Welcome to the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
We ended up having some free hotel nights from priceline and Allison had a day off so we decided to get the heck out of town. Allison has been working a lot lately with her nanny job and her new job at Trader Joe's. She's a hard worker! She was pretty tired from having to work at 4 am the day before and I wanted to go see the canyon at sunrise. So, I let her sleep at the hotel for a little while longer while I went and took a look around. I got there just as the sun was rising. Our old camera got knocked off the book case...and broke. I did it....on accident, but we got a new camera the day we left and this was it's maiden voyage. I imagine, for a camera, it was like being adopted by Daddy Warbucks to get your first shots at one of the most traveled to destinations in the world. There were lots of foreigners there. We were probably out numbered by them actually.
Anyways, we got lots of great pictures and while there I got to identify a lot of awesome new birds for my bird list. I think I got at least 5 new species! These are some western bluebirds. I also saw some mountain bluebirds, juniper titmouse, nuthatch, and a common raven.
If you've never been to the Grand Canyon, look forward to that day to see how huge it really is. It seems to go on and on and at first look it doesn't look too deep, but if you look closer you can tell it goes real deep. Allison and I agreed it was so big it is kind of eerie.
They played a video that talked about some of the first explorers that came here and the first ones to float the entire river, they said it was lonely and foreboding. I don't see how they would have got out even if they wanted to. They would just have to float the river out because back then with no trails I don't know how they would have got out. It is really steep on the sides.
But nowadays you can hike down in because they have a bunch of switch backs and well maintained trails all the way down to the bottom and up the other side. We hiked down in a ways and had some granola bars that were twice as much as normal at the little grocery store outside the park. Definitely plan on bringing more food from home next time instead of getting it there.
Here's Allison! I was so glad she had a day off and we got to come out here. It was her first time and my first time since I was maybe 10 or so. I remember vaguely seeing a really big canyon and the visitor's center had a bunch of native american stuff that I thought was pretty awesome. Go figure I would remember a little fake tomahawk more vividly than I would remember the GRAND CANYON! It meant more to me this time. Seeing thins like this make you realize how small you really are and how big this world is. There are people from all over the world and China there. Then of course the enormity of the canyon makes you think of how small you are. You are not big enough to be an exception to the rules, so follow them and be nice to everybody you meet. This thing took over 6 million years to be made and grows deeper every year about the same depth as a sheet of paper. Every little action in our lives makes a difference even if they seem small, they will all add up, whether they are good or bad! It was a fun little vacation.
