Grand Canyoning

The day after the Tuzigoot and Montezuma business, we drove into the Grand Canyon National Park. Planning a trip of your own? It should be noted that it's best to do a bit of research on food options before going to the park without a picnic lunch. 

While we thankfully ate a large breakfast, our arrival was poorly timed, specifically in regard to walking certain distances between available food sources, times we would like to be eating and when these food sources were open (things close in the afternoon, folks). 

However, as I said, thankfully we all ate a large breakfast, so everyone was in good shape. That, and I had packed snacks for Rolin, which also doubled as adult snacks toward the end of the day. 

Details, details.

Lee and Rolin walking to the park from the parking lot. 

Justin with his sweatshirt on. 

Justin with his sweatshirt off.

It was a nice day for a visit -- clear, temps in the low 70s, a weekday so we weren't trampled by weekenders.

Because this is my blog, so I can say what I want to say, while grand, I was expecting more grandeur. I mean, it is a fantastically huge, colorful, mystifying work of art in the surface of the earth, but I think my eyes had been spoiled ahead of arrival by photographers' edited pictures.

I think another reason for my (I don't want to say disappointment, it wasn't that) lack of awe was because I was on edge and slightly terrified of Rolin escaping and slipping and falling, whether it be on his own or while he was on someone's back in the carrier. I mean, just a week or two before we arrived, someone tragically slipped and fell near where we were walking! I can't say I really stopped much to absorb the majesty of the Grand Canyon.

Don't get me wrong, it is pretty awesome. A few times I imagined being a pioneer, riding along on my horse, wishing someone would invent mosquito repellent already, and randomly coming across a completely impassable, colorful, enormous hole in the ground that no one had ever seen. But, after a while, everything started looking the same. And we had a long way to walk before we got to the (closed) restaurant, which would have cost us about $65 per plate, and 9 p.m. would have been the earliest we could get a reservation.

Plus, eventually Rolin didn't want to be in the carrier anymore. He wanted to run free. He wanted to show other visitors at the Grand Canyon that, yes, it is possible to walk the trail and cry for about 45 minutes straight.

Walking the trail, pushing Grammy and Mama forward with his screaming. Is he a future drill sergeant? 

Can you see the veins popping out in my hand? Death grip, peeps. Death grip. 

Justin, me and B2T2. 

Grammy making friends with another squirrel. 

Lee and Karen.

The view from the Desert View Watch Tower, nearing sunset.

We'll definitely go again sometime. Maybe when our kids have babies of their own (like, have to be strapped-in-a-stroller, can't-yet-walk babies), so I'm not responsible for fearless teenagers who think they can jump between rocks or scamper out to teeter on a cliff edge. Their spouses, not their overprotective mother, will then be in charge of threatening them with bodily harm if they're being ridiculous daredevils. If my kids are parents of their own by the time we go again, maybe I'll take some time to sit and stare at the world wonder.

Grand Canyon in 2042, anyone?