After Kuala Lumper we flew back to Albuquerque which was dreadfully long especially with my foot not totally healed. However, we had a pleasant array movies and Malaysian Air gets a 10 out 10 for online meals!
We arrived into Albuquerque full of zest to see my parents and of course our fluff ball dog Diego. My Mom and Dad had him waiting in the arrivals gate with a sign around his neck saying "Mckenzie". Well that charmed even the most weary of travelers! We had a wonderful Xmas with my family and recharged our batteries for the next few legs of our trip. My mom who is a nurse had my foot back to health in about 2 weeks so I was grateful to her for that!! We spent the holiday season reliving our travel stories and enjoyed
hearing my parents stories of babysitting Diego. The verdict was iron clad, they had spoiled that guy rotten and we could not have asked for better babysitters!
My brother Jon and his sweet as pie girlfriend Maryam were also there so we had a super time hanging out with them and getting to know her better. We will be seeing them in LA during the final leg of our trip as we drive back to Victoria so are looking extremely forward to that.
After 10 wonderful days in Albuquerque we,including Diego, flew down to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.I didn't blog much on our month in Playa Del Carmen as for the most part our days were filled with going the gym, lounging on the beach, spending time with our dog Diego and catching up with old friends(you can see the multitude of photos below to confirm that!!) It was the perfect medicine after our round he world adventure and a good welcome home to North America. Any traveler reading, we have been fortunate to explore much of Mexico in the past. It is a country rich with culture, both past and present. Throw any preconceived notions you may have about this travelers gem out the window and book a flight to Mexico City to start, this is the cultural and hospitality epicenter of the country and a good starting point for your adventure. Must sees: Morelia,San Cristobal De Las Cases, Oaxaca, Zacatecas, and Merida.
After our 5 week indulgence in Playa Del Carmen, Tulum and Cancun and an abundance of spoiling Diego we flew back to Albuquerque and hit the road for our U.S west coast journey back to Victoria.
We were driving through Arizona and knew we couldn't miss the Grand Canyon so our first stop was the awe inspiring abyss of the Grand Canyon. It being February and a bit on the chilly side worked quite to our advantage as we had much of the vistas to ourselves. I will admit, like the Mona Lisa, you see the grand canyon posted everywhere. And I was nervous it would not captivate me like some
of the other natural beauties we have seen. I was dead wrong. It's grandeur spread across the geriatric splendor of Arizona like high fibre cereal in a seniors diet. It just felt right.It was spectacular and effortless to get mesmerizing photos. I convinced Niki after roughly an hour to let me walk out onto a plank style rock plateau protruding nicely into the canyon. The view was terrifyingly great! My mom had freaked Niki out with numerous stories of people who had lost their footing or took the one step too far for a photo and fallen off. But with some
"promises to be careful" I walked out and it was ethereal. The jagged cliffs
edging down into the canyon looked like a tumbling abyss and the quiet air was a relief. Again, I highly recommend this time of year, in many cases we were alone at some of the vistas with just the peace and grandeur of he canyon to contend with. A word of advice, don't eat in the cafe at the canyon.we were starving so succumbed but a lackluster cheeseburger was $8 dollars!
We chatted for a while with a nice dude named Eddie who was from Miami but heading to Australia and after that made our way to the town of Kingmen where stayed the night. It's a good option for an in between stop on the way to Los Angeles or San Diego but aside from some casinos and fast food joints it was dry toast. Will tell you
all about San Diego tomorrow!!
Peace:)
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