GRAND CANYON AND HOME FROM SUMMER TRIP

The last stop of our 2012 summer trip (almost 7500 miles in 5 months) was at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we met Barb and Mike Williams, Barbara's daughter Laura McNurlen, Laura’s daughter Katie, and the newlyweds, Nathan and Mattia McNurlen, for a weekend. Our sightseeing was limited to the western part of the park served exclusively by the free shuttle bus system. We returned to Mesa on October 8.

There are so many great views of the Grand Canyon that it is hard to edit the pictures down to the better ones.

Here is a great view of the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim traversed by the mules through the trees at the bottom and to Plateau Point in the upper left. A branch from this trail goes to the river where hikers can cross on a pedestrian bridge to reach Phantom Ranch at the foot of Bright Angel Canyon coming down from the North Rim.

 

This shot gives a bit of the impression of the depth of the canyon. The inner gorge is at the bottom of the far right area of very dark rock.

This view is from Hermit’s Rest at the western end of the developed South Rim. It is one of he few places in the park from which the Colorado River may be seen. In June 2011 I travelled over 180 miles on a commercial rafting trip down the river, including the part shown here.

 

Here is our group – Nathan and Mattia McNurlen, Laura McNurlen, Jeff Clyde, Barbara Williams, Jo Clyde Strong and Mike Williams.

At the El Tovar Hotel gift shop, we found this display of china replicating the patterns used in the Santa Fe railroad dining cars. We rarely see pieces like these in antique stores in our travels. We now have our morning coffee in one of four Santa Fe cups!

 

Late in the day we visited Yaki Point a little east of the hotel complex area as the sun was going down. The shadows nicely highlight the formations in the canyon. Bright Angel Canyon is at the left.

 

 

And here is Bright Angel Canyon (in the upper part of the picture) the next day when the sun is nearly over head.

While on the trip I decided to part with the 1993 Nissan convertible I have driven for nearly 5 years, so here it is all spiffed up for sale. A young man from a nearby neighborhood had been admiring it during the summer, I found out, and as soon as he spotted it in the driveway he stopped to confirm that it was for sale. He bought it a few days later.

So on November 1 we replaced the convertible with this 2008 Prius in my favorite color. We are looking forward to learning how to get the 50 mpg of which it is capable.