Day 16 - Viewing the Grand Canyon

Day 16 (June 10) -- Today we viewed the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  As I alluded to in my last post, the South Rim is much prettier than the North Rim.  Although there are more people there, it is unparallel in beauty.  It was fun to hear some of the people on the bus next to us talk about doing the same type of route we were (they had just been in Zion and were heading to Vegas next).  There are also a lot of people from other countries that we've run into.  We expected to see a lot of Japanese tourists, but I think we actually have run into more Germans than any other nationality.  We've been totally surprised how often we hear German compared to French, English (from England), or Asian languages.  So, I guess this is a popular holiday time for people from German-speaking countries.

Hiking along the South Rim

After a nutritious breakfast of Poptarts from the car, we headed out to find out how to see the canyon.  We went to the visitor's center and saw that catching a bus to all of the scenic viewpoints was our best option (other option was to rent and ride a bicycle).  So, we rode the bus all the way to the end and ate lunch at Herman's Rest which had a snack bar at the end of the trail.  We ate premade sandwiches which were exactly like the premade sandwiches we ate from a gas station the previous night on our way from the North Rim to the South Rim.  Not extremely tasty, but good.  We also got some beef jerky to share (except for Bow who doesn't eat beef).

Photo right on the edge of the Grand Canyon

Then we rode the bus partway back, then got off and hiked partway back (about 2 miles).  Then we got on the bus again and rode down another stretch and then walked back to another viewpoint.  By the time we finished I was hungry and wanted something to eat.  So, we walked around the rim lodges a bit and then stopped at the Bright Angel Restaurant in Bright Angel Lodge.  The soup was really good, but the food was just okay.  Then we got some ice cream and went to another viewpoint to watch the sunset.  David got to see some California Condor's flying over the Grand Canyon (he was fascinated with them as a kid) and they were almost extinct, so it was neat to see them.

After that we stopped by the market that was in the park and picked out some sweets for breakfast (honey buns, muffins, berry pastries, etc.).  Then we went back to camp and finally finished our Phase 10 game (the one we started in Albuquerque).  It came down to the very last round and anyone could have won, but Bow was the one who went out first.

California Condor over Grand Canyon

Eating Ice Cream

Sunset View