travels to the desert, part 2

our second big stop (after pit stopping in orange county for a night) was the grand canyon.

everyone was right, you really can't capture its grandeur in a photo!

we stayed in this little town called tusayan, located about ten miles from the entrance of the south rim. the hotels in the park are reserved very far in advance, so by the time we got around to looking for lodging the only places left were outside the park. same goes for the famed mule rides into the canyon; they actually advise that you book 9 months in advance! it turned out okay though because the national park service has a really fabulous (and more or less free; there's a basic entrance fee of $25 per car that allows all occupants to take the shuttle for up to seven days) shuttle service that takes you from tusayan into the park and up and down the side of the rim. so we just hopped on the bus and were in the park in ten minutes.

we arrived after 3 pm and still had a fair amount of time to walk around. it was a little hazy that day, and the weather really temperate so the colors of the canyon weren't as vibrant but it made walking around a lot more comfy. (high sixties - mid seventies, methinks). i even took off my sun hat at some points.

sunset was really pretty. my socks are nerdy, they are tube and i folded them down. style blog this is not. there was a barefoot asian tourist nearby who kept on taking vanity photos of himself at the canyon, perching himself on the edge of the canyon rim and increasingly leaning back further and further into the canyon. i got very anxious watching him and had visions of hearing him scream as he plummeted into the canyon as we all looked on in horror. but he was fine and put his sandals back on and sat quietly to watch the sunset. all was well.

it was really beautiful though i never looked straight onto the sun as it set because you know, not supposed to look directly at the sun. as a kid i had these little binoculars that had a little sticker on the side warning its users not to look directly at the sun, presumably with or without the binoculars. i asked my mom and she said i might go blind. good warning, mom. so i peered at the sun with peripheral vision and still enjoyed myself.