The Canyon that is truly grand

We woke up early today and headed to the Grand Canyon. Even though our campground is on the north side of the Grand Canyon, it is actually three miles closer to the south rim of the canyon than to the north rim. The route to the north rim takes you on this winding, ridiculous route that goes around several canyons, over the Colorado River, and through the high plateau. We saw several deer, a California condor, and lots of cute little birds. We had planned to go to the north rim because it is apparently at a higher elevation, a little bit cooler, and a bit less busy than the south rim. It took us nearly two hours to drive to the canyon, but the drive was beautiful so we couldn't complain.

Pausing for a picture at one of the meadows on the drive to the north rim:

Once we got to the canyon, we spent most of the day standing on the edge (as close as we dared to get to the edge, at least), staring with our jaws dropped. We hiked a couple of short trails, one of which provided us a view of the Colorado River. The park was busy, but not as busy as we expected it to be. There were some annoying people around, though. You know the types: The “neurotic mom”, who shrieks and screams at her teenaged kid who gets within 700 yards of the rim; the “photo-happy family”, who focuses more on getting a good picture of themselves in front of the canyon as opposed to looking at the canyon itself; and the “cliché-spewer”, who says things loudly to anyone within a 3 mile radius like “Mother nature truly is the greatest artist,” then looks to you for a head nod of confirmation. Regardless, the views were amazing, and it was a day that we will never forget.

Views of the canyon:

Robbie sitting as close to the edge as he dares to go:

Jenny in front of the canyon:

The two of us:

We amused ourselves on the drive back with the "atlas game", aka guessing random crap listed in the atlas like state nicknames. Once we tired of the atlas game, we had a slight argument about the color of the strawberry mentos (Jenny says pink, Robbie says purple/lavender) before listening to some more of the book on tape that we are currently obsessed with.

We came back to our campsite right as it was getting dark, made some dinner (burgers, corn on the cob, and baked beans on the fire) as we watched a lightning storm way off in the distance. We watched the stars come out, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars. Right now, we are pretty much taking over the late-night laundry room scene at our campsite, washing our clothes and charging everything (computers, cameras, phones, etc). You never know the next time you will see an outlet, or a washer and dryer for that matter.

Tomorrow, we are going on a tour of the Glen Canyon dam, then we are driving to Moab to camp for three days. We are planning to spend almost a week in Utah, hitting all five national parks at the southern end of the state (Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Capital Reef, and Bryce Canyon) before we drive up to Yellowstone.

Today's journey:

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