The GRAND Finale

This morning, we woke up knowing We don't have to drive today. We don't have to pack and unpack. It was refreshing.

However, I will fully admit that I didn't wake up in the best mood. I'm tired, y'all. Needless to say, I wasn't moving very quickly this morning, and once again, Nora was ready for a nap after only an hour or so of being awake, so she and I snuggled and napped in bed while Michael went out for a little drive to explore a couple of other areas of the park.

On his drive, a coyote crossed his path, so he snapped a quick pic:

He also took a photo of the canyon in the early morning light:

And then came upon some mule deer:

Michael came back to the hotel room, and once Nora and I were in better spirits, we got ready and went out for breakfast. We took the shuttle to El Tovar, where Michael enjoyed a chocolate chip belgian waffle and I had a signature cinnamon roll. Good stuff.

After a quick pit stop back at our hotel, we drove to the Visitor's Center, where we caught an orange line shuttle to the head of South Kaibab Trail. We strapped Nora into the Ergo carrier again, and down we went, hiking down into the canyon.

This pic is looking back up the way we came down. The trail winds back and forth:

I don't know why, but this trail was tougher on me than the others we've done. Although the elevation change was the most we've done, the trail seemed to be cut in a way that was less steep than the one we did on Tuesday in Bryce. Maybe I was just tired from the cumulative miles I've put on my legs during this trip? Plus, it was hot. We had to stop and rest a few times.

We eventually arrived at our destination, Ooh Ahh Point. It's about a mile from the trailhead. The trail continues on, all the way down to the floor of the canyon, but that's about eight miles round-trip, and not something you are supposed to do in one day. We stayed at Ooh Ahh Point for about 15 minutes, snapping photos and getting a little rest in.

While Nora slept the majority of the way down, she woke up pretty much as soon as we reached Ooh Ahh.

Before heading back up (ughhh), Michael and I traded--he took Nora, I took the camera bag. I got to carry her downhill, and Michael thankfully took her on the way back up. It's funny, because we later ran into a couple we had passed on the trail on the way down. When she saw Michael carrying Nora (back up at the rim), she admitted that when we had passed them, she saw me lugging Nora and had said to her husband, "Sure, leave it to a man to make the woman carry the baby on a hike!" She was happy to hear that Michael had bared the load on the way back up. :)

We eventually made it back to the top (yay!), just as a woman was about to push a stroller down onto the trail. I was just about to open my big fat mouth when she asked, gesturing to the stroller, "Is this crazy?" Michael and I both told her yes. HA! For a second it seemed like she wasn't going to take our advice, but then we heard her tell her friend that they should come back later with the Baby Bjorn. Thank goodness.

We hopped on the shuttle (ahhh, air conditioning) and got off at the next stop, which was another overlook.

That's Nora as we waited in the shade of a tree for the next shuttle. *LOVE*

And this is Nora on the shuttle bus. *LOVE* again.

We went back to our room to rest for a bit. I fed Nora her food, which she gobbled up, but not without giving me this hilarious look like, "Mom--What are you trying to feed me?"

After we all got a little nap in, we went back out to see a bit more of the park before going to dinner. We took the red line shuttle to a couple of stops west of the Grand Canyon Village, and walked along the rim trail for a while. It was pretty bumpy for our Chicco stroller, though, so we walked along the road for a bit, too.

Michael snapped this pic of me as I stepped out onto one of the rock ledges to take a better look.

There's the Colorado River!

We ended the evening at The Arizona Room, where we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a couple of margaritas and some Southwestern-inspired food. Although the food was good, the service was a bit slow this time, so Nora was getting antsy by the time we left. She was still great under the circumstances, but by the time we got out of there, we were definitely ready to get back to the room to get her to bed.

Tomorrow, we're back on the road for our longest stretch yet--from the Grand Canyon back to good ol' Las Vegas.

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The Grand Canyon

Free breakfast began at 6 a.m. at our hotel this morning. We were there at 6:20, sharing the dining room with a huge bus full of Japanese tourists. And to think we thought we would be some of the only ones there that early! I guess they were all getting an early start as well.

We were ready and hitting the road by a little bit after 8:00 a.m. Before leaving, though, we did take a few pics of the view from our hotel. (Not our room. Our room had no view.)

Page and surrounding area seems like it might be worth visiting, but I'm not sure we'll ever be back. If we had more than seven days for our trip, perhaps we would've spent half a day exploring there!

A few hours later, we were pulling into Grand Canyon National Park.

Nora slept the ENTIRE way. She literally fell asleep two minutes after we pulled out of the hotel parking lot, and was still catching flies when we pulled into the park.

Sweet girl.

Our first stop within the park was at the watchtower, which also provides the first overlook to see the canyon.

While Michael got out to get the lay of the land, I sat in the car with a sleeping Nora for a bit longer. Soon, she woke up, so we got out of the car to join him.

You could climb the watchtower for a slightly more elevated view.

We continued driving and stopped at another overlook to see the canyon in all of its glory.

Nora was in a great mood, thanks to her fantastic nap.

We met a young father who had a baby about Nora's age at home. He was traveling with his dad and some other guys for a little getaway. After he and his dad talked to Michael for a few minutes about babies, they took a family pic for us:

We eventually made our way to Grand Canyon Village, and to our accommodations at Yavapai Lodge. However, when we tried to check in, we were told that the room wasn't ready yet, and to check back after 4 p.m. (it was noon). Bummer.

We killed some time by having some lunch at the Yavapai Cafe, then took one of the free shuttles to the rim of the canyon.

After walking along the rim for a bit and getting our bearings, Nora fell asleep and we decided to walk back to our lodge, rather than take the shuttle. It was nice out, and the walk was slightly less than a mile.

Once back at the lodge, we were allowed to check in. Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised--the room is GREAT! It's obviously been recently remodeled, freshly painted, and it's very clean. It's way better than you would expect for a place that is essentially in the middle of the woods.

Look at Nora Noo--love her! One of the bonuses of this vacation has been the CLOTHES! It's so fun to break out some of Nora's warmer weather outfits. I mean, c'mon--how cute are baby capri pants?!

We relaxed in our room for a while, playing with Nora, who was being hilarious and so much fun. Once it was time for dinner, we caught a shuttle to the rim again, and ate at Bright Angel Restaurant. After our meal, we took a few minutes to take a couple more photos before heading back to our room for the night:

On the shuttle ride back to the lodge, we saw a TON of elk. They were seemingly everywhere! At one point, there was a HUGE one standing right next to the bus, but when I took a picture, there was a huge glare from the lights inside the bus. Boo! So, this pic will have to do:

Tomorrow should be really nice... we're not driving anywhere! For the first time since we arrived out here, we'll be staying put in one place for more than 24 hours. We're ready for the break!

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