The Grand Canyon

I couldn't get the silly blogger to work yesterday, so I'm a day behind. We spent the day at the Grand Canyon yesterday! It was awesome. And cold. There was snow on the ground! But thankfully, we found an REI in Tucson and got ourselves some new winter coats. And on the plus side, when you have to get coats in February, at least they're all on clearance!

So the Grand Canyon. I had been there once before on a family vacation out West 12 years ago and i really only remember two things. One, I was wearing a 'Yo Quiero Taco Bell' shirt (complete with a chihuahua....lapse in fashion judgment?) and two, my brother pretended to fall off the Canyon to scare the daylights out of our mother. And it worked. Quite well.

But it was pretty cool to see it again with Josh this time. We had lunch at a lodge and right outside the windows, you could see the Canyon.

Pretty view from outside the restaurant/lodge

And then we decided to stop in the restroom before heading out into the rest of the national park. And i'm telling you this so that I don't just spring this next picture on you. As a little more of a preface, some of the hotels and restaurants in Arizona have been using something called 'reclaimed water' in their sprinklers and other water sources. They are also accompanied by a sign telling you to avoid contact with the reclaimed water. Reclaimed water as you might imagine, is former wastewater that has the impurities removed and then used in other water systems to promote water conservation and so that treated water isn't just funneled into the ocean or rivers. Which is an awesome idea. And the signs warning of potential dangers are really thoughtful, but really.....

CAUTION: Reclaimed water DO NOT DRINK. In case we were really that tempted, the sign surely warned us away from drinking out of that particular bowl of fecal ambrosia. 

It's crazy how flat the Canyon is at the top. There is no one point that is taller than the rest. It all just plateaus across and dips sooo far down.  And soooo far across.  We scoped out a good spot for sunset too and just basked in all the colors rippling across the sky.  It was spectacular to watch the blue fade into black and the orange bleed into fuschia.  Sadly, it was impossible to get it to translate photographically. BUt it was gorgeous.  And now I'll simply regale you with a smattering of Canyon shots because it really is a beautiful piece of Creation...



 






We had an excellent time checking out the Canyon. Next time we're here, we're going to paddle the Colorado River THROUGH the Canyon. Oh, heck yes.

We got back on the road today to head to Vegas, which we are here now. But on the way, we decided to stop in at the Hoover Dam. When we were visiting Mary in St. Augustine, she told us we have to see it and so we did! And it is crazy! It's so freaking big and man-made.

We had to cross into Nevada to get across the bridge to the Dam.

And then once we were through the security check-point we  had to park in Arizona.

Then, we went around some crazy intense switchbacks. Note the insane curvature on this sign. Looks kind of uncomfortable.

Here's the Hoover Dam! It's not the best picture but it is pretty intense.

The bridge that goes right over the Dam. I think it's a really cool bridge and it's HUGE (not that you can tell in  a picture. No good way to get perspective on its hugeness though)

And now we're in Las Vegas and three hours behind home time. So it's not really 2:30am as I type this even though it's going to say it is. We're going to go see my grandparents tomorrow and I'm really excited! Josh was in the hospital when they were here for my graduation a few years ago and they weren't able to come out to our wedding in October, so I'm stoked to have Josh meet them finally! Should be a good day :)