I’ve been wanting to visit since 25 years ago) which turned out to be the highlight in these 2 weeks. The $76 entrance fee which included lunch, bus transfer to the viewing points and skywalk (constructed by David Jin in 2007 and cost $31M). The Grand Canyon is 450km long, 30 km wide and has a maximum depth of 1800 meters. We went to the West Canyon which is on a native-owned land. The real highlight was being able to go right to the edge of the canyon that had no fence to hold on to and to secure us. It was all worth it! The view was fantastic and frightening at the same time. Some of the other tourists thought that we were crazy to walk so close to the edge for the photos. I will be very shocked and disappointed if this Grand Canyon did not already make it to the “natural wonders of the world” list!
After the Grand Canyon, we ended up in Las Vegas where we stayed for 2 nights before heading to Reno which is a city I’ve also been wanting to visit since 20 years ago. Reno is a lot smaller and very quiet compared with Vegas. While visiting these 2 gambling cities and every time I looked at the faces of those old people in front of the slot machines, the 3 words that came to my mind were PLS (Pathetic, Lonely, Sad). I really hope I won’t be one of them 20 years from now.
The last stop of my 3300 km road trip was Lake Tahoe which is well known for its many ski resorts including Squaw Valley, the home of the first US winter Olympics in the 1960s. Lake Tahoe is on the border of California and Nevada.
Feeling excited to go home even when I know the weather is miserable is a real sign of my “recurring” disease called “HOMESICKNESS”…. I guess the timing isn’t so bad since I have agreed on doing 2 different projects over the last 10 days. Therefore I won’t have much time for leisure travel anymore…. At least, not now.
Originally posted on Amy’s travel blog: TravelwithAmy.ca