That Canyon is Pretty Grand

The Grand Canyon is so big and there is so much written about it that we felt like we didn't even know where to start with visiting it.  So, we just decided that we were going to get up early, and like a lot of this trip, figure it out when we got there.

Upon driving through the entrance we were greeted with a good amount of pebble sized hail and a lot of rain.  Once we got in we ducked into the visitor center to watch the introductory movie and wait out the rain.  The movies at places like the Grand Canyon are pretty boring because it ends up being a lot of pictures of something you could just walk outside and see, but it did allow us to successfully wait out the rain.

Chrissy enjoying the view.  It is a pretty impressive sight.  While Grand Canyon is one of the most popular parks in the country, we were pleasantly surprised with how much of the trail around the rim we had to ourselves.  It will probably pick up once school let's out and the summer season starts.

We managed not to get caught in any more rain while we were visiting, but there were some pretty ominous clouds from time to time over the canyon.  The way you can watch the weather and clouds and shadows change is one of the cooler parts of the place.

Obligatory shot of us together.

Something that's not the giant hole in the ground.

We walked about 600 feet down into the canyon which is only a portion of the mile or so all the way to the bottom, but it was still a pretty steep hike.  We met some people on their way back up that hiked all the way down and slept at some of the campsites at the bottom which was cool.

In our opinion the views that have the Colorado River (that created this whole thing) are the nicest.  Our camera has a setting called "super vivid" that sometimes creates cool shots that make the color pop more.

With the rain in the area we did eventually catch the full arc of a rainbow.

Before we left we decided to stop at desert view which is about 25 miles along the rim from the main visitor center.  It has this 70 foot tower built in 1932...

And our favorite view of the entire canyon that we saw.  However, the lighting wasn't the best for a picture at that point.  All in all the Grand Canyon has a lot of hype but it is definitely a place that's worth the visit at least once.