March 12

A bit of bad news today…..I lost my glasses…..put them on the roof when I was putting on suntan lotion and drove off. I am so p___.
Today Ash and I split up. She took a hike with a friend and I took a 10 hr tour to the Grand Canyon. It took about 2 hrs to get to the Canyon. We drove through Oak Canyon and Flagstaff. The drive going through Oak Canyon was great…. the views started from the Canyon floor and ended by looking into the depths of the canyon. There were a good bit of trees covering this particular canyon. The road literally wound its way through the canyon. There wasn’t a straight stretch of road for about 15 miles. The canyon was dotted with camp sites and beautiful homes. Some of the homes cantilevered over the river. Truly amazing.
There isn’t much to see in Flagstaff. It is often used as a home base for people wanting to be located in a central place to visit all the surrounding parks.
Now onto the Grand Canyon. Well I’m on this drive and when I’m starting to thing…..ok were is it!......the guide says…..”Ok, get ready because here comes an AHA! moment in your life. We stop and walk to the South Rim of the Canyon and honestly I had to stop and just stare. It is totally overwhelming. All the pictures and photos that I had seen do not do justice for the view. The entire day was spent just traveling around the South and East Rim of the canyon getting different views. Each and every stop was an AHA! moment. The guide mentioned that October is the best time of the year to visit the area. Most tourism is done and the weather is warm. Good time to do rafting and hiking. That will be for the next trip.
During the tour I had a hard time getting my head around the fact that what I was seeing was millions of years old and that at one time the entire canyon was underwater. The huge shifting of land mass is evident by the shape and angle of huge formations. They have names for many of the formations because some do resemble things.
They have a mule tour that goes into the canyon that has to be booked a year and a half in advance. One of the trip options is for two days. Which is on my list of “To Do’s”. You basically sit on the mule and he takes it from there…….thank god!.......because if he didn’t I’m sure a great number of people wouldn’t do it on foot. The trail is only wide enough for a mule. If a hiker is on the trail, the mule has the right of way. The trail ends at the bottom of the canyon and our guide did let us know that at times it can be a butt puckering event…..but they have never had any injuries or lost anyone…….always a comforting piece of info.
Ash and I are planning to go back to the canyon after Las Vegas. When I get to a location that I can upload some photos, I’ll add the link f pictures from today.

Link to some photos.