Grand Canyon

We made it to the Grand Canyon yesterday. From the trip from Flagstaff to the enterance to the Grand Canyon National Park, we saw an old volcano, lava flows and some ancient ruins. When we went to the ruins, it was about a mile off the road and we were the only ones there. It was really erie to be out in the middle of nowhere and it was so quiet. No birds, wind, cars, etc. It was almost spooky. It's amazing how people lived at that time and the way they were able to build their houses. It was quite a site.

Then we got to the Grand Canyon. It's amazing how big it is. We stopped at a place called the Watchtower and at a couple of different view points along the way. In one of the books we had, they recommended a place called Shoshone Point. It's on an unmarked trail about a mile from the road. We parked the car and took a walk. You walk through the trees and then all of a sudden there it is. It was an amazing view and we were there all by ourselves. We enjoyed the view for a while and then all of a sudden the wind started picking up and we could hear thunder in the distance. We decided to hurry back to the car.

We then got to our hotel room which was right on the ridge of the Grand Canyon. We had a view from our window. After walking the rim, eating dinner, and visiting the other famous hotel, we decided to turn in. Again we heard a storm coming. About 10:00 the thunder and lightning started and it continued on past 12;30. We dozed on an off but around midnight it really got going. There was lighting that was immediately followed by thunder...like it was right at the hotel. At various points through the night, there was lightning flashing every 5 seconds or so. It was the longest and most active thunderstorm I've ever seen. I wonder how the people that had hiked down to the bottom of the canyon felt about it.

I'll try and get a few picture of the Grand Canyon up in the next day or two.

Here is the view from Rylee and Jarret.

Day 7

Here are a few pics: