South Rim - Grand Canyon

WOW! We made it to the Grand Canyon.... I have wanted to come here for many, many years. Now that I have been (for only a day), I am even more sure that I would like to return and explore for a couple of weeks. I told the boys that I will bring them back when they are grown, and we will take mules down into the canyon, do white water rafting, and swim under water falls.....

We found that although incredibly "Grand", the Sedona area was much more reachable. I felt very humbled and small looking down into the depths of the canyon. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to be an exploring and come upon the canyon unexpectedly. I bet their first thought was, "How in the heck are we going to get across that"!

It is not viewable in this picture, but on the southern end of the trees down in the valley, there are a group of buildings. I believe that they are used for overnight accommodations for hiking trips into the Canyon. It really put into perspective, by how tiny they were, how far away it really was to the bottom!

It seemed to go on forever....

The one thing that I can assure you about this picture, is that NONE of the Grandparents would have tolerated the taking of this photo! I could not get far enough away from the boys (for safety reasons), to show the perspective from which it was taken. They are at the edge of a rock that hangs out over the Canyon (Can't you tell by the look on Blayde's face, and the death grip between them?). Behind them and to the right is the column that is in the following 2 pictures.

This is the first of a few bird encounters we had during the visit, can you see the hawk now?

How about now????

As you can see, there is a deep crevice between these 2 boulders, so we could not get to the tree, but the boys thought it was cool how it was growing out there all by itself.

Here is my proof that I did indeed allow the boys to "Climb the Grand Canyon" :-)

Our second and most memorable "bird encounter".... We pulled into this lookout and this beautiful Raven immediately jumped up onto the front of the van and started pecking on the windshield. He would stare through at us, peck down into the wiper wells, and stare some more. At first we were wondering what sort of an omen was being delivered to us. It soon became apparent that this was one of the really smart ravens in the park. We figure that he is trained well enough, that if he hears children, he knows there will be food! So, against all the rules, we started to feed him peanuts (when no one else was watching). He would fill his mouth, fly down to his nest and return for more. The kids thought the whole encounter was super exciting, and I have to admit, so did we!

Tamer and The Raven 'having words'.....

Our first sighting of the great Colorado River, which the boys were upset they did not get to see up close and personal. We went and saw the IMAX movie on the Grand Canyon before we went to the park, and the river scenes were amazing!

Tamer and the boys on a little expedition, challenging me to join them. My excuse was that I needed to get some pictures of them.... Much to the enjoyment of all the viewers at this look out, I was called a "sissy girl", and even Double Dog Dared, to get down there! I figured that the Momma's worry I spoke about in an earlier post, may ruin their experience :-)

Just a precious little blue bird that was awaiting the completion of our lunch on the edge of the Canyon, so he could enjoy our dropped crumbs.

FINALLY! A picture of me that I was excited to post ;-)

~Art of the Creator~

My favorite scenery picture of the day, I wish that pictures could really show the boldness of the colors, and depth of beauty that we experienced here.....