Oh, it is an AMAZING GRAND CANYON!

Monday, July 9th, 2012

Oh, it was good to sleep in this morning and then go down to a hot breakfast!!  We stayed at the Best Western Grand Canyon Squire Inn. These big breakfasts in the morning are wonderful as the kids eat alot, we will give them some snacks and we don't eat again until dinner.  We headed out to go see the magnificent Grand Canyon- what a view!  At the Visitor's Center we  figured out what hikes we wanted to do.  As we headed to the outlook, we loved finally seeing the Grand Canyon.  We took lots of pictures but they cannot begin to capture the magnificence, enormity, the textures and colors that we see.  So- please forgive our pictures as they cannot capture the beauty of what we are seeing.  It was very crowded at this lookout so we were excited to go to a place less populated.

The hike we chose was called The Bright Angel Trail.  It is a path that goes down to the Colorado River with a vertical drop of a mile.  To go all the way to the Colorado River is an overnight hike.  Maybe next time.  Well, we all started down the trail. It was a nice path but with severe drops on the edge- you definitely want to watch where you are going.  Annika, Jonathan and I went down about 15 minutes and then found a place to sit, watch people and the canyon and play with rocks.  We could have easily gone done further but wanted to make sure we had enough energy to get back up again.  (always a good idea :)  Dave, Joshua and Christopher decided to make it a workout so they booked it down the path for about 30 min. and then RAN back up the canyon.  Yes, they got many strange looks. It is fun to be able to do these challenging tasks with the boys.  It is very difficult to describe the canyon- it is so beautiful and SO BIG.  Jonathan and I were saying that it almost looks fake at times as you are not able to grasp the depth of the canyon....it is just so big!  This hike took us about 1 hour and 20 min. and then we headed back to the car.  It was pretty hot, 105 degrees and hotter as you went down into the canyon. 



On the Bright Angel
Trail



the boys going down
the Bright Angel Trail



We still needed to drive another 6 hour stint to get to the Fraser home in Utah so we headed out of the park around 3pm  On our way out of the park, Dave wanted to bushwhack a bit off the road to see if you could get to the rim of the canyon that perhaps no one had been to.  So, the boys hopped out to explore with Dave.  After about 15 min. Annika and I went to find them as we thought they might be lost and need our help.  :)  They were fine but it would have been amazing to be a pioneer traveling West, thinking everything is fine and dandy, when you come out of this little bit of forest and GULP.....there it is...the largest canyon in the world.  It had to be quite discouraging back them but we should enjoyed the beauty of it today.





checking out the tracks

Off we headed to Utah...back in Durango, the Rafting owner had recommended to us this little place that had Dinosaur tracks...so we went looking for it.  It was outside of  Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation. Right before we arrived, there was a short rainstorm which actually was a huge blessing.  As we pulled into this little hole out in the middle of nothing, a little Navajo woman ran up to help us park.  She was going to be our tour guide.  As we walked out into the desert, the tracks were on a rock lake bed.. The tracks were filled with water and much easier to see.   None of this is commericalized and we just wandered around and she would point out different tracks:  T-Rex, Allousaur, Hadrosaurus and some dinosaur eggs.  It was very strange to be walking where actual dinosaurs had walked.

 This lady also had some beaded bracelets that she had made, so Annika and I each picked out one and Jonathan got a miniature bow/arrow that her nephew had made.  We enjoyed our stop here but again I had a feeling of sadness at the people who wait there for people to come see the tracks. There was no fee so they could only accept any donation that we gave them.

The Navajo Reservation and dinosaur tracks

We then continued our trip to  St. George, Utah and the home of some wonderful friends.  They have opened their home up to us while they are gone and it was truly an oasis for us in this desert.  We arrived about 9:30pm and after a quick tour, we all crashed on their large family room floor.  It was nice to be in a home tonight!