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Published: July 12th 2009
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The North Rim of the Grand Canyon sits atop Kaibab Plateau at 8,000-9,000 ft above sea level. I read and found out what the white barked trees are; they are white barked aspens. The North Rim and South Rim are only 10 miles apart as the raven flies but over 200 miles if driving. The North Rim is less crowded as most visitors go to the South Rim. It is also cooler here.
We first went to the Campstore and found out they had wireless, so I updated the blog. While there, Ken, of course starts chatting with a couple. He asks Ken if either of us are good with computers and Ken says-oh, yes, my wife is. Just what I wanted to do, right? Of course, I said I would try to help him, but no guarantees. It was pretty simple and I was able to help him, but as I was doing what he asked, he was trying to tell me what to do. If he knew, why was he asking me to help? So annoying!!! I just ignored him and completed. While he was hovering over me and talking, something flew out of his mouth (a piece
of leftover breakfast perhaps) and landed on my arm. I about gagged!
We left there and drove to the lodge. As you walk in and go down the steps, the entire back of the lodge is glass, looking right out to the canyon. Breathtaking! I’ve seen the South Rim several times and I am so glad that I am still awestruck in seeing the canyon. It’s kind of like when someone comes to visit us in Tucson and they go on and on about the mountains. Seeing them everyday conditions us and we lose how beautiful they are. It actually looks fake and the pictures do not do it justice.
We took the Bright Angel Point Trail, a short ½ milewalk to a spectacular view. We thought about getting a sandwich at the deli but it looked kind of gross, so we went back to the campsite. We had BLTs (minus the lettuce-didn’t have any), add cheese on toasted dilly rye.
After lunch we drove to other parts of the park, stopping at vistas overlooking the canyon. At one stop, using my hand, I leaned against a pine tree for a picture. When I pulled away, I had a handful
of sap……..visions of Clark Griswold and his wife the night after they cut down their huge Christmas tree in ‘Christmas Vacation’. It took a lot of work to get that off.
We drove to a few Forest roads because the guy I helped with his computer said there are some really nice places to camp in the middle of nowhere. Well, we couldn’t find them. We passed the buffalo again.
It was about an hour before dinner time. We had made reservations for dinner at the lodge. We arrived and got a drink and sat out on the stone patio overlooking the canyon until it was time for dinner. The restaurant overlooks the canyon; very beautiful. Our waiter’s name was Mark; very nice and informative. This is his 12th season working at the canyon. The season is from May 1st through October 15th. I asked him where he lives because there is no sign of civilization (except the Indian reservation) until you head in to Flagstaff or Page. He told us that all employees (about 240) live on site; they have a separate area for them. Home for him is Illinois otherwise.
Our view of the canyon from our table
is wonderful. We order a bottle of Malbec from Argentina. We had Caesar salad, tomato soup, Ken had chicken pasta and I had trout. It was a nice, relaxing, delicious dinner. After dinner we went out to patio again to enjoy the rest of our wine and watch the sunset. Very nice and cool, we had jackets on.
Now we are back at the RV; the campers next door have a very, very smoky fire going so we decide to go inside and read-one of my favorite things to do.
Tomorrow we leave for Lake Powell—3 days there.
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