9/24/2010 (Fri) - Visiting The Grand Canyon

Today was Grand Canyon day. We had a ‘really really’ early start to the day because only half of the clocks in here were changed to Arizona time. The coffee pot was set correctly but not the clock in the bedroom. It was set for Mountain time which is an hour later than Arizona time. So we were up at five instead of six as normal. So yes we got an early start. Well actually we just sat around for an extra hour so we really didn’t do much with our extra time. 

We spent the entire day at the Grand Canyon well not the whole day but a good piece of it.  They have a rather neat set up there.  There is a blue bus line and a red bus line and the two never mix.  The blue bus line is one where you can ride the bus, drive by vehicle, or you can walk.  We walked it and it was not all that far maybe two to two and a half miles.  They had many scenic spots to stop and view the canyon.  Once we got to the end of the blue line we boarded the red bus line, because no cars can go there, and it took us to another bunch of viewing spots and ended at the end of the park which is Hermits Rest.  The red line was eight miles so it's a good thing we did not walk it.  We road the red bus back and caught the blue bus and ended up at the visitors center where we started out.  I am pretty sure one of the attraction is at sunset time as many cars where arriving when we were leaving.  Was a good day tho.

We are loving the Golden Age Pass as it does not cost us anything to enjoy these wonderful parks. It was very difficult taking pics that showed anything about the canyon because it is just so large. It's 277 miles long and I forget how wide. 

The Grand Canyon

Who is the Oldest

The stone is 800 Million years old and let's see Jim is how old hummm.

Bright Angel Trail

If you look top center you can see a line and that line from the green grass to the top end is over a mile.

We talked to a ranger and she is hiking from the north rim (E8,000 ') to the south rim connecting with Bright Angel trail (E7,000'). She said it will take her three days as it's around 14 miles. They have camp sites down in the canyon. Who would have thought. In fact I saw three house down there and how they got the stuff to build those is beyond me. Maybe the mules.  They said if you want to ride the mules down to the bottom of the canyon you have to make reservations a year in advance.

Lookout Studio

And I should say also gift shop.  You can walk all the way to the very end and get a pretty good view of the canyon.

My pic of the day

I think maybe if we had flown over the canyon then I could have gotten a better picture showing the canyons enormous size.   It is just blows your mind when you think of how huge it really is.  Most of the time there is a haze in the canyon which adds to the difficulty in getting decent pictures.

Think of this as a small part of the canyon as a scene this goes on and on.

So now that our 'canyons' sightseeing trip is ending we will be leaving tomorrow morning for our three month winter home which is Mesa, AZ.  We should arrive there around two tomorrow.  Sun Life RV Resort does not have the office open on Saturday, so we are pretty much on our own as far as getting set up.  We have our lot number and hopefully they have the electric turned on.