the ninth day

Sorry for the delay in posting, the last couple of places either didn’t offer internet connection in the room or wanted too much $$, so we waited.

Today we went to the Grand Canyon; Brianne said, "It was definitely not what I expected. I thought it was going to be just a big, empty hole in the ground; instead it had a lot of hills and valleys." The scenery was breath-taking, as you can see in the photos (but again these pics don’t do the canyon justice).



We hiked a mile and a half down into the canyon (avoiding donkey land-mines), with me (Brianne) leading the way. It took us an hour to get to our stopping point. When we finally reached our destination (the 1.5 mile marker), we said "it wasn't that bad" ... well, all of us except Josh.



If you look closely at this picture (after you click on it) you can see a couple different groups of people walking on the path at different points.



We started back up after a water and energy bar break (and restroom visit), and the first half wasn't that bad (except for Josh still), then with dad leading the way with Brianne close behind and mom and Josh brining up the rear, we finally ... FINALLY ... made it to the top. It seemed like it took us forever, with all the breaks we took along the way, but we did it in just 1.5 hours. So the round trip took us just the minimum time the guides told us it would take – we were surprised.




Mom and dad both said they were going to get Josh a shirt that said "I complained all the way down and up the Grand Canyon" ... so after 10 minutes in the gift shop this is what Josh ended up with:



Then, on the request of Josh, we took a 2 hour detour (just one way, it was another 2.5 hours back to the hotel) to the North side of the canyon to see the Colorado River, and walk across a suspension bridge. It was really cool to see and definitely worth the trip, but Brianne would have rather gone swimming.