20 June The Grand Canyon

Today's travels took us to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I want to say a special hello to my niece Sarah Martin, who is having her graduation party tomorrow night and I'm going to miss it. To know her is to love her! And a note to Bob's girlfriend Yvonne...If I took you to the Grand Canyon for a romantic getaway we definitely would have eaten in the dining room there. There are some things he just doesn't get, if there was an Applebees on top of the rim he would've taken you there in a heart beat.
Bob's notes: Day 7 Friday... We left the confines of the Quality Inn of Page Arizona at 7:00 am, yes 7. We headed south on Hwy 89 headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This will be my 5th visit to the Canyon (3 South Rand 2 North Rim). The route took us through the Arizona Strip... 2.8 million acres with only one highway. We crossed the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry and walked onto the Navajo Bridge to looked down into the narrow gorge. A plaque tells the story that the very last ferry ride before the bridge opened ended in tragedy and the death of 2. Greg asks "Couldn't they have waited for the bridge to open?" We stopped at a historical marker that told us about two Spanish Padres hiking from Sante Fe in 1776 headed for California. I now know that men of the cloth can be as dumb as the rest of us. "Hey Padre can you walk a little faster?" It is beastly hot. We climbed the Kaibab Plateau into a forrest of tall pines, turned left at Jacob's Lake and drove the 33 miles into the North Rim. We passed through a burned out area from a fire in 2006. We parked at 10:00 am and walked into the Grand Canyon Lodge (1928) and put and exclamation point on our trip. The North Rim is far less visited and 1000 ft higher in elevation than the South Rim. Much cooler. We walked the rim trail and drove out to other vistas. We left at 2:00 pm drove hard to Hurricane Utah to find dignity. We have Super 8 dignity tonight and an Eagles to visit. Note to Yvonne. I didn't eat a meal in the Grand Canyon Lodge dining room this time either. We went for the trail mix.

I cannot help but think of the famous line from Inherit the Wind by Frederick March.......I'm not interested in the Age of Rocks, but the Rock of Ages....anyway you look at it....Grand Canyon is simply beyond belief.....awe inspiring. The enormacy is just wonderous......canyon in canyon in canyon, through millions, in this case, billions of years of our evolution......may we all be blessed by this treasure in America......God Bless our Troops.......Tom