Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon before? Up until February of this year, I hadn’t. I wondered why anybody would want to just see a hole in the ground. When we got there, it was all of 37 degrees and crazy windy. There was snow! I seriously couldn’t believe it. Yes, we all know what snow looks like, but I couldn’t believe there was this much snow in Arizona. I ended up having to buy a hat and gloves! I never thought in a million years I would have to pack that!

When Bill decided to stand here so I could take his picture, I thought for sure that he was going to get blown off. The crazy thing is that the rangers told us it was a light wind that day. Being from the Windy City, we know wind and this was no light wind! My fear of heights didn’t help either. However, by the end of the day, I was able to walk closer to the edge (not as quite as far as Bill). As you can see from the background, the Grand Canyon is a beautiful site.

Pictures don’t do this place justice at all. There are no words that describe how beautiful it is there. The part that amazes me the most is that when the Indians were living here it looked pretty much the same. It truly makes you feel insignificant. You feel like a speck in the history of the world (which is really what we are). It took millions of years to make this glorious site, and it is just awe inspiring.

The really cool thing about the Grand Canyon is that you can literally spend days there. We only planned for one, so we had to squish a lot of things in a short time period. There are several stops along the outside perimeter that you can visit. They actually have a map you can a follow and a sidewalk to hike on in some places. You also are able to hike into the Grand Canyon if you so desire. There are even signs telling you how long each trail is, how long it will take you, what you should pack with you (water and sandwiches), etc.

Even though each spot is still the Grand Canyon, it is truly a different view from each stop. Something that I didn’t know was that you can actually camp on site. The other thing that I had no idea is that there are actual hotels on site too! How awesome would it be to stay in one of those? The other cool thing was that you didn’t have to walk between stops either — there was a bus you could take for free! Bill and I walked most of the Grand Canyon, but by the end of the day, you get really tired. Plus, the last part of the trail was covered in snow, and we were in tennis shoes. I never thought to bring boots.  I guess if I would have thought about it, it makes sense that there is snow there.  However, the thought never even crossed my mind

Running into the elk was very cool (not literally, of course!) We were driving in between stops and were very surprised to come across these elks!

When we left, this was the sight to see. The sunset was so beautiful. I highly recommend stopping at the Grand Canyon if you are in the area. I wish we would have planned for more than one day there!