Day 4

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Day 4

I have had great luck with finding hotels - was able to book a room inside the Grand Canyon park on the South rim just 4 hours ahead of time! I started the day with that great news and headed out over the Hoover Dam. It was full of people with no good parking so I snapped one picture not worth taking the time to upload right now. It was SLOW going over the dam… a little frustrating. So I was not terribly motivated to park and get out because I have driven over the Hoover dam before when I went across country with my truck-driver friend. (Hi Bob!) I did get a great look at Lake Mead that was the most gorgeous shade of blue - but the pictures out my car window leave a bit to be desired so I’m not cluttering the page with them.

The rest of the drive was pretty and uneventful. The speed limit was 75 thankfully.. and I made it to the grand canyon in about 4 hours. I was so happy heading towards the park I could hardly contain myself. I caught a brief view of the canyon on my way to the hotel and my heart just started beating faster - I was so excited!! I quickly checked in, made a bee-line to my room to ditch the car and pack the daypack and I practically ran to the shuttle bus!! I got some advice from a shuttle driver on where to go and off I went.
All this build-up just to say that FINALLY I get to my first overlook - and I literally had tears in my eyes. I made it!! Something I have dreamt about since I first saw a picture of the canyon. I had to literally concentrate to keep from flat out crying. (I hate crying and it might have looked a bit odd, a lone female holding Buzzy the beanie buzzard and a camera… ok, Buzzy was in the backpack but still).

I grabbed the Hermit Rest shuttle trip, 7 miles along the south rim with 9 stops along the way knowing I planned to hit the Hopi stop on the way back for sunset. I took the shuttle to some, walked along the rim trail for some.. it was freaking awesome. I took almost 175 pictures and this is just my first day here! And only half a day!! Tomorrow will be MADNESS!! Now I actually have to choose between what pictures to upload and since I’m being very wordy here, you will already have seen some of these along the sides of the blog.

I met a friend along the way and we pointed out good views to each other (he was also a shutterbug and a cross country traveler), the best ones were not at the designated overviews but off the trail a bit, closer to the rim. He made me nervous standing with his toes to the rim! I was not quite THAT brave… have you ever stood near a drop-off like that and just had that feeling you were going to tumble over or push you? No? Uh.. yeah, me neither… so anyway, I don’t get TOO close to the edge!!

Somewhere along here was me with an inspiration - I used my sunglasses (polarized) as a filter on the picture. You can see the colors are much warmer. I was quite pleased with myself.

A thunderstorm came along as I got to the end of the trail. I had an urge to walk back along the trail to the last stop to get the shuttle and snap all the pics on the way because I was loving the light and the view at the time. One of these shots is my very favorite picture so far…

I was about a half mile out when the thunder and lightning picked up… I made it to a sign telling me that the next area was almost another mile away so I made a decision to backtrack..yup, heading towards the storm… I was a teeny bit nervous. Gorgeous lightening strikes though!! Got back to the shuttle and part way back my new friend hopped back on the shuttle too - we were both planning to see sunset at the Hopi stop and then.. just as we were approaching it, with fantastic light angling across the canyon - BAM, the storm caught up with us. Hard downpour, hail, the whole bit. Sigh. It was so cool. But we did not get off in the storm. Oh well, tomorrow is another day for sunset shots.

This place is wonderful. Do you know they even have a sports bar here? Seems a bit weird… Gorgeous nature and a sports bar. I get to use the internet in the café but will not upload until I’m on my way out of here - safety first and all that.

I will do two separate blogs, I have too many pictures for just one.

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Photos

polarized!!
yes, this is using my sunglasses. cool huh?

Grand Canyon South Rim Day 1 142
I like the stormy shots.

another polarized shot
really adds warmth to the photo.

Nice shot of River
unreal a river did all this

stormy scene
Here comes the storm!

Comments

[anonymous]

*Sigh* I love a good storm.