Vacation - the Grand Canyon South Rim or is it the Grand Fear

We all enjoyed our travels through the Indian reservations and we took our time making it to Cameron, Arizona. This allowed us to stop and see the many roadside native jewelery and art stands. In Cameron we stopped to stretch our legs, and to locate a geocache. We also spent a little time in the store where we came across a native lady weaving a wool rug. It was large and beautiful. She had been working on this rug 40 hours per week for 6 months and it was nearing completion. This rug was priced at 16,000 dollars, which sounds like a very large amount of money. It is certainly more than I would be able to pay for a rug. However, if you think about it, this lady was making about $32,000 per year. She definitely deserved every bit of it for the amount of work that is involved.

As we left Cameron, the excitement began to build knowing that we were only a little over an hour from seeing the large expanse of the might canyon and so we picked up the pace a bit. Our first stop in the park was at Desert View.

I did manage to get Ginny to come out to the overlook to get a picture with me. She has always been a great judge of beauty and character, so when she exclaimed it was drop dead gorgeous I was happy to hear that she was enjoying the view. Then I learned that the drop dead part of the statement was only stating that if she did not get away from the edge she was going to drop dead, no matter how gorgeous the view was. I am proud of Ginny. I know this was not easy and this was about as close to the edge as I was going to get her for the rest of the trip. She says it is terrifyingly beautiful. She wasn't sure which she wanted to do the most--look at the amazing view or throw up! Lucky for us, she never threw up once--nor did she fall of any cliffs!

We spent about 2 hours are Desert View but for Ginny it was probably an eternity. As we got ready to leave I knew she felt very small in such a vast expanse. I found something that would make Ginny feel a little better about herself and a little bigger--a doorway just her size. This lightened the mood. Isn't she so cute? I sure think so and I sure love her and appreciate her willingness to go on this trip. (There is no trick photography here, this is the actual size of this door.)

From Desert view we made our way to the campsite at Trailer Village, where we would spend the next several nights. There was us and our little tent trailer among all the large motor homes, but we did not mind. By staying in the trailer, it allowed for electricity (something that you do not get in many tent sites) so that I could use my CPAP. For this I was grateful, as was everyone else because I would not snore and keeping them awake. It also allowed us to come and go on the shuttle buses that came right to the campground at our leisure and spend time visiting the sites around the canyon. Then at the end of the day we could come back to have dinner. We could relax and Ginny could unwind from the worries that had brewed within her for the entire day. If you think I am joking about the feels brewing for the day just look at this photo. I tried to make Ginny feel safe and at the same time encourage her to see the things that God had created for us in this part of the world. This is her SAVE ME DREW look! Kerri-Ann and John were a great help to her too, I would hold her hand and help her get close to the edge, and Kerri-Ann and John would go ahead and check out the cliff and Kerri-Ann would tell Ginny if she thought it was a cliff Ginny could handle getting close to. It worked well.

The first evening we checked out the area around the visitor information center. We arrived after the information center itself had closed for the day but we hiked over to the rim and got a chance to see the canyon at sunset. This is an awesome experience and one I would recommend to anyone. The colors of the sunset and the colors of the canyon cliffs with the shadows make for a spectacular sight. I would said it is romantic, but I would not know this for sure as I was trying to keep my wife from running away from the rim. While we were in Page she bought a new novel called The Lost Symbol and I think she would have just a soon been in the tent trailer reading. In other words this is one sunset that she did not find all that romantic. Note from Ginny: Actually it wasn't too bad, I didn't get too close to the edge, but the shadows kind of blur the depth of the canyon so that helped..but Drew's right, I wasn't quite to the romantic state of mind.


Early the next morning, John and Kerri-Ann hiked down into the canyon on the Bright Angel trail to the Mile and a half rest house. I stayed back knowing the Ginny would appreciate me being with her and also I knew that my knees would suffer from the decent and the climb back out of the canyon.

