Rimming

This post is for Thursday's festivities.....getting caught up

His perspective

This edition may be short and sweet. We drove the south rim from end to end. A whopping 28 or so miles in a mere 7+ hours. We took the west road to its end at Hermit’s Nest and the East road to the park entrance at the Watch Tower.

28 miles in 7 hours….the Toaster may be up to 35 mpg by now.

Met some nice people along the way, including a couple of Cape Towners. That’s 3 South Africans in the western US….not bad. Even Wilson came out today to see the sights with us and posed for a couple of pictures.

As to what we saw….OOA. Out of Adjectives. Kinda like South Africa, pix are nice, but they tell just a fraction of the experience. A split second snapshot in time. They don’t tell about the sound of the wind, the ravens chasing each other and swooping over our heads. They can somewhat share the beauty of the canyon, the Colorado River and rapids from a mile above and the distant Painted Desert changing by the minute as the light changes, or a cloud floats by. But you have to experience it.

Actually, at this moment, the pix don’t tell a story at all because I haven’t uploaded any in a couple of days. I have yesterday’s edited, and will work on today’s 4gb (about 400 for the day) tonight and tomorrow.

OOA

Tomorrow, Saturday, we’re planning on heading to Flagstaff, a short drive south, for a couple of nights. Then to Navajo Nation and eventually to Santa Fe. Or, all of that may change tomorrow. We shall see.

Today’s observation….strictly a “his” observation, but maybe helpful to Brian & Jessie, Ryan, Jill & Frank……

The trip’s not a bust if the flight is full. Blasphemous!

Her perspective –

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon looks like such a little area on the map! We had a quick breakfast on Thursday morning and then took off to drive the rim. Stopping at every view point, some with short walks on trails, most with just look out points. The trip took us well over seven hours. The Canyon was ever changing as we drove along. Bright blue skies, some puffy white clouds and a little breeze accompanied us most of the day. There were big black birds (ravens?) soaring across the canyon and hikers down inside it.

The Colorado River appeared on and off, occasionally with rapids visible.

The ravens soared in pairs over the canyon, landing on bluffs or trees where we could see others already perched.

There were people at every stop – some chatted about the majesty and beauty we were all experiencing. With others we just exchanged the ‘where are you from and will you take our picture and do you want us to take yours?’

It was a ‘pleasure’ to speak with a couple from South Africa. Another couple ‘getting out of Dodge’ during the Olympics……natives of Whistler, B.C. told us how much they love visiting this country. A few people were travelling with dogs and there were several families travelling together. Plenty of room for everyone to maneuver in and out for pictures and views.

We wound our way through the south rim ending up at the Desert View Watchtower on the eastern end of the south rim. Built by architect Mary Coulter(who built the La Posada hotel in Winslow), its purpose was to encompass the widest possible view of the Grand Canyon. We walked up the winding staircase, stopping at each of the four levels until we got to the top. From the top we could see across to the Painted Dessert. Beautiful!

Based on advice from a friend, I made dinner reservations last night at the El Tovar Lodge restaurant. Great advice Cher! We had a great table by the window at the back of the room. The room was decorated in a lodge motif with Native American artwork throughout. Very nice setting. Very nice dinner.

We took laptops with us, and after our dessert of Irish coffee we settled into the lobby where wifi was available to at least check our email. Back to the room to watch the Olympics and sleep.

Great day!!!