our trek took us along one of the most scenic roads in the country (rated by AAA!), past gorgeous red rock formations, deep gorges, through flagstaff (with a stop at bookmans!), and over flat grasslands, until we arrived at the grand canyon. we parked at the visitor's center and took time to orient ourselves with the information available there. after a quick snack, we boarded the shuttle to one of the most popular viewpoints near el tovar. we walked up the rim and got our first glimpse of this natural wonder. it was exactly what it looks like on tv, but SO MUCH MORE INCREDIBLE!
we decided to hike (at least a little ways) into the canyon on the bright angel trail. it was a nice hike, and at a number of points you could see the trail following deeper and deeper into the canyon. as we walked down, there were many hikers passing us as they came in from the 2-day hike to the bottom of the canyon and back. we also had to pause while a pack of mules headed up the hill - which of course only made me think of the brady bunch episode when they went to the grand canyon :) (we also randomly ran into someone i had met at a conference in tucson the week before!) after a while, it was time for us to turn around, and (not surprisingly) the hike back up was a bit more difficult than the hike down had been :) but we made it, and even enjoyed ourselves on the journey.
we strolled the rim trail (a paved walkway that goes across the south end of canyon), and took a shuttle to the spot a guide at the visitor's center recommended for sunset. we got to the viewing point just moments before sunset, but it was still enough time to enjoy the beauty of the sun setting over the canyon, and the colors of the rocks changing as the light dimmed. beautiful!
we stayed at the viewpoint a while, and then packed up to head to a ranger talk on climate and seasons in the canyon. the talk started off well, with the ranger asking some of the 30 or so attendees where they were from, and what they had done that day. but - much like our hike on the bright angel train - everything went downhill from there. the ranger shared some stories that were off topic (like the furnishings in his apartment when he first moved here) and made a few comments that bordered on inappropriate (something about all the european tourists running fast everywhere they went... i didn't quite understand). oh! and he literally stopped his talk at one point, stood in front of a woman, paused, and then said, "am i boring you? i saw you were yawning." AWKWARD... anyways, after the terrible (but still entertaining) ranger talk, we grabbed some food at the ultra slow restaurant at bright angel lodge. then, we layered up the clothes and walked down the rim trail to find a stargazing spot that was far enough off the main trail to be dark (but not too far...). as you could imagine, the sky was lit up with stars in almost every corner. we were so lucky to have a clear evening. even though it was freezing, we could see so many constellations, stars, satellites, and even a few shooting stars. it was wonderful!
i'm going to skip over our 2+ hour drive back to sedona... i'll summarize by saying that i was a little tense (i'm being generous to myself), we saw a few deer, and even 4 or 5 elk! i don't think i had seen a wild elk before - they are so huge!!! we didn't get any pictures (just shots of eyeshine), but it was pretty cool to see them!
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