Day 29 - The Most Breathtaking Scene in the World !

I woke up this morning with no earthly idea what today held for me ! Tim and I got up bright and early this morning and headed across the parking lot to the National Geographic Visitor's Center. We were just in time for the next viewing of the Grand Canyon IMAX Movie and we were looking forward to learning all about it. Tim bought our tickets while I got in line for some popcorn and drinks (breakfast). The movie was playing in one of those really huge IMAX Theatres so it felt almost like you were in the canyon yourself. It was full of lots of interesting facts about the canyon and the pictures were amazing. I was so excited I just wanted to get out of there and get on the road. Once we were back in the motor home, we had to run across the street to the general store so I could mail some more post cards and get some more stamps. I hope you all are enjoying the cards !! If you haven't gotten one it's because I don't have your address with me but if you'll send it to me, I'll put you on the list. I just couldn't help myself, so before we left, I had to pick up a few more souvenirs for everybody and then we were off. You always hear about people going to the Grand Canyon and stuff and I was really excited about seeing it, but I guess I never really thought that much about what it would actually be like when I got there. As we entered the park, Tim asked the ranger at the toll booth about a one year pass that he had read about the night before. You just pay $80.00 and you can get a pass that will get you into all the National Parks in America. We had already spent over $150.00 getting into all the others we had been to and still had several left to see, so I started digging through my bucket of receipts to see what I could find. I found the receipt from The Badlands, Yellowstone, Glacier and some others, so he gave us credit for all those and gave us the yearly pass. If any of you decide to take a trip in the next year just let us know and you can use our pass to get in for free. After dealing with all that, we finally enter the park and as we're getting closer, I'm getting that much more excited. We finally find somewhere to park our house and so we get out and head straight for the Canyon. Tim has the handy dandy little map he picked up at the visitor's center and he knows just where we need to be. We cross over a couple of sets of train tracks, walk through some brush, go up the hill and there it was, The South Rim of the Grand Canyon !! I am telling you that I was absolutely speechless !!! Tim was talking and I could hear him but I wasn't really listening because I was in such awe of what I was seeing. There are positively NO words to describe it !! You can look at pictures, watch movies, read books, see postcards, whatever you want, but nothing I've ever seen has done this thing justice. It is AMAZING !!! The shear size of it will blow you away much less all the colors and then add the Colorado River flowing right through the center of it. We took over 200 pictures today and not a single one of them begin to compare to the real thing. I remember I kept thinking that our son Jason would be in heaven. This place is a photographers playground as well as a hikers. He could spend weeks here and never get bored! You have got to put The Grand Canyon on your list of things you must do before you die !! What was so weird about it is that Tim had to keep reminding me that I was only looking at a very small section of the 260 mile long canyon. You stare at it and you can't even begin to fathom how big it is and you look at the river and you can't imagine that it's a mile down from where you are standing. The Grand Canyon is, without a doubt, the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life !!! About 15 minutes later, after I caught my breath, we boarded the free shuttle bus that takes you from one point to the next. It was great because the buses run every 9 minutes so you could stop and see one point and then head off to the next within 15 minutes. This allowed us to be able to see the canyon from several different geographical areas and each one was more beautiful than the one before it. After hours of breathtaking scenery, we took the bus back to where we started and headed back to the motor home. Many hours later I was still in disbelief and was still trying to let it all soak in. We decided that we would stay at the park and have a late lunch at the Maswik Lodge right there beside the canyon. Tim had lasagna with garlic bread and I had the turkey and dressing with gravy and we both agreed that the food was really good. We finished up and headed out of the park because it was getting late in the day and Tim was very adamant about being able to watch the race today! As we were leaving the park, Tim spotted a couple of deer in the woods, but a few minutes later an elk (with horns) ran out in front of us and was almost added to Tim's list of roadkill !!! Tim was so excited to see the elk and the deer but it wasn't a bear or a rattlesnake !! I guess he'll just have to settle for eating a rattlesnake instead of seeing one ! We continued on out of the park and were headed for Bryce Canyon in Utah. I was hoping we would make it across the 17th state line of the trip and we did ! On our journey into Utah, we passed by the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Lake Powell is the second largest man-made lake in the country. They say if you imagine the Grand Canyon and then fill it with water, that is Lake Powell. (Lynn, both of these are in the book girl and I'm hot on your trail !!) We continued on and eventually crossed over into Utah !! Yay for me, 17 states and counting !! Well, my relaxed state of mind didn't last too much longer because, after all that magnificent and relaxing scenery today, Tim has to drive the next two hours while trying to watch the race on the television hanging above his head. So, I have a man, who thinks he's Darrell Waltrip, driving a 36 foot vehicle down a two lane road, in Utah, while watching the race on tv. Just shoot me now !! I love the man dearly but lord knows I didn't want to have an accident and get stuck out in the middle of nowhere in Utah. After all, we had just discussed the fact that for over an hour the only form of life we had seen was the one car that we passed on the road. I guess it worked out okay because we survived and we ended up a few miles outside of Bryce Canyon in a small town called Carmel Junction, Utah, population 3600 !! We've settled in for the night here and we're off in the morning to see what else Utah has to offer !! Take care !!

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