After our harrowing boat ride back to the marina, we were glad to be back on land (seeing rainbows), driving south to the Grand Canyon. We arrived at 9:30 (Monday 6/17) and, since Arizona doesn't participate in Daylight Saving Time, it was well after the 7:52pm sunset.. We were lucky to get rooms at El Tovar and walking in was like a step back into 1905... bellmen to carry your luggage (no elevators), handcrafted wood detailing, fabric covered walls and plenty of game "trophies" to top it all off, of course.
We got our first look at the Canyon was the next morning. It seems silly to say that it's huge because, well, duh. But I think that was all of our impressions- unlike Bryce or even Zion, you can't see where it starts or ends. We walked a bit of the Rim trail and it's stunning. (Matt and I also keep noting how much is handicap accessible in these amazing parks!) And, as with all the other parks we visited so far, we were told that it was unusually green for this time of year- again because of the amount of winter snow and spring rains. That said, we did about a mile on the "gentlest" but still quite steep Bright Angel Trail and there was PLENTY of dust, haha.
Both the Rangers and Hopi tribes offer so many interesting things to do, learn and see, but we were so flat out tired from our first exciting two weeks, we all crashed and did none of it. After good naps (funny- we all had the feeling of still being on the water while sleeping for days after we left Lake Powell!) we took in a pretty amazing sunset and headed for a late dinner at the famous El Tovar Restaurant. (All we'll say about why dinner is so famous there is "location, location, location"... :) )
The next day Matt got some good pics of the sunrise (the girls and I still needed more rest!) and then we packed up and headed to our next destination, Monument Valley. Despite that we didn't do much/ it was such a quick trip, we do feel like we got a good taste and know we will be back!
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