Day 31 - Grand Canyon

 We woke up early to catch the sunrise after spending the night in the village at Grand Canyon in the Thunderbird hotel. It's pretty cold in the morning. Brrr

The canyon in the early morning sun

Sandy staying warm in early morning as we start out on a hike around the rim to see the sunrise.

Taking in the beautiful vista. The temperatures warm up nicely by mid-morning.


Bright Angel Trail - Phil's a little close to the edge!!!


The beginning of Bright Angel Trail. We only made it to about half way down the part of the trail you see in this picture. After Sandy slipped on the icy trail we abandoned our trek and headed back up to the rim! 


It was great to have binoculars to scout out the Colorado river. We were only able to hike down maybe 1/6th of the trail! And there is no way we would ride the donkeys down after hearing how close those donkeys walk on the edge of the trail!!! The trail was icy in places and crampons were recommended. There were no donkeys on the trail anyway.

An awesome sight that just can't be captured in pictures! You have to see it in person!


This is the hotel we stayed at in the Village, right on the edge of the rim. We felt so lucky!This was the first time we stayed in a national park. We enjoyed not having to drive back to the hotel after sunset and being on site to see the sunrise!
 
We left the Grand Canyon today and headed to Albuquerque, NM. It was a long drive but we got to experience a little bit of the iconic Route 66 along the way. 



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