Full Circle

We headed out across New Mexico from Santa Fe, spending our first night in a beautiful campsite just south of Grants, NM, where we got to watch a great sunset as we adjusted to life back in Bones- we had gotten a little out of the rhythm of cooking and washing dishes and keeping warm during the time we'd gotten to spend out of the camper. We made it happily through the night with a bit more cribbage playing and curling up early in our sleeping bags.

The next day it was off to Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona, where we had heard about the ruins in the canyon. We got there early enough in the afternoon to do the only publicly accessible hike in the canyon (it's on Navajo Reservation land), and see the cliff ruins at the canyon floor. We stopped on our way back to the campsite at a couple of the viewpoints to watch the sunlight disappear from the swirled sandstone canyon walls.
Looking down into Canyon de Chelly

The White House Ruins at the end of our hike into the Canyon

Sunset at Canyon De Chelly

Sunday we were off for a long drive to the Grand Canyon. We had decided to take a secondary highway through Arizona, and drove across the Navajo and Hopi reservations that stretch out through the northern part of the state. We arrived at the eastern entrance to Grand Canyon National Park late in the afternoon, and had just enough time to pick out a camp site before heading to the rim to see the sunset. We warmed up with a cocktail looking out over the dark canyon, and then headed back to the camper for a delicious crab mac and cheese dinner.

Walking along the Trail of Time

The last of the daylight shining out on the north rim of the canyon

On day two in the canyon we set out for a short hike, the weather was absolutely beautiful as we took the bus to the South Kaibab trailhead. Sadly for Kiska, she couldn't come down in the canyon so she got a bit of nap time in the camper. We hiked for a couple hours, which was plenty considering the 2000 feet of elevation we lost and gained in that time. We were humored at the restroom stop a mile and half down the trail which bared a large sign with the words, "CAUTION: UP IS MANDATORY." Which seems silly, but it is quite easy to see how one might hike merrily down the trail a ways, forgetting they had to climb back up the whole of the distance they had come. We enjoyed our earned reward of pizza and beer later that night, and warmed up for a long time in the pizza pub before returning to the chilly night awaiting outside.
Kelsey at Ooh Ahh Point

Looking down and across to where the trail lead

Even Kiska gets nervous when Nate travels to the edge of the rim

Tuesday morning Kelsey got Nathan out of bed extra early so they could make it out to the rim in time for the sunrise. The sunrise on a clear morning out over the canyon is just one of those things that should been seen in a lifetime. It was also in many ways the perfect ending to our trip. A sunrise on a new beginning and a new part of life, even though it marked the end of our adventure in Bones.

Tuesday afternoon we headed off towards Prescott, Arizona to visit a close friend of ours from Sisters. It was just a short day long detour, but was great to get to explore the area and spend some time with friends. We also enjoyed two very delicious dinners made by Kelly and Danny.

Leaving Prescott, we had planned about five to six days to drive home, but after waking up to snow and spending the first two hours of the drive in a white-out that packed the windshield (luckily this was the first and only time we had to drive in snowy conditions on the trip), we decided just to B-line for Sisters, and do the drive in three long days. Bones has no heater, so when it's cold outside and the suns not out, it gets a bit chilly while we drive... Not to mention our water (and Kiska's water bowl as well) were frozen in the mornings. The first night we stayed in the town of Beatty, Nevada, right next to Death Valley. Then it was off to Winnemucca, where Bones got egged while we were sitting inside it parked outside the restaurant where we'd had dinner. (Seriously? Who eggs a peaceful hippie van? Bad karma for them, is what I think. Nate says it is a balancing of justice for all the pranks he pulled as a high schooler)
It's safe to say that Bones is not a huge fan of the snow

The last day we headed north from there and crossed the Oregon border (!), and decided to take a small detour from the town of Feilds up to the Alvord Desert, a place where Nathan had many memories of camping with Dave, but Kelsey had never been. Almost the whole of the desert was covered in a thin layer of ice, just about an inch, so we skated out to the middle to take in the beautiful day and scenery around us. Just a little farther up the road was a great hot spring where we took the opportunity to thaw out before bundling back up for the drive home.
Kiska was so happy to be out of Bones for a while that she forgot the ice could be a bit slippery when she had to slow down and break from a sprint like this

The Steens provided a great background

The sun set as we drove across eastern Oregon, but in the brilliant orange light we could start to make out the tips of the Three Sisters mountains, a hundred miles in the distance. We have traveled and seen many beautiful places, but there is never anything like coming home and seeing the first glimpse of the mountains that we know so well. We made it home about 7 pm, to a welcoming house full of friends and a very heart warming fall squash lasagna. Nathan is settling back into a routine of bar studying, and Kelsey is on the search for jobs in between holiday baking and time to run and hike in the beautiful Central Oregon December weather.

Thanks for following along on our Adventure, and for all the support! We had such a great time, look forward to doing something similar again someday, and encourage everyone to find the time for adventuring to some of the great places that surround us! We'll keep you all updated on our future plans!