Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon - South Rim

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Day one: Today we arrived in Flagstaff, the closest town to the Grand Canyon. It is so much prettier up here than I had expected......Lots of pine trees line the mountain side and this is Ski resort area in the winter months....

We are staying in the The Grand Canyon Hostel......Its an old converted bar/hotel building from the 1800 s.....I bet these walls would have some stories to tell......

It is really cosy and only has a few rooms so its a nice relaxing place....

This morning we found the local visitors center and found out about the area....There is a lot more history here than I had realised....This is Native American country and there is loads more to do here than just visit the Grand Canyon National Park.....

We headed out along Route 66 towards the Grand Canyon and took detours to see about the Native Indian history.....We come across some old Indian community ruins that were really cool.....You could walk in and around the ruins and see how the local Indians lived years ago (see pics),,,,

Grand Canyon

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It was really really hot,,, at least 45 degrees and this is Rattle Snake country so we were watching every step we took.

This is also an extinct volcano area,,, lots of black volcanic rock around

Around 3pm this afternoon we made our way to the Grand Canyon....WOW,,, I couldnt believe how beautiful this place is and how hugh the area is....As always.... pictures just cant dont do it justice.....

The sun doesnt set here till late and its not dark till 9pm so we sat for hours and just watched the sun changing the colours of the rock. We decided not to walk to the bottom,,, Its atleast several miles to the bottom and no way was I going to walk back up to the top..... You apparently can do donkey rides to the bottom and back up again but this place is packed with tourists and we were just too late to get our names on the list..... I was so captivated by the beauty and I just was happy to sit and take my time taking it all in....

Native Indian American Ruins - Was a home for about 3 families

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The Grand Canyon National Park is a fair size and the road from North Entrance to the South Entrance is around 20 miles.....There are lots of places along the way to stop and take pictures. We spent most of our time in quieter places away from the bus loads of tourists.....Its just so peaceful here,,, and not so hot because we are around 8000 feet above sea level.....

I have found a new trip I want to do......I would love to do a Colorado River/Grand Canyon river raft camping hiking trip......They range from 2 days to 3 weeks......Now that would be a fantastic experience... That is going to be put on my "To do" wish list...:-)