Grand Canyon Part II

On the last post I recapped our day one visit to the Grand Canyon. Today we are going to see pictures of our hike. We knew since we had decided we were going to the GC we were going to hike down into it, we just didn't know how far down. We knew we weren't going all the way down to the bottom because Lord knows I would have had to spend much more time (MUCH MORE) at the gym to get ready for a hike all the way down to the bottom. We read some info about the trails and all the experts said if this was your first time hiking the GC (me-check), or you were leaving late (check), or you didn't have the proper equipment to spend the night (check) you should do the 3 mile round trip down Bright Angel trail. So that's the trail we did. I think I might have mentioned yesterday a time or two that it was FREEZING and Saturday morning for our hike was no different. We were totally dressed in layers. Which is new for me! I've hiked numerous times growing up and even as an adult. I've never hiked in pants, jackets and scarfs before! The canyon requires layers however because it's much warmer as you hike down.

Here are some pictures as we started our hike. The weather was chilly, but less windy than the day before. It was also very clear which made for some nice shots!

LOL These look like the same picture! Oh well, they are pretty!

As we started our descent down we saw......SNOW!

I know, I know, it's not a lot! But, I can safely say this is the most snow I've seen all winter long! So, it's a lot to me! :)

Lance kept taking pictures on the way down and I don't know how he was doing it. I would have totally tripped over something and fallen flat on my face.

He even took pictures of himself! hahahaha silly guy!Here are some sights as we head down the mountain.

On our way down we had to keep stepping over donkey poop and yet I still had not seen any donkeys! Then we had to move out of the way for these guys.

At the rear was this guy. It was so funny to see him on his cell phone. He must not have AT&T because Lord knows AT&T would not have worked down there! :)Well, there aren't many pictures of the trip back up the canyon. For a few reasons. One, we took a lot on the way down, and the way back up is all the same scenery. Two, it's stinking hard to climb back out of the canyon. You're at 7ooo feet and the air is THIN up there! It's very steep and every time we stopped we were pretty much just trying not to die.

On the last post, I mentioned I would show a picture of the photographer house that was sitting on the side of the hill so here it is.

You are able to see this house on the last switch back on the way back up and out of the canyon. I've never been so happy to see a house on the side of a cliff before! That meant we were done with the uphill climb. LOL It actually wasn't that bad. It was the thin air that was the hardest to deal with. I did enjoy my rest against the rock though!When we got back up to the top we celebrated! :)We had a great time on our hike. And now that I've done the 3 mile loop I can't wait to go further down next time. I was so nervous when we first started out not knowing what to expect. But with the 3 mile loop under my belt, and knowing I can get back up the canyon, we need to start planning for our next trip down! I would love to hike down, spend the night and then hike back up! That sounds like a lot of fun!

Next post.......kayaking! And Vegas too!
Love,
Suzanne

Anniversary Trip-Grand Canyon

I love vacations. We tried to win that $229 million Mega Millions jackpot before we left for our vacation so we could vacation all the time. But alas, we returned back to work Wednesday. Only to find out the single winning ticket was sold about 20 miles away from us. Oh, so very close to us! :)

When we went on our honeymoon a year ago we had the most relaxing vacation ever! We never set an alarm and spent a majority of our days at the pool or the beach. It was awesome! We wanted our 1st year anniversary vacation to be a little bit different. And different it was! This vacation was full of a lot of firsts for me. I have never been to the Grand Canyon and that was our first stop. I hadn't ever been to the Hoover Dam, which was our second stop. I had never taken a kayaking trip on the Colorado River which was our third stop. I have been to Vegas though which was our fourth stop! All of this in just 4 days! We were busy busy people! :)

I will start off with the Grand Canyon since that was stop number 1. It only took us about 7 hours to get there from our house, and that's including an hour to stop and gas up and eat in Kingman. Kingman is where Lance's grandma used to live. Kingman is also great because it has a Chuy's!!! I only get my Chuy's fix when I go to Arizona and even then, not always. I think the last time I had Chuy's was for my Bachelorette party when I went to Spring Training! Alright, enough about Chuy's......I just really wish they had one in the OC! :)

After checking into our hotel in Tusayan we headed into the National Forest to check out the Grand Canyon. We had to put on warmer clothes since we were both in t-shirts and flip flops and it was freezing when we got to the GC!

I'm really glad we went Friday evening to check out the GC because we had some awesome clouds out there. I know the clouds in the above picture don't look so great, but they moved through (without raining on us thankfully!) and left us with some absolutely breath taking views.

Here I am reading a sign about 2 brother photographers who built their house/photography studio right on the side of the cliff. And there weren't kidding. On the other side of that railing is certain death. I'm pretty sure that's not a house I would want to live in. Gusty winds would make me think we were heading over! I'll post a picture of the house/studio tomorrow.I would however like to live at the El Tovar! It's set a little further back but still has amazing views. We really wanted to stay at the El Tovar while we were in the GC, but they were all booked. I'm guessing you probably have to make your reservations there many many months if not years in advance!When we walked out of the El Tovar we saw some deer come straight up the side of the mountain to start eating some of the grass. It was the craziest thing ever! I've never been so close to deer!And finally, some pictures of us!

I can see why so many people travel to the GC. It's so beautiful. We could have spent hours there just taking it all in.......but we were freezing, so as the sun got closer to setting, it was time for us to head indoors!

Next entry will be our hike down into the canyon!

Love,
Suzanne