Arizona & The End of Our US Road Trip

Our final stop on our roadtrip: Grand Canyon, Arizona! We had to time our arrival so that we wouldn't be rained out :) A few interesting facts: it is 77 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters). We took a short hike down into the canyon on the Kaibib trail.

The whole trip was 10907 mi / 17553 km long.

Marc's first time at the Grand Canyon.

It was windy near the watchtower!

Rain clouds moving in from the left.

A photo op at "Ooh Ah Point".

Finally we made our way back to California:

Here we were on highway I-40, about to cross the Colorado river which delimits Arizona and California.

Crossing the Mojave Desert before arriving in the Los Angeles area.

After we arrived, we quickly cleaned up the RV, post some nice pictures online, and within 5 days we had sold it. Overall it was a great (learning) experience :) Up next for us is a trip to Europe to visit: France (Marc's family in Le Creusot), Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia, and Sweden. After that we head off to St. Louis to start a new and more stationary chapter.

Idaho & Utah

We crossed the state of Idaho and arrived in Utah (10122 miles / 16290 km in our trip so far):

In Idaho we went to the Craters of the Moon preserve defined around a volcanic area (flood basalt):

Before arriving to the Craters of the Moon, we drove through this plain (notice the rain showers on the right). 

We spotted a pika—we had to be very careful to not scare it before taking this picture! It made a funny squeaky toy sound that sounded just like this. 

We climbed the "Inferno Cone".

Spatter Cones, a series of mini volcanoes.

Next we headed toward Utah:

On interstate highway 15, driving south, past Pocatello, ID.

In Utah we had to drive through a mountain pass high enough that temperature dropped close to freezing and it started snowing.

Our first stop in Utah was the magnificent Bryce Canyon:

3 mile hike into the valley.

An arch named "Natural Bridge".

After that we headed toward the eastern part of the state, driving on Utah State Route 24, which offers great views of the incredible landscape:

We stopped here where petroglyphs from Native Americans can be seen.

Close-up of the petroglyphs (in the center of the image).

We went to Arches National Park:

Landscape Arch, the 5th longest natural arch in the world (290.1 ft / 88.4 m).

Fiery Furnace—an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns.

Panorama of Fiery Furnace.

Delicate Arch.

Double Arch.

North Window.

Balanced Rock.

Then we drove through Monument Valley on US Route 163 (yet another absolutely stunning landscape!):

"Mexican Hat" rock formation.

Monument Valley.

Next stop: Arizona.