On our way to the next stop in Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon, we stopped at (drove through) the Petrified Forest National Park from which we also saw parts of the Painted Desert National Park.
I didn't get any good pictures of Williams so I won't be posting any. Williams was definitely worth driving to, though. It's 100% tourist town and geared toward fans of Route 66. We saw the daily gun fight that night. Or at least I did. Jake had the pups and Cricket freaked out every time they shot one of the guns, which was frequent, so they took a little walked down main street while I watched.
Day 8
We decided to save the Grand Canyon for the afternoon, since I wanted to get some good shots when the sun wasn't quite so bright and there was no way we were getting up before sunrise! After some debating we decided on a 1-2 hour hike in the mountains behind Williams. The map we got from the information center wasn't the best and we ended up driving through the Kaibib National Forest for a while and then up Bill Williams Mountain from where we had a great view. We never did find the trail and the pups decided it was too hot to walk anyway. The morning ended at a beautiful little lake in the woods.
By the time we made it back to the hotel it was later than we had anticipated so we ate a late lunch and relaxed for about an hour. I got out our map of the Grand Canyon and planned out our afternoon/evening there. I had asked my dad for some sunset picture taking tips so we planned our route accordingly. After packing our dinner for later that evening we drove off towards the Grand Canyon National Park!
I couldn't for the life of me remember how crowded it was up there and I was glad we had listened to my dad and avoided the busy lookouts that the shuttle drives to.
I took a lot more pictures in the few hours we were there but these will have to do!
