Grand Canyon National Park

May 23-26, 2003

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Grand Canyon is one of the most famous national parks in the world. Five million people come to visit this nature wonder each year. Over the past six million years, Colorado River cut down through the uplifted Colorado Plateau, creating the 277 miles long and 1 mile deep Grand Canyon. Even you have seen thousands of Grand Canyon pictures before, you have to stand by the rim to really get impressed by its grandeur.

Getting there ...

We had a flight to Las Vegas at about noon, and drove about 5 hours (only stopped once at Williams) to Grand Canyon south rim. Iris was complaining in the car for almost half way through until Linus invented the "silly sentence" game, and then we had a smooth and joyful drive to the park.

 

The First Day ...

 

 

The Second Day ...

 

After we were back to Yavapai Lodge and took a short break, we walked to the new visitor center (Canyon View Information Plaza). I was quite disappointed with the visitor center: it's a big new building without much interesting exhibition inside.

 

 

 

The Third Day ...

 

I hiked down from Hopi Point along the Rim Trail. It's about 2.2-mile easy walk with most time gradually downhill. The view with the early morning light was the best rewards for me to get up so early.

 

Powell Point Maricopa Point Bright Angel Trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Day ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going Home ...

We arrived at Las Vegas at 5PM so we had plenty of time to relax and have dinner before our 6:30PM flight. The whole trip was much smoother than I expected: Linus had a fractured toe a week ago, Iris was having some mumps infection before the trip. They both recovered and fully enjoyed the trip. Everything was also on schedule as planned and in perfect timing, which included our flight (I was impressed by the efficiency of Southwest Airline), our driving time (so we made our first sunset at Grand Canyon and got the tour at Hoover Dam), everyday's hike (so we saw what we planned and did not push the kids too much), and everyday's sunrise/sunset (so I got the photos I dreamed for). But I'll remember to give Linus air-sickness medicine next time when we were on any kind of airplanes.

 


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