Grand Canyon National Park

Wednesday after lunch in Flagstaff we continued on to Williams, AZ where we met up with our dear friends the Sutters.  We had hoped to come visit them at their home in SoCal but they were on their way to NM for a wedding.  It just worked out perfectly that we were able to meet and spend a fantastic day together at the Grand Canyon.

Wednesday afternoon we hung out at the hotel.  The kids swam in the pool, we had a chance to talk and catch up a bit, A was able to take advantage of the mediocre wifi to contact all her people in Spain, and then we went and had really good Thai food in town (A's first Thai food!).  On the way back from dinner we happened upon a "wild west" show in the street--a reenactment of the famous shootout that happened there many years ago.  There was apparently the way it was reported in the newspaper, and then there was the way it really happened (they reenacted both!)  As a testament to how much journalism has changed, the "real" version was actually juicier than the newspaper report version.  Shocking!

For all the kids, including A, this was the first time any of them saw the Grand Canyon.  It was so fun to be with them when they saw it, although T's reaction took the cake.  He was so excited that he was jumping up and down.

After our first glimpses over the rim, we went back to the Visitor Center, got our national park stamps, watched the film, and visited the gift shop.

Next we hiked about a mile down the Bright Angel trail.  Here we are at the trailhead looking fresh and energetic.

Holding up the rock wall

Our lunch oasis and turnaround point, about a mile down the trail.  

Of course A wanted to find a way to sit on that ledge for the picture.... 

And here we are after the hike, slightly less chipper than before we started.  Mind you, after the kids sat on the bench for about 37 seconds moaning about how they were so hot and exhausted, they jumped up and were racing around the trailhead plaza playing tag.

The incentive of ice cream also works wonders....

 We walked on the rim trail from the Bright Angel Lodge over to the Main Visitor Center where we were parked.  It was the PERFECT weather... a bit breezy, not too hot, giant puffy clouds overhead.  And the most surprising thing:  there were no other people on the rim trail!  It was like we had the whole place to ourselves!  When we got close to the lodge or the visitor center there were some medium-sized crowds, but on the trail in between I could probably count on one hand the number of people we passed.  Amazing!

T with his trusty minion.  :-)

T loved the geological timeline that is documented along the Rim Trail.  He had fun seeing all the rock examples up close and counting through the years (we walked from the oldest rocks to the most recent, so we were counting down the whole way).

When we got down to the recent years, everyone had to pose by their number.  Twenty-one years ago these two beautiful people got married.  :-)

We found a few ways to entertain ourselves while waiting to see the sunset in the evening....