The Grand Canyon

"Do nothing to mar its grandeur for the ages have been at work on it and man cannot improve it.  Keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you."

Theodore Roosevelt

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The Grand Canyon is really beautiful.  Even more beautiful than I thought it could possibly be. 

Its beauty cannot be told in a photograph or in any story that I could tell.

There is an enchantment that comes over you as you gaze out over the Canyon that I cannot explain.  You will have to come and see it for yourself.

Then, and only then can you understand the beauty that I have seen.

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I have to start at the end of our Grand Canyon story, so you understand that I am serious when I say that I think the rest of my lovely little family are planning on hiding my camera from me when we get to California, either that or it will have an "accident" before we get there.

We did not stop at the beginning of out trek through the Grand Canyon to take the cheesy pictures in front of the sign, but did it at the end.  It was not pretty.  The kids were absolutely sick and tired of me taking pictures.  I think Shane forced the kids out of the van so I could take their picture in front of the sign.  They were not smiling.  I had to tell them to either smile or get out of the picture.  I only wanted a picture of the sign at this point, but no one left and they all smiled ... I am sure I will pay for this later. Our journey so far has been fun and filled with laughter, but I really think they are planning a revolt. 

We are all ready to settle down and that may be part of it, but I know that they are tired of me taking pictures.

Now I will tell you our story from the beginning ...

Pictures of the kids ...

For every one picture you see here, there are at least three others of the same shot ...

The Grand Canyon has some of the best trees for climbing and for pictures.

There was a really cool place that would have been perfect for pictures,

but the kids were getting tired of me taking their pictures by then and cooperation was starting to lag.

And here is where they start to revolt ... 

It was cold and gray, but it was still beautiful ...

and we saw snow ...

Had to take a picture of Smokey the Bear ...

One thing I had never seen before was a raven.  They totally crack me up.

We called him Nevermore ...

Here is a very short video of the odd noise he was making ...

He did regular bird noises, but this one had us cracking up.

So we finished up at the canyon and were on our way out when we saw several people pulled off to the side of the road.  I had to know what the deal was, so Shane pulled over and I got out.  It turned out that there were some Elk grazing (a lot of them) and people were taking pictures.  I of course needed some.  As I was taking pictures, I was told that there was a buck with a huge rack down the road.  I needed to get pictures of him too.  So the following pictures will be of Elk.  In case you were wondering, they are flipping huge!  I have never seen one before this trip and they are huge.  The male was getting too close for comfort, so I turned tail and ran like a girl ...

 

I think the male had a harem, because he was the only male I could see. 

He was so much taller than I am and I am 5' 11.  He was huge. 

This is not zoomed in.  He was very close.

It was awesome.

The kids were not with me at this point.  They were sick of me and my camera by then.

I came jogging back to the van and Marissa was laughing.  She said that she could see me running back to the van with the male right behind me.  Well, he was getting very close. 

My next segment will be very entertaining. 

There are several "close" encounters, great music with a three string guitar,

scary roads leading into the mountains, a tarantula, and a donkey crossing that is no joke.

For now, I am sleepy and ready to turn it in.

With love - Jennifer