After several days in Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon proved to be the salve we needed.  We needed a break from the craziness, not to mention all the cigarette smoke.  My poor asthmatic lungs were gasping for fresh air.  The hire car was a convertible Mustang, which by the way, is probably the most popular hire car there.  You’d of thought a giant convertible Mustang car club had taken over the southwest.  They were everywhere!

Our first stop was the Hoover Dam.  What a crazy feat of engineering in the middle of nowhere.  It’s just massive.  We knew we were getting close with all the electric lines snaking their way across the sky.  In order to get a proper picture of the dam we had to walk along the Memorial Bridge, which is freaking high up.  I hate heights, well more of a fear of falling, so anything to do with bridges, cliffs, etc really doesn’t sit well with me.  At all.

Hoover Dam

View from the Hoover Dam

Time for the trek to the Grand Canyon.  It’s amazing how far you can drive and see nothing except road.  A great swath was like a moonscape.  Luckily we got to the Canyon before the sunset.  After we checked into the hotel we headed up to the South Rim.  On the way we saw the first of the elk.  Beautiful animals but I was saddened to see the people who were trying to distract them and getting too close.  There are only signs everywhere saying not to do that.  We stayed on the road as it’s not our home.

Years ago I visited the Canyon for a few hours with my dad but I was excited to see it again and as it was the first time for my husband, the sunset was the perfect first impression.

After the long drive it was wonderful to just walk around in the gorgeous weather.  A perfect end to the day.  Of course we wanted to see the views in the sun rise as well.  So a few hours later we were back on the rim to watch the sun come up.  99% of the people were great, enjoying the quiet and taking loads of pictures.  But there was a couple going right out on an outcrop to do their own “photoshoot” but essentially inserting themselves in everyone else’s pictures.  I mentioned outloud how selfish that was and there were a few people within earshot nodding their heads in agreement.  Not to mention they were awfully close to the edge.  I mean, is taking a picture of your feet over the edge really worth the risk of falling?  On average 12 people die each year due to risks being taken.  The next day were a couple of people barely keeping their balance in the wind, holding up a huge flag near the edge.  I couldn’t watch.

But I digress.  Soon it was time for the sun to come up.  A glorious sight.

Sunrise

Sunrise

After breakfast we went back up to the rim and took advantage of the shuttle buses to check out several points along the way.  We also decided to walk between points for awhile.  Boy was I nervous, we were now away from the protective railings.  I said as long as I’m a distance that matches my height away from the edge I’ll be good.  So if I trip I’m far enough from the edge.  Which worked until we came to a short section that was only a couple of feet from the edge.  There was an old tree that was well polished from people gripping it on the way by.  I did get some strange looks as I would brace myself when people passed.  At one point we went to I was less than relaxed and a woman just looked at me and said something in Spanish.  It was pretty clear she had a mixture of pity and wondering why I was there!  🙂  A couple of times on the hike we came across benches where we would sit.  It would be dead quiet as if we were the only two people on earth.  It was incredible.

As we were pulling into our hotel we saw a couple of bucks just eating along.  We stayed in the car while I took a photo but there were two guys behind him getting closer and closer.  Honestly what they were thinking, I don’t know.  The buck comes equipped with several knives on its head!  In the park, while we were on the bus, the driver yelled out the window to a young woman to get away from a buck.  He said one step and it could kill you.  She seemed surprised at that.

A young buck

The last day was spent going up to Desert View before the long drive back to the airport.  Point after point had amazing views.  The average width of the Canyon is 10 miles though the brain can’t wrap itself round that fact.  It’s just so vast.

We would go back in a heartbeat.  It really clears out the cobwebs in the brain.