July 29th & 30th Las Vegas to Grand Canyon,AZ

---

July 29th
We got up and left Las Vegas late. What a surprise! We were moving a little slow after our night on the strip! We stopped a few times along the way to check out the local Walmart and Ross Store. I can smell a Ross from 100 miles away! We traveled thru the desert. What a hot dry miserable place the desert is. You couldn't pay me to live there!

We arrived in Williams, AZ late where we had our reservations. We almost hit a baby giraffe coming in-OK, it was an elk, but it was huge! It's legs came up to the windshield! They have pictures in the local paper of cars that have hit elk and warn people-"Don't swerve-just hit them dead on!" The KOA was quite dissaponting. It was under renovation,supposed to be done by July 15th , but was nowhere close to completion. Basically just some camping spots in the middle of the desert. We spent the night there but the next morning talked to the people there and got switched to another KOA about 15 minutes down the road.


July 30th

This place was much nicer. It was well established and had some trees and amenities. Since we needed to spend another 2 nights we were glad we switched.

Once we got the camping arrangements straightened out we went into the local town to find out about the Grand Canyon. It's about 45 minutes away. The rangers there gave us some good directiions so after we ate lunch at a restaraunt on Route 66 we headed to the park.

We finally saw the Grand Canyon and oh how grand it is! It is just breathtaking-unbelievable! We both agreed that we could look at this thing forever. It is so huge and so jawdropping beautiful!

We walked the South Rim trail for the entire 4 miles and just took in the scenery. Some people call it a hike but it is on a paved path that is realtively flat so we'll just call it a walk!

We saw some indians demonstrating tribal dances and they were fun to watch. There was an 11 year old who had just learned the hoop dance at the beginning of the summer and he was so cute. He was concentrating so hard on his dance and he did a wonderful job.

We continued on with our walk and just admiring the sights and the awesome views. We walked the entire way. We came upon an elk on the path and it was as surprised as us. I think Phil about had a heart attack! There were no other people on the trail at that time. I don't think many crazies come down that far-only us! We got some good pictures. When we go to the end we took the shuttle bus back to the RV and drove the 45 miles back to Williams.

One thing we were surprised about was the manageable crowds. We had no trouble parking or getting around. So many reviews have said that the crowds are unbearable in the summer but that was just not the case. In fact, when we came into the park the sign said there was available space at the campground. We didn't even try for that campground because of all the stuff that was said about having to make reservations 6 months ahead and such. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Tomorrow we are going to do our big planned hike down into the canyon and back. This is what we have been anticipating! More later!

---