We're gonna keep on truckin!

Okay, so have any of you ever stayed at hostels while traveling?  I did a lot when I was in Europe, but have only been to a couple hostels in the US.  Well, the one we stayed at the past couple nights reminded me of why I love traveling that way so much.

First of all, it always just feels more homey than a hotel.  Second, it's almost always cheaper.  Third, the amenities are often more convenient. And finally, it is a great way to meet people from all over the world.

One of the things we're running into on this trip is that even when there are campsites in places we're visiting, most of them are closed this time of year.  And those that aren't are sometimes even more expensive than a hotel... now that is crazy.  One of the reasons we were able to justify spending the money on the hostel (which ended up being about $5 more than a crappy hotel) is that, a) it wasn't crappy, and b) it had kitchens where we could cook our own meals.  That means spending $5-10 on groceries instead of going out for a meal that would cost much more, you know, since hotels usually aren't cool with you using your camp stove in the room, haha.

We were also lucky to find a sweet little natural foods store in Flagstaff, just a couple minutes from the hostel.  We had some fancy pasta with us from World Market (it was called mother in law's tongue), sauce, and a can of succotash, so Ben just picked up a couple sausages from the market.  It made such a delicious meal... Check out the picture below:

Then last night we stopped at that store again and got some marinated chicken thighs (pollo asada), an avocado, brussels sprouts, and an onion... Then cooked it all along with some Spanish rice we already had.  I didn't even take a picture of this one because I was so hungry to scarf it down, but trust me, it looked and tasted delicious.

We hit the road this morning and stopped first at another place, Brandy's, that was on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives for breakfast.  We each had a specialty eggs Benedict.  Both had the obvious poached eggs, English muffin, and hollandaise sauce.  Mine also had avocado and artichoke hearts, mmmm.  Ben's had green chilies, onion, sausage and meunster cheese.  He enjoyed that too.

Then we were really on the move again.  We drove to the Grand Canyon, checked the south rim out, and hit the road just as it started to cloud over and snow.  It was really crazy to look out over the canyon - it looked fake, like it was just painted there or something.  Guess my eyes don't really have the depth perception to see it all clearly or something...

Tonight we'll be spending the night in Saint George, UT.  I'll have more for you later!  Oh, and here's another map: