Las Vegas was interesting, but I have to say that the trip really started for me once mom and I took off on our road trip. First destination: The Grand Canyon. We made it to Williams the first night out of Las Vegas. This is the gateway to the Grand Canyon, and it was a very cute little town. We spent the morning shopping a little bit, finding a few good gifts. It was SO cold though! I really did not expect it to get so cold on our trip, but alas it did. It spit snow on us a little bit driving into Williams that night, and then the next day right as we made it into Grand Canyon Natioinal Park we god a couple more snow flakes spit at us before the clouds started to slowly give up and drift away.
The clouds turned out to be perfect though, it added some dimension to the scenery. And with the lovely lens that Bernie let me borrow, with its great polarizing filter, I got some wonderful pictures on our journey! The colours of the Canyon simply amaze me. Its spectacular to look down into this gaping hole in the ground and see all these beautiful colours accenting every formation and bend.
Unfortunatly Mum started catching a cold at this point, and was having a hard time breathing. She did not feel up to any of the steep climbs that the Canyon is filled with, so we kept our outings simple. This was a lovely 1.5 mile walk along the rim. We got to see different view points (mum enjoying one of them in the picture above), giving us many perspectives on the Canyon. Its great to see the trails snaking down toward the river at the bottom. It made me really want to strap a backpack on and head down to the bottom. When I met Bernie seven years ago I was not a hiker at all, I developed this skill quickly as I joined him in his adventures. The Grand Canyon was my first real overnight hike with a backpack. We had been doing day hikes up to that point, and driving out dirt roads and camping, but we had not done a hike in camping trip yet (The Grand Canyon adventure was only a month or two after we had met). This was my first time back to the Grand Canyon since that adventure, and looking down at those trails brought back some memories. I have walked literally thousands of miles since then, and it would be great to go back down with a whole new perspective.
We saw a flock of beautiful little pygmy nut hatches in a tree along our walk. I do love the nut hatches. Such beautiful little birds, and a great personality! They jumped around the tree, gently talking in their happy tones to each other, gathering little morsels of food. I snapped this picture just as he pulled a seed out of the cone, and a moment later he had flown of to hide his treasure in a food stash somewhere.
There are many buildings along the rim. A good handful of them are giftshops such as this building, the Hopi House. Most of these structures were designed by Mary Colter in the ’20’s and ’30’s. They are all beautiful and unique in their own ways. Showcasing materials of the area.
The day we left the Canyon we drove along the rim to the east, and stopped at many of the viewpoints. Its amazing how quickly the Canyon changes. Each vantage point is spectacular, and reveals a new perspective.
Another of Mary Colters creations.
Standing at the edge….. Loving Nature!
