Grand Canyon at the Eleventh Hour

The Grand Canyon.  A beautiful place.  And of course, there is a bit of a story.

Today’s post is getting squeezed in because, if you follow Mutt & Chops, you know that Steve and I are moving back to Kansas to be near family and friends.  And this is the last week we are in Arizona.

This is the second time we have made our home in AZ.  This time, we had a home here for 6 years.  The first time we lived here it was for 12 years.  So, a total of 18 years combined in this amazing state.  And that’s where the story comes in…we had NEVER been to the Grand Canyon!

Before you decide that there is something terribly wrong with us, I have to explain our logic as concisely as I can.

The first time we lived here:

1. I was going to ASU full time and Steve was working nights and weekends.  This lasted two years, and we never saw each other.
2. Then I graduated from ASU and got a job as an internal auditor for a local employer that had me on the road about 75% of the time.  Steve and I saw each other even less.  When I came home, I wanted my bed, not more travel.  That lasted another two years
3. Then we got pregnant with Matt (and given how often we saw each other, that was a bit of luck!).   I was still working full time (although no longer on the road), and Steve was still working nights and weekends.  When Matt was born I did not feel comfortable standing next to a big hole in the ground with a little kid.  And that mentality still applied when Sam came along.
4. Next thing I knew, we were moving to Texas.

This second time, I can tell you, we have even fewer excuses.  There is that whole 3 jobs in 3 years for me after we moved, and then there is starting Mutt & Chops and trying to figure out this whole blogging thing.  But there should have been time somewhere in those 18 years!  Which is why I told Steve that I would be absolutely mortified to admit to having lived in AZ for 18 years and not have seen the Grand Canyon.

So, last weekend saw us driving northwest for a quick trip to check off a box.  And although we didn’t spend A LOT of time, I can’t believe how truly amazing that place is.

We took Jack with us (sadly, we had to re-home Lindsay because she would never make it through a KS winter), and he was the star of the day.  People would stop and smile, make baby noises at him, stop to pet him, and comment that he looks like a movie dog.  Not bad for a 14-year-old old man.

Did I mention Steve is afraid of heights?  Refer to our trip to visit Matt in Albuquerque.

Which is why scenes like the ones below drove him NUTS!

But while he was moaning and groaning about the group in the picture above, he spotted, just to the left and below the crazy people on the precipice of death, a beautiful sight.

Some longhorn sheep resting in the warmth of the afternoon sun.  It was so neat!

We walked a few miles along the South Rim, then drove a bit further and walked a few miles more.  I could not stop taking pictures.

Because of Jack’s old shoulders and knees, Steve and I took turns carrying him.  Of course, that only garnered him more attention.  He was a primping prima donna by the end of the day!

We spotted the Colorado River from a long way up, so I had to zoom in.

We also saw this neat little gallery literally perched on the edge of the canyon.  Steve refused to go in.

We saw people hiking and horseback riding back from the bottom of the canyon.

And got a lovely view of the El Tovar Hotel up high.

But the shots directly above were my favorite ones because they capture the majesty of the Grand Canyon from above.

I will definitely come back and see more than we were able to explore this time.  I don’t regret taking the time, even though we had a lot to do to prepare for the move.

So, like I said, we squeezed in this trip and this post.  But let it be a cautionary tale to all of you.  Don’t pass up a chance to visit this wonder of the world.  It is a treasure!

Wish me luck as my house gets packed.  It is seriously testing my sense of home and sanctuary!

I miss you all!