The Big Kahuna! The South Rim of the Grand Canyon!

22 Sep 2010--Well, we are finally here at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I feel like we have been working towards this destination all summer, as the culmination of a grand trip. We still won't be back in San Antonio for another month or so, but this feels like the end nonetheless.

We weren't 2 minutes inside the park when we saw this elk on the side of the road, with several more behind her. It was nice to see her relaxed...I wonder if they know there's no hunting here? haha

After we set up the RV we thought we would take a quick look at some of the park. We weren't even out of the RV park when we saw 3-4 deer on the side of the road.

And then driving around we saw some female deer...this one had 2 babies with her but only one got in the picture.

I have some Grand Canyon pics for you, but wanted to show these animals quickly. After we went out and took some pics, we came home to get something to eat before going out again to get some sunset shots. Lo and behold, these 2 guys are walking around the RVs, just going where they please...I guess they do know there's no hunting!

And then as we pulled out to go to the sunset spots, here was a coyote who just crossed the road in front of us. We never really thought of animals in the Grand Canyon, so we were more than pleased to see all of these.

The day was very overcast and cold, raining or threatening rain off and on all afternoon. But who cares, just look at these pics!

We went to one of the Visitor's Centers, and this sign jumped out at me. I guess it is the 1st 300 ft that gets you!

Here they are pointing out the different types of rock that make up the layers within the canyon.


We went out to the "rim trail," between Mather Point and Yavapai Point, and just walked along a small section of it. Some of these are foggy, some are shaded due to the clouds overhead, but to me the best are the ones where you can see the rain coming down in the distance.

After we went home and got something to eat, we went back out to try to catch the sunset at a different point in the park than we were at earlier. We headed towards Yaki Point, but couldn't find it in time, so we took in the area at Pipe Creek Vista. This is just a point along the rim drive, you don't have to do any hiking to get to it. I love how the sun reflects off the side of the mountain. And tonight was a full moon...pretty, huh?

So with limited time this afternoon and evening, we didn't get to do any hiking today. Basically just trying to get the lay of the land. We'll be here till Monday, so over the next several days we will be doing a lot of hiking and sightseeing...so prepare yourselves for a lot of "rock watching"! haha

By the way, I keep meaning to say it and keep forgetting, but there are an incredible amount of foreigners out west here with us. Everywhere we have gone over the past 4 months the predominant language being spoken has been German, much more so than English, but there have been other languages thrown in also. Tonight, we were watching the sunset with a couple Italians and 4 Russians. I guess the European economy has bounced back much quicker than ours...especially the Germans!