Big Gash — Photos April 2

Just 5 photos each today and tomorrow, but since we’re typing this tomorrow, it is 5 photos each from yesterday and today. Got it?

It is fun, at least for us, to see how differently we shoot, standing next to each other with similar, but not identical equipment, but certainly not similar perspectives.

(susan here: Since we wanted to see the sunrise we were up early. Last night we agreed the one who woke up first would get up and wake the other one up. I woke at 4am and prodded Paul to get up. It sounds fiendishly early but we crashed last night about 8pm. We are not yet on Mountain Standard time. We are, however, on “RV Time”. What that means is we sleep when we’re tired and eat when we’re hungry. Zipping around time zones means time zones become meaningless. You do what your body tells you it needs to do.)

The goal was to get there for the 6:13 sunrise. Given we’re just outside the park and not knowing how long the line would be to get in we left pretty early, just about 5:30. There were hardly any cars at the gate. The park is open 24/7 because there are “iron rangers” as gate attendants when the humans aren’t there. A quick drive to Yavapai Point and we waited along with a bunch of other brave souls. It was about 35 degrees, and yup, the winds were already picking up.

After we watched the sun come up we left the area after 7am and wandered around. We visited other lookouts at Mather’s Point. About 9am we went over to the Yavapai Lodge and had 2nd breakfast. Susan’s was immediate as it was cafeteria style. Paul had to wait. And wait. He went to investigate after about 20 minutes. “Kitchen incident.” is what he was told and that they’d hop right on his order. At about a 30-35 minutes Susan grabbed the buzzer, the receipt and headed to the ordering spot. She asked one of the people next in line if she could cut because “kitchen incident” and now it’s 30-35 minutes wait time and “this is nuts”. They were very nice, and very surprised, at how long it had taken for a breakfast scramble. Susan was extremely direct with the attendant, still polite but with a “this is ridiculous” attitude. Susan returned to the table victorious with Paul’s breakfast in hand.

Afterward we wandered the souvenir part of the General Store located across the parking lot and got our magnet and a sticker for Susan’s water bottle.

We were heading back home when we talked about going to see if we could get to the Yavapai Geological Center. Paul thought it was too late. See, it’s a small parking lot compared to others in the park. Susan, the optimist, said “Let’s try. If there’s a spot we’ll park. If not we’ll go home. Maybe do the IMAX theater across the way from the Campground later in the afternoon.” There were many spots. Clearly we were in the park too early. Later we’d see why there were so many spots. The line of cars stretched to the 60 minute wait point.

The views from the Center were spectacular. The best in the park. No. Really. It’s the iconic views we all see in pictures. (susan here: with that huge panorama of glass, and a skinny metal walkway outside under the windows, I want to know who goes out there to clean them. Is it someone who doesn’t mind heights? Do they pick short straws? Is it the “new kid”? Enquiring minds wanna know!)

With that visit done we were in the park for 6.5 hours and were ready to go back to the RV. Life maintenance happened. Naps were napped. It was a good day.

Susan

Paul