Grand Canyon

Today was the day we saw the Grand Canyon.  We wanted to get up & out early, but we were dragging and crabbiness was abound.  We did not plan this day well, and were winging it as to how we’d spend the day and started at the Visitor Center.  The trips to the welcome centers have become a bit much, with the amount of encouragement necessary to complete the required activities to earn Junior Ranger badges.  There wasn’t much enthusiasm about it today!

The Grand Canyon mostly uses bus transportation, so while we were figuring that out we went out to the nearest overlook.  We saw smoke from a fire across the canyon, and wondered if that was causing so much smoke in the park or because of the Yosemite fires in California.  We walked the trail a bit, and before we went into the park any further ended up back at the car for lunch.  I made the call to take the bus all the way out to the furthest stop, Hermit’s Rest and make our way back from there.

We got off the bus and did a little hiking, but the heat was miserable.  We walked around the Village area a bit and had another spider encounter at the Kolb Studio.  Eek!  There were many old cameras on display there and it was hard to imagine the conditions they worked in when the park was being discovered and documented!  The Hopi house was another cool stop to learn about the architecture and visit the shop.  We hopped back on the bus, grabbed lunch at the Lodge and headed to Yaki Point to catch the sunset.

We found our own little area on a rock cliff and watched the colors change until the clouds rolled in and it was time to call it a day.  On our way out of the park, there were signs warning of smoke ahead so I’m still curious about that.  We were all sleepy on the drive back, and the kids were quickly dreaming away!

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