We had planned on join up with Kerri-Ann and John on the rim at about 10:30 that morning. They left to start hiking just before 6:00 am and figured from the literature that they would be gone for 4 to 5 hours. As it turned out, they were back within 2 to 3 hours. From the pictures I think not only could I have made the trip, but I think Ginny may have been able to do it as well. She has been up to Timpanogos Cave twice and this looked less steep than the trail to the caves. Even so, we greatly enjoyed the time we spent together that morning. We got a chance to go to the visitor information center and the park book store before we met up with John and Kerri-Ann at the Hopi House. The Hopi house is a gift shop that contained many arts and crafts from the native American Indians.

Speaking of the park book store and gift stores, we came across a book that only increased Ginny's anxiety and was definitely not on her list of books to read. The title of the book was Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon. The book chronicles all of the known fatal mishaps in the Grand Canyon. We found this book in almost every store and gift shop in the park, and believe me, falling over the edge was not anything Ginny needed to keep being reminded of. She wants to know what sick minded person writes a book like that??

That morning the park was also hosting a quick draw painting contest. Artists were all along the rim trail, starting at the El Tovar Hotel and West to the Bright Angel trail head. This gave us the opportunity to see some amazing paintings and their artists as we walked to the Bright Angel trail head.

On our way back to camp we stopped at the train depot. The train have just arrived from Williams with passengers coming into the park. The depot is just across the street and down the hill from the El Tovar hotel. I love trains and if we ever return to the Grand Canyon I hope I can come by train.

Later in the day we took a trip to the laundry and to have a shower at campers services. When we arrived, and all the time we were there, there was a noble guest occupying his rightful place next the the water spicket at the trailer dump and filling station. He did not seem to mind having his picture taken or the fact that we were around. Later that evening we actually saw about 20 elk bounding through the trees while we were waiting for the bus at the Hermits Rest transfer station. We were waiting for a bus to take us to watch the sunset. When we returned to camp for the evening we heard an elk bugling. Who knows, it could have been this big boy.

In hopes of another great sunset we headed to the Hopi Point for the evening. On the way we stopped at the Yavapia Observation Station. It is very awe inspiring to see the contrasts of the Pines that go right up to the edge of the rim and to look out over a vast canyon the is long and wide. From Yavapia point one can see the depth of this wonder of the world. One can see the Phantom Ranch, the Colorado River and one of the bridges that crosses the river. These are many miles away and you have to know what your looking and the lighting must be just right to see them. It is a 9 mile hike down to the river--a drop of over 5000 feet. We also located the Visitors Center on the North rim. It helped to have people on that side of the canyon who were taking pictures. Every once in a while you would see the flash from a camera. Without this this visual clue and the aid of binoculars I don't believe I would have been able to locate it.

As the evening progressed, we headed to the bus transfer site where we could catch the bus out to Hopi Point, which is on the road to Hermits Rest. This section of road is closed to all traffic except the park buses. Hopi Point is where many people go to watch the sunset and so we had to wait for a bus with about 70 people ahead of us, so we arrived at Hopi Point just 20 minutes prior to sunset. Unfortunately there was a storm on the western horizon that was obscuring the sunset. None the less, we enjoyed what sunset there was, and the storm looked awesome on the horizon.For all the anxiety and fears that Ginny experienced, I believe we all enjoyed the time we spent. With a few days at the greatest canyon on earth behind us, we would begin to make our way back north the next morning.

We did not make it to Hermits Rest or anything west of Hopi Point on this trip. I guess that leaves us an excuse to return to the canyon again in the future. I know that this is not likely but I can hope to arrive on the train and get out to see the points that we missed on this trip. Other points I hope to see on a future trip include locations on the Bright Angel trail like One and a half mile rest house, three mile resthouse, and places on the rim like the Abyss, Mohave Point and Grandview Point, and I would certainly enjoy seeing the canyon from a helicopter (Ginny would actually like this as well, she loves to fly and it does not scare her.) Maybe I do have a hope of returning something in the future.