We made it all the way to California, 2257 miles!!! And we are still married! After passing through the Arizona mountains we entered the barren Mojave Desert in California in the afternoon. It was 112 degrees!!!! Cliff barely got us to the campground in Barstow as our gas tank was almost empty. We are still not used to the extremely long distances between gas stations here.
Our plan was to visit Death Valley National Park tomorrow, but flash flooding damaged roads a few days ago and we are not quite sure which roads are open. The national park is an almost three hour drive from here and we will inquire about the roads in the morning before making the trip. I hope we will be able to go. I visited Death Valley 30 years ago and would like to go back and share this experience with Cliff and our boys. Our campground in Barstow is lovely, although we passed through some run-down areas on our way here, which was a bit unsettling, considering Barstow's high crime rate.
Of note: The campground has oleander bushes and there are signs everywhere not to eat these bushes as they are poisonous. I guess we need a plan B for dinner.

After a short hike through the desert at almost 100 degrees, we finally made it to Canyon X. The slot canyon was absolutely beautiful with a stunning display of vibrant colors.  We also found out why it is called "Canyon X". Right at the entrance, when looking up, there is an x-shaped opening towards the sky. Our guide was great and did not rush us through, which I heard can be an issue with these slot canyon tours.  Due to the dust in the canyon I did not take my camera and we only used our iphones to take pictures. The hike back up to the parking lot in the extreme heat and high altitude was challenging, especially since I had to wear extra clothing to protect myself from the sun. Unfortunately, my sunburn has now turned into an angry heat rash, definitely a heat rash, not monkeypox, making it very uncomfortable to be out in the sun.
Since we will be leaving tomorrow, we decided to wash our clothes and dragged two full hampers of dirty clothes to the campground laundromat. Unfortunately, the machine to obtain quarters for the dryer ran out of quarters and we were stuck at 10pm with two large loads of wet clothes. Therefore, we enjoyed our last night here surrounded by laundry hanging everywhere. Tomorrow we leave Lake Powell and get on the road to Barstow, California. 

We made it to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon today. Thirty years after coming to this country I finally saw the mighty Grand Canyon! It is enormous, vast, and spectacular. It is also a photographer's paradise. I took hundreds of pictures, using this opportunity to try out new settings on my camera and learn more about photography.  I walked a tremendous amount to get my pictures, but soon had to slow down as I could feel the effects of the high altitude. We were at 7000 feet above sea level and Cliff and I quickly noticed that a) we are no longer young and b) we are out of shape. But before we could dwell too much on the realization that we are getting old, the spectacular scenery captured our attention as we stood in awe of the mighty Grand Canyon.
Tomorrow we will visit a slot canyon; not the famous Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon, but the less known Canyon X. Our tickets for the Lower Antelope Canyon were cancelled due to flash flooding and no tickets were available to replace them. We only found tickets for Canyon X. The name definitely sounds a bit mysterious and science fiction-like and we are having a lot of fun imagining what might await us.