Grand Canyon - North Rim

9/23/2011 12:24:00 PM |

When planning our trip, we chose the North Rim because of our time and location schedule. Also we had heard, that while it's just as beautiful as the South Rim, it's generally less crowded. On the downside, there's not as much lodging near the park. We stayed in a cabin in Jacob's Lake, which is about 45 minutes away. Jacob's Lake is a compound-like area with a motel, cabins, playground, restaurant, and gift shop. There's not much else closer to the park unless you're staying in the park itself, which books up months in advance.

Our cabin was cute and rustic. However, I've found that I like things to look rustic rather than to be rustic! I'll just say that the accommodations were basic. But it was clean, and it was one of the few places that Kevin and I had our own room, so I'll try not to complain!

It took us awhile to actually get to the park. We ate a yummy breakfast (eggs, pancakes, bacon!) at the motel restaurant, and then we let the kids play at the playground while I tried to blog. The internet connection was spotty, so I finally gave up, and we headed out to enjoy what we came for!

On the way into the park, we came across some cars stopped on the side of the road, a sure sign that an animal has been sighted! It turns out there were some turkey vultures guarding a deer carcass on the side of the road. Another passerby told us that there had been a coyote there too! We didn't see the coyote, but the turkey vultures were cool! They just stood there (two on the ground and more in the tree!) with the wings out, I guess as a way of making sure others knew not to come closer.

The first several views of the Grand Canyon were, well, dare I say it, a little disappointing. I feel so unappreciative of grandeur in saying that, but I just wasn't feeling it. I think the scale was just so huge, that it felt sort of impersonal, whereas at most of the other parks so far, we felt so much a part of things. It also could be that, due to the age of our kids, we didn't do any of the hikes into the canyon, so we didn't fully experience the amazing-ness. Also, this park is "the big one." I mean, it's the one all the kids already knew about, so I think we expected to be immediately amazed. Ok, I'll stop rationalizing!

I will say that I did feel more of the amazement when we went down the short Bright Angel Trail to view the sunset. While walking along the trail, when we looked to one side, we saw lots of green and trees (I was surprised to see so many trees there - in fact the Grand Canyon has desert, forest, and river habitats!)

But when we looked to the other side, we the canyon looked drier, and we sas more of the red and tan rock. I had to include the pictures, but I don't feel like they really do it justice!

This is where we sat for our view of the sunset

As the sun was setting, the colors change and deepened, the clouds gained a golden look. I loved how Justin described the clouds, that they looked like they were on fire. The sunset happened so quickly! And everyone around us stayed pretty quiet watching, a quiet reflective moment. It was really inspiring! Well, mostly inspiring, until Anna asked when she could have a snack!

Here's some more pictures from our day, in no particular order.

One of our frequent picnics!

The Abert Squirrel - check out those tall ears & white tail

So our day at the Grand Canyon was a little lower key, and inspiring in a different way. Instead of being immediately wowed, it crept up on me, in the shadows, in the sunsets, in the strange tree roots, all the little things that are part of the huge canyon!

Next stop, Zion!