Grand Canyon Part 2 – North Rim

Upon waking in Kaibab National Forest at our wonderful, free and very primitive campsite, we set about our morning routine.

As I was brushing my teeth, some movement on the ground a few feet away caught my attention.  At first it looked like a toad, and when it moved it did so in a toad-like fashion.

Grand Canyon Part 1, South Rim

The Grand Canyon is a place neither of us has ever seen, and our first stop was the South Rim.  The view was absolutely breathtaking!  The massive expanse that lay before us was something words can’t do justice to.  It really felt dreamlike to me… surreal.  We stood staring down thousands of feet, out across the miles to distant plateaus, and down to the Colorado River, which appears as but a thread, delicately winding its way through the rock, though it is the very force which created this place.  To me, it felt like floating on a cloud.  To Ken, it felt like treachery.  Actually, it wasn’t quite that bad for him.  He was definitely in awe of the place and enjoyed it thoroughly, but scolded and glared at me several times when he thought I was too close to “the edge.”  Perhaps my definition of “the edge” is different than his!  Anyhow, I did maintain a safe distance from “the edge” and managed to take a ridiculous number of pictures.  I did suffer two disappointments – first, the air was very hazy, and second, I was unable to compensate for that with the camera.

Scenic Flagstaff, Family Time, and Altitude Woes

Let me start with a couple of pictures I forgot to include in my last post.  We saw tons of these oil wells driving through both Texas and New Mexico.