After the early morning wake up call, breakfast began with scrambled eggs and bacon. Whoever is on the fence with bacon should have some on a camp stove while camping. I truly believe it is the best food in the world.
After breakfast we took a short walk to catch the blue bus to the main visitor center at the Grand Canyon. On our way to the bus a car stopped by to let us know that there was a pack of Elk in another loop in our campground. We took a detour to check it out. Sure enough there was a pack of about 10 Elk roaming from site to site looking for food. Pretty cool and certainly provided us with a great photo op. After a few minutes we then made our way to take the bus. The park offers a free shuttle service the will take you from area to area. They have three routes to choose from, each providing different things to explore, but all are along the south rim of the canyon. The moment we stepped off the bus, Mike remembered that the garbage bag was left hanging from the tree. Mike and I hopped right back on the bus and headed back for camp while the wife's took the kids to look at the visitor center.
When we arrived back at camp, sure enough about 10 crows had already pulled the bag off the tree and had most of the garbage all around our camp. We scared them off and picked up the garbage and dropped in the proper area. We were just glad that the ranger had not happened upon our misfortune and issued us a citation.
We headed back to the bus which brought us back to meet the family for a quick lunch before our exploring began.
After lunch we headed to Mather point, which is probably the most popular areas to view the canyon. What a site! You really cannot describe how beautiful it is. Each time you take a few steps and then look at the canyon, it provides you with a whole new view. Kind of like a kaleidoscope. Obviously we all began to take pictures and everywhere you looked along the rail, someone else was taking pictures too. I would bet the Grand Canyon is the most photographed site in the world.
We walked along the south rim venturing our way to the Geology Museum.
The plan was to walk all the way to Bright Angel Lodge, about a 2 mile walk. But after arriving at the museum, we decided to catch a bus for the rest of the route.
The Bright Angel Lodge is one of the oldest lodges at the south rim. SR's mother had stayed there 62 years ago as a child. I imagined how it must have looked back then and I believe it still looks pretty much the same. I'm sure they have done lots of remodeling but the feel of the lodge remains as it was when it first opened. It reminded me of the Burntside Lodge in Ely MN. We all had an ice cream cones. I only mention this because the shape of the scoop was that of a cylinder and not the typical ball. Kinda cool looking. We also spent some time in the gift shop. The cash cow of everyone's vacation.
We then took the blue shuttle back to the campground to get dinner started. It started to lightly rain right after we got off the bus. We ran back to the campsite to take cover. It was spotty rain for about an hour.
At the campsite waiting for us were friends of the Harmon's, Kevin and Randi and their families. They did the smart thing and flew into Cortez, CO and then made their way to the Grand Canyon from there.
Preparation for our campfire supper took place. We were having hamburger packets. They consisted of a hamburger, onions, carrots and seasoning, wrapped in tinfoil and cooked directly on hot wood and coals. We sure are lucky to be experiencing our first camping trip with the help of the Harmon family. The Rollings would not have had the same experience without their help. Dessert was a big round of s'mores on the leftover coals.
After supper we made a trip for some to take showers and I did some laundry. I needed to wash shirts after a few spills on the others. No need to explain. I think we have established that I'm somewhat of a klutz when it comes to my apparel.
Off to bed with lots of great memories to dream about.
Jeff and I sat on the porch at Bright Angel, ate ice cream and watched a spectacular thunderstorm roll across the Canyon, complete with rainbows afterwards!!!!! You are sooooo fortunate to be there several days!!!!
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