The Grand Canyon is located about 50 miles north of I-40 and
for some reason, that seems like a very long 50 miles. On my family's first summer vacation out west
when I was a little girl, Grand Canyon was the last national park we visited on
our way back to Nashville. Thinking back
on that, I'm guessing that my mom and dad thought those 50 miles (100 miles
roundtrip) were a very long distance away from the interstate too --
particularly, since they had to be back at work in Nashville in just a few days
and had a long drive across the country in front of them. I think that is why we only spent 5 minutes
at the Grand Canyon on that trip (and still joke about it today).
As we were heading north, we stopped at this outdoor exhibit
of some very cool old cars.
After reaching Grand Canyon National Park (and saving
another $25 with our America the Beautiful pass) ,
we drove to the Visitor Center first to read about the Grand
Canyon and watch their movie...which was very good. Then we walked out to the Rim trail and got
our first view of the huge, majestic GRAND CANYON.
A very nice Russian tourist who did not speak English very
well took the next two pictures for us.
We just stood there and looked at the Grand Canyon for at
least 5 minutes (probably more). From
this small stone amphitheatre, I wanted to try a "selfie" shot with the
timer on the camera. I set the camera on
one of the rocks about 4 rows up...
...and then ran down to where Chuck was standing
and....voila!
The Rim trail is a total distance of 13 miles but we knew it
would be too cold and windy to walk that (or any hike) today. We walked towards the Mather Point overlook
which is probably the most famous overlook in Grand Canyon and probably where I
spent my 5 minutes in Grand Canyon many years ago. The views were amazing and I kept snapping
pictures the whole way.
This little squirrel in the red circle stopped to take a look at the Grand
Canyon too!
From here, we could see the Mather Point overlook in front
of us.
We could also see one of the hiking trails going out on that
red rock point.
When we reached Mather Point, there was a rock that people
could stand on and have their picture taken.
I waited for my turn.
And then we walked out to Mather Point for more awesome
views.
To our west, we could see people hiking down into the canyon
on the Bright Angel trail.
We walked back to the amphitheater viewpoint and just sat
and enjoyed the view and watching the clouds move over the canyon.
Most people have told us that you should see Grand Canyon
first and then Zion and Bryce Canyon because they think you will be
disappointed if you see Grand Canyon first.
But each one has its own uniqueness and beauty. At Zion, you are traveling through the bottom
of the canyon looking up its magnificence. At Bryce, you were looking from above at the
beautiful colors and hoodoos. But Grand
Canyon is just that....Grand! And we
have been very blessed to see them all!
After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove to Camping
World just west of Flagstaff. We had a
list of 5 things to possibly get but talked ourselves out of all but 1 of the
things on the list and used our $10 coupon to by some jack pads which are required
in some campgrounds (like the one we are currently staying it).
We were pretty hungry by now and decided to have our
"lupper" on Route 66 in Williams.
We cruised by the Cruiser Cafe,
but decided on the Pine Country Restaurant where Chuck had a
very good club sandwich and I had a very good hamburger. We thought about trying a piece of one of
their many pies (which they are known for) but we were just too full. The slices of pie were a meal by
themselves. Maybe next time! :)
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