Grand Canyon

We had a beautiful day to see the Grand Canyon. The sky was clear in the morning, with puffy white clouds.



Approaching the canyon, you would never guess it is there. The landscape is flat and boring. At Cameron, where you turn west to reach the canyon, there is a small settlement. We stopped by chance at one of the shops there, and hit the jackpot. The items they had were real; jewelry, pottery, and weavings. They also had a case of Pendleton blanket things, notebooks, journals, purses and bags. And they had supplies to make jewelry (turquoise and other beads and silver findings) and weavings (the yarn was skeins from the Brown Sheep company, from Nebraska). DH tried on some cowboy boots, but didn't find any that fit. I found several items that fit, but I don't have pictures. I will post pictures tomorrow, before we continue our trip.



Then, as you travel west, you start climbing again, and you start seeing these gouges in the ground.

When we reached the gate to the park, the ranger was very jovial. My dad has a national pass to enter all the National Parks for free. (Anyone can get one after the age of 62, with a handling fee; my dad has had his for over 15 years.)



When we asked, he recommended Desert View and Moran Point. I have tons of beautiful pictures of the canyon; you can see them on my Flickr site if you are interested.

I want to try "stitching" them together and getting a panorama, if I can.





This is rapids on the Colorado River. I don't think you would be able to see a boat if there were one in this picture. That river is far away!



This is me, walking down the trail into the canyon. When I was at the Canyon when I was 8, I distinctly remember wanting to do more than look at it; I wanted to get into it. This time I got my wish; DH, my dad and I walked about a block down into the canyon. The warning at the head of the trail says you should be in good enough shape to run a marathon if you planned on going down to the camping area.



This is the same trail I am on after it winds around the wall for a while and switches back and forth a couple of times.



I left this picture full size so you could see the trail across the green plateau. Even the little bit of the trail I was on was nerve wracking. I was definitely hugging the inside edge.


The burros were coming up the trail. They only had packs, no riders, but I was glad we could get off the trail before they passed us. One of the burros was named Jake; we knew because they were yelling at him. Our dog's name is Jake, and he gets yelled at all the time too, so we felt right at home.



After this we left the park and drove back to Flagstaff, enjoying a nice soak in the hot tub before we left the next day. If you get any chance to see the canyon, make sure you jump at it! It is amazing.