Disclaimer: This blog entry wasn’t written until 17 years after the trip. It should be noted that it was a huge mistake to have not written it way back when. Sometimes, after writing so much about other days, it happens that at the time directly after the trip (or even during), I convince myself that the details are not that important. Years later, these details are that important, and pulling them out of foggy memories is difficult. The photos help and often leave clues, and then Caroline’s memories are usually far clearer than mine. With that said, here goes.

Here, we are approaching the conclusion of an incredibly ambitious, maybe overly ambitious, trip that took in 9 states over 16 days. Our overnight was at Jacob Lake Inn, where we snagged a cabin; we were about to have breakfast at their restaurant.

Under incredibly clear skies, we are driving down to the north rim here in the Grand Canyon National Park, our 14th National Park or Monument of this trip.

Talk about choosing the right day to be here.

The south rim looks like it’s a stone’s throw away, while the San Francisco Peaks over in Flagstaff are about 60 miles away as the crow flies but about 200 by car.

You might notice that we were not out here for sunrise, nor will we be on hand for sunset, which is all okay as there’s no small amount of exhaustion going on. Then again, this kind of visibility is outrageous.

While this side of the Grand Canyon is not as busy as the south rim, how we calculated our arrival when absolutely nobody else was here will have to remain a mystery.

As I said, no one else is here with us.

Just us and this tree.

As I stop to really look at this photo of mother and daughter, I’m realizing that there are more photos of these two together in the United States than were ever taken of them in Germany where they were born and Jutta still lives.

We are now on our way home; if only that were our home over there.

The Vermillion Cliffs area of our state of Arizona is one of our great treasures, but rarely, if ever, have I heard anyone else mention them.

From here, we’ll turn south and, in about 4 hours, be pulling into the driveway of the place we live. Here is the Navajo Bridge.

Both the new and the old Navajo Bridges cross the Colorado River. The old one is now only used for foot traffic while foot traffic is forbidden on the newer road bridge.

So, as I wrote in my disclaimer in the previous days’ posts, these entries have been written between 15 and 17 years after the events of the days covered. There was indeed a two-year gap in finishing the writing and photo prep due to losing track of working on this sequence, with other things grabbing my attention, but now they are done. While lacking the granular details, I’d like to have reminisced with, at least we now have a comprehensive visual record with minor tidbits brought to the blog, which will allow a greater chance of us stumbling into the images than when they sit in storage on a hard drive. Writing today, I think back to when my mother-in-law still had the ability to join us for such grueling adventures and wish we could share these old memories with her, but she’s in assisted living these days, and cognitive issues limit her ability to follow what she’s looking it on a computer or phone screen. Another reminder to do the things with those you love when they can be fully enjoyed and then celebrated for years into the future.