12:07 a.m.Take a wild freakin guess.
3:22 a.m.Seriously contemplating putting Ny-Quil in a bottle.
7:00 a.m.Who wants breakfast?
Yah, that picture of everyone at breakfast there
That look on Drews face
Yep, hes mocking you.
Julies nervous about the trail. Weve looked at some pictures online, and it has everything you could possibly want in a hiking trail: a climb up a rock face, sheer drop-offs right at the edge, rickety bridges, caves
I mean, who wouldnt want to try that, especially while carrying a 6-month-old baby?
Im about at out of shape as I could be, but Id like to give that a shot. DW
likely not. And we no longer have youngens anywhere close to the infant range, but I dont see her doing more than waving bye and keeping her phone at the ready to dial 911 as I head out on my own.
I didnt want her to miss out on the views, but she said she didnt think shed be able to enjoy it if she was anxious about the baby the whole time. So she told me to go on ahead with the big kids while she stayed behind to nurse the baby and let him nap in the van.
Her turn to take one for the team.
Its an odd truth, but the word Parent is a synonym for both Selfless and Lunacy
As we move along, we encounter rock overhangs, narrow paths along canyon edges
Rickety, slightly unstable wooden bridges threatening possible doom
Partial caves
and the four of us agree that this is easily one of the coolest, most fun hikes weve ever done in our lives.
Certainly looks and sounds like it. And
You even found someone along the way that knows how to properly compose a picture.
Heck of a morning there.
Stunning pictures of some incredibly beautiful places as well.
At the risk of tempting fate, I might go so far as to call it auspicious.
But its unwise to tempt fate, ya know.
9:52 a.m.Were back in Arizona. Were moving along pretty well. Youre not going to believe this, but Dave has to go to the bathroom.
Shocking
Thankfully, were in the middle of nowhere, theres not a lot of traffic, and David is a boy. We use this time to reinforce the lesson that for boys, the world is your toilet.
And he gets in an extra hike for the day.
Albeit a fairly shot one Im sure, but still.
10:38 a.m.We pass right by the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park.
Tough choice there, having to bypass the North Rim.
Wise? Probably
Prudent? Certianly
But still a tough call.
Once we leave the pines of the Kaibab National Forest, we descend into the desert. The view gets a lot more interesting here, as we drive along the outer edge of Vermillion Cliffs National Recreation Area. We snap a picture here that looks to me like a classic Road Trip shot:
Thats a particularly mesmerizing image you got there.
Ya know
thatd make a good cover picture for someones Facebook page.
11:38 a.m.Weve made it as far as the Colorado River. So far, everything has been going exceedingly well.
Exceedingly good stop at Zion in the AM
Exceedingly good travel through the desert up to midday
And you openly defied fate by defining these events exceedingly
If I were paid to write screen plays, itd be right about here that Id start putting in a few mishaps and unforeseen circumstances.
The plan is to stop at the parking lot/visitor center for the Navajo Bridge, the distinctive span that crosses the Colorado. This is another spot that I checked out ahead of time on Google Earth and thought to myself, Self? That would make a perfect place to stop for lunch.
We pull up to the entrance and
Aaaaaaaaand, there it is.
Well. Thats inconvenient. Now what do we do?
Take a lesson from Dave
Youre in the middle of the great wide empty (beautiful, yes, but empty).
You can stop pretty much anywhere.
11:40 a.m.We cross the bridge. Just on the other side is another parking lot, leading to some tents where Native Americans are selling jewelry and other crafts. I guess this will have to do for lunch.
Well thatll work too
Luckily, theres a path going up to the bridge so we can still check it out on this side.
And yet, no images of said engineering feat made an appearance within the confines of this epic narrative...
Strange.
As I said, theyre going exceedingly well. Julie and I are very pleasantly surprised at how easy this drive has been to this point, given how much we were dreading it earlier.
There you go again
Remember, Fate does not deal kindly with those who disregard her presence.
Wait, was his shirt always that color?
Im pretty sure the car seat wasnt that color before.
Right on queue.
A full blown containment breach
That would be a suitable choice of interjection at this juncture.
Id better stop this journal entry right here. This is gonna take a while.
It could be worse
Were your name Clark, this is the spot in the story where youd have inadvertently launched the Family Truckster off the edge of a ravine.
That has to be what I attempted to go to many years ago. All I can remember now is driving down a very long and winding road (probably about 42 miles worth...), then finding the road/parking at the end closed. Couldn't see a thing. Drove all the way back and confirmed that, yes, the sign at the entrance to the road said it was OPEN. 
Not so much. And I was only passing through with limited time, so I have yet to actually see the Grand Canyon. Someday, though! Funny - you encountered a closed sign at your intended stop right afterwards, while I was still thinking about this.
Guess that explains why he looked so happy earlier - he had PLANS. Or maybe he was expressing his displeasure at being left out of the hike. Thank goodness he didn't go with and do that on the hike, I guess. 
not so much!
I like the way you think!
