Grand Canyon

Welcome to our four-day Grand Canyon excursion! Here are the excited travelers (me, my mom, and my sister Kathy) all packed up and ready to leave Temecula, California, for what would be our 1200-mile journey. (For me and Mom it was our first time to the Grand Canyon, whereas Kathy has visited, hiked, and rafted it before.) On the first day we drove about 400 miles up to St. George, Utah, which is in the southwest corner of the state.

Day two was a short 145 mile drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. (We forgot to take this picture on our way into the North Rim, so we cheated and took it the next day on our way out. Oops, I don't think I was supposed to share that backstage secret with you!)

The views from the North Rim were dramatic and beautiful. The Park Service offers only one place to stay at the North Rim ..... so that's where we stayed!

As luck (and Kathy's great reservation-making skills) would have it, we got an absolutely fantastic cabin at the North Rim! To my left is a view straight out to the canyon.

Petrene, your tour guide, will now show you that view while standing on the porch of our cabin. It was pretty sweet, let me tell you.

We did a little bit of walking around the grounds at the North Rim. It's a fairly small area and it was a peaceful place to enjoy the scenery.

Scenery like this. (If I look a little anxious about standing on a point over a sheer drop ..... it's because I'm not an actress.)

We also enjoyed a picturesque sunset at the North Rim. (Sunrise too.)

On our third day we left the North Rim, traveled about 200 miles around the eastern side of the Grand Canyon, and made our way to the South Rim. While on our way we stopped to admire the Vermillion Cliffs.

On our way we also stopped to see Lee's Ferry, which is the point at which rafting trips through the Grand Canyon begin. Kathy went on such a trip two years ago. She told us it's good luck to touch the Colorado River at this part of the river, so Mom should start buying lottery tickets.

This is our arrival at the South Rim. It's a huge place (kind of like a large town), but it has many more viewing points than the North Rim. The upshot of which is ..... it has significantly more tourists. The good news is it's open year round, whereas the North Rim is only open during the summer months.

The highlight at the South Rim was getting to see a California Condor up close. We watched him sitting on this rock for a few minutes before he decided to take off. I couldn't decide whether to share a photo of the bird while he was sitting (highlight: a head only a mother could love) or while he was flying (highlight: a beautiful body in flight). As you can see, I opted for beauty.

While at the South Rim, we saw the Grand Canyon from a few different vantage points. This was one of them.

On Day four we (Kathy) drove the long and hot 500 miles from the South Rim back to Temecula. Before returning to our respective homes, Kathy and I had one extra day to spend in Temecula. On that day our sister Kelle - who couldn't come along on our Grand Canyon adventure - drove in and we all (Dad too - he stayed home to mind the house and the dog while we were on our trip) went out for a nice lunch together. (That's my whole family above, minus our brother Steve.) It was a nice and relaxing way to cap off a wonderful experience that we'll always remember.