Views of the Grand Canyon

So I had tried to post a couple days ago and just as I hit the button to submit the super duper long post, It vanished. I was so very frusterated that I did not even want to post anymore. I was sure I would never post again, but here I am. I am back. I guess that I just have to much to say that Al does not. And I have more photos to share than he is willng to take the time to post up.
So here we go again...

The Grand Canyon is truly grand indeed! It is so big it was, and still is, hard for me to wrap my mind around. I had to look at the areal views of the canyon just to get some kind of understanding of the size. It is just massive!

So the way we had planned it we were going to stay 2 nights at the North Rim and 3 nights at the South rim. The first 2 nights were nice. The campground was full but it was not all that big so it seemed good. There is a lodge right on the rim. They invite all visitors to the park to use thier Sun room. It is a big beautiful room with Huge windows and a spitacular view of the canyon. It was really very nice. They also have2 out door viewing areas that are great too. There were lots of people there but again it was not that bad. We did some of the trails that take you to more great views.

Here is one from a trail called Angels window. This is just about the best view that you can get of the Colorado River from the North side.
Well what you can't see in this little photo is that you can actually see the river in that cut out hole in the rock. I guess that I really should have used the bigger lens to get that photo. Bummer.
So after our 2 days on the North rim we headed over to the South rim. Now you would figure that because it is only 11 miles across the canyon, as the crow flies, That it would not take all that long to drive from the North to the South rim. But, OH NO, Because we are talking about a National Park here, It is a whoppin 250 miles around from rim to rim. Theer is only one way to go around and let me tell you it is the most boring 250 mile that I have seen yet. It is mostly reservation land that has nothing on it but a few shacks and fences. It was a long 4 hours around the canyon.
Any way we finally get to the South rim and it is so much more developed than the North We hears from a Ranger that only 10% of the visitors to the Grand Canyon go to the North Rim. Let me tell you it is the best. There are just way too many people on the South side. It is the same view and so much more peacefull.
Like I said we had planned to stay on that side for 3 nights but because of the people and the hassel of trying to get around there. They have a shuttle system that you have to take and there are just too many people and not enough buses. It is a major headache. We left after only 2 nights.
It is a beautifull place but man I would go to the North and skip the south all together if I ever go back again.
Here are a few more photos. The first one is a sign that I found in the park at one of the view pionts. I really like it! Great verse. The other one is a fun one that I caught as we were checking out the view.


I guess that there were a couple of good point about the South rim. we took the time to watch the sunset there. It was nice to see but I LOVED the lighting. It was perfect for taking photos. Check it out! My favorite is the last one.



Anyhow I was popping them off left and right.
So the second good thing about the SOuth is there was a Star Party going on while we were there. It was a week with out a moon, at night anyway. So every year a large group of ammiture astronomers meet together at the grand canyon and bring thoer huge wonderful telescops and let everyone usr them. They set them up to see the different planets and stars and things and then let you come up and look. It was awesome! We got to see Venus, Jupiter and 4 of its moons together and Saturn! It was the coolest thing. The girls were way impressed, especially Kait. Everytime she looked thru a telescop she was just like, WOW that is amazing. Saturn was the coolest to me. It looked just like a toy. It was just awesome! We had to peel the girls away even tho it was very late. We had so much fun with that. I don't have any photos of that part because I have no idea how to set up my camera to the telescopes. I did learn it was possible but I did not try it. Maybe some other time!
That is all for now. I will post this before I loose this one.
More to come...