Grand Canyon

---

So the Grand Canyon... well what can we say? One of the seven wonders of the world and you can see why. Simply breathtaking - lifted our spirits and helped us to shake off the fatigue of a 10 hour car trip.

Staying in a "lodge" about a 500 metre stroll from the South Rim edge... you can walk along the entire ridge length and enjoy the spectacular views.

So our first evening in Arizona sees us getting asked for ID and told that we look under 21... we didn't realise that we needed a passport as the only proff of identification they would take... bizarre... anyway found a less strict barman and managed to sip some of California's finest zinfandel!

Today we (stupidly) decided that a hike down into the Canyon would be "fun" - we tool the South Kaibab Trail down the canyon below the rim..... 1400 feet later and we are smugly thinking "that wasn't too hard". We watched people go past on mules.... note: Mules like to walk VERY close to the trail edge... you would not get either of us on one for all the tea in china! Anyway, there we are sitting smugly and marvelling at our hiking prowess... so after plenty of photo's we head back up.... hmmm... well it must be confessed that the trip back up put things into context... climbing 1400 foot in full desert sunshine at 7000 feet above sea level ius actually not the walk in the park we thought!! Anyway, an hour or so later and we were back at the top havinga sit in the shade... nice!

Tomorrow we plan to get up at 5AM (madness) to see the sun rise through the Grand Canyon which is supposedly better than the sunset we witnessed last night and well worth the early wakeup call... I guess we shall see. After that over to Lake Powell for an overnight stop and a chance to go jet skiing!

Anyway, off to stroll up to "El Tovar" for a glass (or seven) of plonk... well deserved we think....

Mum & Dad "B" - thanks for the dollars great help in our first few days 😊 Sorry Dad you were right our phones don't work so we may be incommunicado for a little bit - will try and "blog" as much as we can...

Hope all is well in the UK - love to all.

Gary & Clare

---