Day 18 — North Rim of the Grand Canyon
As I told you all yesterday we all decided to take a day away from the trails and RZR’s and go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Lew & Lisa; JC & Nancy had been there several years ago; however, Karen and I along with Les & Jane had never been there. The trip was roughly 3 hours away from where we were staying and we all felt it was too close not to go. If you have never been there; let me go ahead and say the pictures I will be showing and anything you may see on TV does not give the Grand Canyon justice.
On the way to the Canyon my mind began thinking about the scenery we have been seeing. For the last 17 days we have seen some of the most beautiful scenery God has placed on our earth. Take a look at the next couple pictures:
A wild fire had destroyed this part of the forest land. I have always respected fire and the potential of devastation it has. I now have a son that is a fire fighter and I know the danger they face every time the alarm sounds — this alone has given me even more respect for the dangers of fire. As we approached the first stopping point of the Canyon we began noticing more forest destroyed by fire and even more recently. I approached one of the Rangers and began asking about the devastation I was seeing. The Ranger explained the fire within the National Forest we observed driving in began by a lightening strike and then another storm came through getting the fire completely out of control to the point it crossed the road on three different occasions. This occurred in 2006 and it is just now starting to see greenery coming back. The fire we noticed driving up to the first stopping point she explained was also started by lightening. It goes without saying Smokey Bear knows what he is talking about.
We arrived at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and headed to Point Imperial.
When we got to Point Imperial, what we saw was not very exciting:
However, you got to love Ms. Karen (Snapper). She began praying — Lord please pull these clouds away — bet you can’t guess what happened?
The following pictures are from Angels Window and Cape Royal Point:
The bottom right photo is an arch known as Angels Window.
As we were walking to Cape Royal Point, JC let his mind begin wondering. As it turns out — 39 years ago on this very date he and his lovely wife Nancy were at this same location celebrating their honeymoon. We had to get a 39 year anniversary photo; I can’t wait to see the comparison from 39 years ago.
From here we drove down to the Grand Canyon Lodge for lunch and more spectacular views:
Next are views from the balcony behind the dining room of the lodge:
After lunch we ventured back to Lizzie and Charlie’s to begin packing up for the journey home. God has truly Blessed us and all on this adventure. For those of you keeping up with the blog please pray for traveling mercies as we begin the long pull home and back to our respected loved ones.
I hope you are, and have enjoyed reading and seeing pictures of our adventure; as much as I have enjoyed putting it together each evening. However, it is not over yet. There will be evening blogs on our travels home. See you all soon!!
AS ALWAYS: GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!!