Grand Canyon

Oct. 26^th, 2012

by Bill (the less wordy one)

Driving towards the Grand Canyon, we kept seeing signs for “Mexican Hat”.  Thinking it was a town up ahead, I ignored them, then we found a sign pointing at a rock formation . . . well what do you know.  Gotta take a picture!  By the way, you really need to click on a picture, let it get large, then scroll left and right with your cursor keys.  Gotta see the detail!

Mexican Hat - what else?

Later we stopped at a Navaho jewelry stand where Sheila basically made this guy’s day.  The man has an iPhone, a credit card reader attached to it so you can pay by credit card, and a dirt floor in his shack.  Sometimes the contrasts just get to me.

High tech with a dirt floor.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon to find that winter had beat us here.  I’ve been to the GC six times before, but never when it was this cold and windy!  If in any of the pictures it looks like we’re freezing, we are!

Later, Sheila added her winter coat over this ensemble.
(I, Sheila), did my hair that day, I really did, it looked pretty good before the wind got a hold of it!

A lady walked up to Sheila at one of the viewing areas and wanted to know if she was from Ohio.  Sheila had a “Bolte Insurance” shirt on and this lady went to school with the owner.  Reminds me of when (1975) I stopped at a little gas station in Wyoming on my first trip out west.  A guy walked up to me and asks, “Did you go to Central Michigan Univ?”  Or the time we ran into Kane and Fran Campbell on a glacier in the Canadian Rockies.  Small world.

We're not in the Arches NP, but we keep seeing arches!

And Arches in the process of being created.

How you can tell you aren't in a National Park: The locals see nothing wrong with\
 painting a sign for their gift shop on a huge rock wall!

The guy kept telling us to "back up" but we weren't buying it.

Gourmet breakfast!  Cooked by me!

The zig-zag in the background is the Bright Angel Trail which Kyle,
 David,  Megan, Justin W. and I hiked in 2003.

See the guy on the peak?  Shows the scale.

I love the layers in this shot.  You can see near, far away, and farther away.

This sign points out that the farther peaks are actually 60 miles away!

Sturdy rails so the wind doesn't blow you into the canyon.
(The rails were my (Sheila's) friends -- I am afraid of heights, gave me
some comfort, I didn't get near as nervous! 

The river - a mile away.

The Colorado River.  Doesn't look it, but it is actually a football
field wide on average.

A quote from Psalms on a post at Hermit's Rest

Holding a cup of delicious hot chocolate, and Sheila's trash.

Last stop on the west side of the rim tour.