The Grandest of Canyons

Sorry for the lack of pictures last time, folks.  It takes a bit of effort to get them up so I bypassed them in favor of relying on my written word and your imagination.  Besides, most of my better pictures have been taken using my "real" camera, not my iPhone, and those have not been uploaded yet. However, tonight, I am prepared to share a few more photos to add flavor to my posts.  

My original plan for the Grand Canyon was different than how it actually ended up happening.  But in the end, what happened was definitely better.  I thought Danielle and I would drive to Williams, AZ and purchase tickets to hop on a train which would take us to the South Rim.  When we got to the ticket depot, though, we learned that only one train departs each day and that it had left at 9 AM (it was 12:30 when we got to Williams!).  Fortunately, it was only a 90 minute drive on a very straight road to enter the park on our own.  When we got there, we watched the film in the Visitor Center to orient ourselves to our new surroundings and then walked a short bit to get our first view of the canyon at Mather Point.  I can't describe what I saw or how  I felt sufficiently so I'm not even going to try.  You'll have to go see it yourself to know what I mean...

The scale of that park is so immense I didn't know where to start.  Danielle and I debated for a while what to do.  I REALLY wanted to hike down into the canyon to Phantom Ranch and back up again but time and weather/trail conditions did not permit that.  So, it shall remain a dream until someday in the future.  Instead, we found a room to stay at in Bright Angel Lodge and then caught a shuttle to a small, unpaved rim trail which we hiked until we found a good spot to watch the sun set.  Then, we caught the bus back and drove to the Visitor Center where we joined up with a ranger for a special tour called the Full Moon Walk.  It was really cool that we were in the park during a full moon! The canyon at night is a totally different world and whole other experience.  We thoroughly enjoyed the tour despite freezing temps and we learned a lot.  In the morning, we got up early to watch the sun rise.  All in all, the things we did and the place we stayed made for a truly unforgettable and rewarding time at Grand Canyon National Park.