Saturday, March 15, 2008

Grand Canyon

Today we drove up north to the Grand Canyon. It is simply impossible to get your head around just how big that hole is. You stand there and look at it, and yet it still seems so unreal. The north rim of the canyon, from where we stood, looked like a painted veil; it had lost all sense of three dimensionality.

We have heard the many warnings: Do not climb over the fences. Most people die while taking photographs. Most of the people are men. Children almost never fall over; it's always adult men. (Because they get over confident.)

So we made a pact with the boys: I won't go near the edge if they didn't.

We also learned that it is not possible to make a "day trip" to the bottom. Of course, getting down is no problem at all. But most people cannot get back up in the same day, and get trapped in precarious spots requiring rescue. No thanks.

So we didn't venture far from the parking lot trail. Not so much for the safety issues, as much as it was freezing and very windy. Luke also managed to pick up some prickly pear spines in his shoes, so he hobbled around most of the day being miserable.

In the end, we saw the Imax film, which was wonderful.

Here are some photos from the day.

  1. Our humble abode on Roadrunner Drive in Sedona.
  2. Chimney Rock sits right in our back yard.
  3. A nice panoramic of Sedona's city streets.
  4. This was a nifty little tourist store near the Kaibob National Forest.
  5. Our first Grand Canyon vista.
  6. Eddie and Luke posing at the Canyon.


  1. Becky and Kathleen at the Park.
  2. Another nice vista of the Grand Canyon.
  3. Outside the Grand Canyon. I loved these clouds!
  4. On our way back through Oak Creek Canyon, the road, AZ-89 Alt., looked relatively straight north-and-south... that is, until we zoomed in on the GPS.
  5. The moon over Slide Rock State Park.



  1. Another gorgeous vista with more amazing clouds at Slide Rock State Park.
  2. Ed on the Oak Creek.
  3. My turn.
  4. Back near Sedona, you can't miss Snoopy Rock.

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