Ain’t life grand!

Have just completed 3 days at the Grand Canyon and what a grand time it was. Even though it’s one of those iconic sights that you think you’ve seen lots of times before, it still blows you away when you see the vast size for the first time laid out before your eyes in technicolour splendour.

We stayed at the El Tovar Hotel, a historic hotel right on the rim of the canyon. We could see a glimpse of the canyon from our room, not that we were in there much.

Day 1 – did the South Kaibab Trail down into the canyon, quickly learning the rule of the canyon – “down is optional, up is mandatory”.  The walk was very steep with some knee wobbling edges at first. The first spectacular viewpoint was called “Ooh Aah Point” because that’s the noise you make when you see the view. 

What they don’t say is that on the way up you go “oooooh aaaaah – my lungs have burst, get me some new ones”. If you prefer, you can have a mule ride to the top – that’s for people who like to sit on their ass. The problem with mules is that you wait ages for one then 3 come along at once. 

Day 2: We took a helicopter flight over the canyon, another WOW moment. We flew pretty low over the forest leading up to the canyon, then all of a sudden the ground fell away beneath us as the canyon opened up.  Amazing! The north rim of the canyon still has snow, adding icing on the top to a grand view.

A splendid culinary find at a gas station: Cheese and Bacon Crickets (also come in Salt and Vinegar and Plain) and Mexican spiced worms – real live (or dead actually) insects for human consumption. We are working up to a taste test, but for now a picture of the packet will have to do. You could also buy a scorpion lolly-pop but we drew the line at this.

In the afternoon we hired bikes and had a big plan to ride all the way to the western lookout, but the shop closed too early for that to happen. So we did a much shorter gentle ride instead. Mike was all geared up in his mountain bike outfit which was just a little overkill for the ‘comfort bike’ he was riding, complete with a sofa for a saddle. 

Day 3: Just to wear out our legs some more, we walked the Bright Angel Trail, which - you guessed it- went steeply down into the canyon. And back up again.  No mules in sight this time, although quite a bit of poo adorning the path.  It was quite a slog to the top, time for a well-earned ice-cream.

By now Mike had decided to try out American cold germs and share them with me, so the Hills are alive with the sound of mucus.

Next stop Monument Valley – cue cowboy music…….