The Grand Canyon

If there is anything that this trip has reinforced for me, it is that Todd and I have an exceptional ability to find ordinary people willing to be extraordinarily nice. Aside from the amazing people that let us stay with them, we somehow get discounts almost everywhere. And I don't know we pull it off. Just from our journey, there was the restaurant in Beverly Hills, the waiter at the Chinese food restaurant let Todd share our buffet, the winery that sold us a bottle of wine at a 30% off, and today the Grand Canyon we got to see for free--it usually costs $25. These things weren't pre-arranged, they did not exist before we got there. Take the Grand Canyon--we just pull up to the booth after driving something like 2 hours from the interstate. Todd tells the woman that we are just driving through, but she insists on the $25 charge. Todd gets a little upset, and he just responds, "why?!" And when she starts going in to details about what the money is used for, I lean over and say with plainness and certainty, "We're broke. We have no money." I think it probably looked that way, too, with the car covered in a layer of dust and dirt, the inside trashed, and Ines passed out in the back. She almost did not hesitate before she winked at us and asked us if we were visiting someone inside.... A few nods later, we were in and hey we got to see the Grand Canyon. How cool. Enjoy the pictures.