Saturday, February 28, 2015

Grand Canyon #2

After waiting out the cold and snow in the campground for three days, the skies cleared and we headed for the south rim of the Grand Canyon



To put into words the magnificence of what we saw is impossible.  Likewise, pictures can not do justice to the sheer beauty that is one of the seven wonders of the world. It simply leaves one speechless.  I must have said "incredible" hundreds of times during our visit and that word just doesn't come close to what we saw.  The snow accenting the canyon was a special treat and well worth waiting out the snowstorm.  







We saw a herd of mule deer just lounging and grazing beside the road.





I've always been amazed at how those signs always know just where we are.



We drove the length of the south rim of the canyon from Hermit's Rest to Desert View.  These are just a few of the hundreds of pictures that we took.







The canyon is up to 18 miles accross, one mile deep and 277 miles long.  The Colorado River is still carving the canyon deeper at the rate of the thickness of a sheet of paper a year.



This is the path that hikers take to the bottom of the canyon.  The snow outlined the path which would not have been visible without the snow.




The colors were stunning.





Linda and David, Vickie and me and John.



Our last stop was Desert View.



We climbed the tower and saw panoramic views of the canyon and surrounding area.






Views from the tower were fantastic on such a cold day!





Some people have asked us what part of our trip has been the best.  We've answered that everything that we have seen has been wonderful and it's way too difficult to rate them against each other. 

That being said, The Grand Canyon far exceeds anything we've seen so far and I doubt that anything else will top it.  It is simply "incredible".



Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Grand Canyon #1

The day after we visited Sedona, we planned to head to the Grand Canyon.  When we were talking to a volunteer at the ranger station near Sedona, he suggested that we postpone our Grand Canyon journey one day as snow was predicted on the south rim.  He said that the following day should be beautiful and the clouds would be gone.  We decided to have a down day and just chill out at the campground.  It was a wise decision.


 This is the view out our living room window so we had a swim in the indoor pool and hot tub..


 
 
The weather was still overcast and cold the next day so we extended our stay at the park.  Hopefully, we can go tomorrow.  We decided instead to go to the Grand Canyon Caverns.
 
 
 
 
It is in the top three percent of the driest caverns in the world and the driest in the USA.   
 
 
 



During the Cuban missal crisis, President Kennedy had stores of survival supplies stored in all the caverns in the U.S.  There is enough here to support 2000 people for two weeks.
 




Several marriages have taken place here. 


 
 
 
 
This giant sloth fell into the cavern years ago and was preserved due to the dryness.
 
 
 

 
We drove back to the RV park through Seligman.
 




 
 
How many of you remember this?