The GRAND Canyon!

 

 

We found a campsite just outside of the park. We had purchased a one year National Park Pass while at the Petrified Forest National Park.. SO, since this was a National Park campground, we only paid $5 per night! Folks without the NPP still only paid $10 per night which is still a steal! We ended up staying here for 4 nights in all...

the site was literally half an acre big! we were so blessed

First morning, heading out to the park we encountered this adorable family of elk

First glimpse of the Canyon was from the visitor center at Mather Point. It was absolutely breathtaking. Mandy decided that 'Grand' Canyon was not a descriptive enough name for the majesty of the place.

 

This photo looks surreal to me.. just like when the first Spanish Explorers peered into the Canyon, led there Native Americans.. the Spaniard looked down, not impressed that the Colorado River was a mere 6 ft across! The enormity of the Canyon is so hard to grasp.. the proportions boggle the mind!

                                       A very kind man offered to snap a family photo.. it was so funny because so many times while visiting the park, we had people taking pictures of us.. asking us if we wore these clothes EVERY day.. it started getting a bit uncomfortable.. we were definitely a spectacle. To be honest, it gets tiring sometimes.. to always explain. Now, don't get me wrong.. we love giving a testimony of Jesus.. but normally people are more interested in what we do, wear etc.. like a reality show or something.. sigh. It was still fun to meet SOOOO many people! The little girls alone attracted a crowd wherever we went. They literally had 15 different people ask and take multiple pictures of them, standing by the Grand Canyon. It was cute.

Can you say, Eeek?!

Double Eek!

My nerves were a bit jangled by the forth day of daring poses!

Laura wanted a 'terrifying' photo of her too! All through our 4 days visit she would ask me to take a 'terrifying' picture of her..

 

We thoroughly took advantage of the park's extensive bus lines which run all throughout the Park, all over the place, whether you want to see the desert rim viewpoints, travel to the Marketplace area, or outside the Park to the hotel area.. I think they have 5 lines in all, running folks all over the place, free of charge to visitors. We took the orange line which took us to a few additional view points of the Canyon. We would hop off and enjoy the scenery for about 15 minutes before another orange bus would come along and pick us up. It was an easy way to get around.

 

 

Taking advantage of one of the bus stops..

 

Then we rode the blue line to the marketplace area, past the Grand Canyon Train Station..

And past the Grand Canyon pack mules which had just returned from a long days excursion

End of day #1 and back to camp to bed down. What a wonderful blessing to finally get to show our kids the wonderful GRAND Canyon!

Jerome, AZ

We had heard that Jerome was an old ghost town.. we followed steep and windy roads up to what we found as an old mining town, turned tourist trap! We were a bit disappointed but happily noticed a small sign pointing off and further up the mountain where we found an old mine and belt powered lumber operation, still functioning albeit mostly for tourist purposes. The old miner that lives up there has been there since the 1950's. His place was littered with old vehicles, machinery and even roaming burros! Grady was amazed at how well the old vehicles had been preserved- due to the dry climate. The girls enjoyed perusing the gift shop. A lot of the nick-knacks and figurines reminded me of my grandpa. Fools gold, figures of miners and their burros, panning-for-gold kits and pseudo gold buttons brought me back to my childhood and grandpa's mining laboratory.

The drive up the steep mountain was stressful with the trailer!

But the views up top were definitely worth the drive

We stopped off at the museum at the top of the hill and got permission to drop the trailer so that we could proceed up the windy, narrow roads more easily.

 

 

 

We returned to the museum at the top of the hill to retrieve our trailer..

 

On our way back down the mountain, our brakes started smelling hot..

By the time we reached the bottom of the hill our brakes were smoking! We stopped at a gas station for a while to let them cool.. the man at the station told us that it happens all the time, due to the steep grade of the hill. He told us that sometimes the cars come down with their brakes on fire! It was such a nice day, trailer stresses and all! :-)

 

After letting the car cool a while we pointed our truck toward the Grand Canyon which was about 3 hours away. After a few hours of driving we found a free campsite on the side of a forest service road and slept great.. until the bears came.. thankfully they only rocked on our back bumper and shuffled around a bit, looking for food! ;-) That was a looong night!