The Pretty Cool Canyon

As mentioned previously, we did a bit of sightseeing on our way back from San Diego last week. In particular, we decided to stop by this big hole in the ground in Arizona.


OK, it's more than a big hole; it's a really big hole (a mile deep and averaging ten miles across, to be more precise). I decided I liked it, so I would take a lot of pictures, some of which follow.

In fact, we liked it so much that, after arriving just before sunset on Wednesday evening and having a quick look (then slowly fumbling our way back to the car in near blackness--it gets dark very quickly out there, especially with no moon), we decided to spend the night in the nearby town of Tusayan, and to wake up before dawn to go see how the canyon would look, lit from the other side.

At dinner that night, we met a pleasant Irish couple named Ned and Maggie, who have a daughter, Christina, who is just a couple months younger than Shreya (and just a little bigger--grr!) They were in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, from their hometown of Tipperary (which is a long way away, as Ned pointed out immediately) and had recently driven down from Yosemite.

How was the canyon in the morning? Quite cold, actually. Fortunately, we are tough, TOUGH, and brought just enough warm clothing that we didn't need to test that. There were still about twenty other people crowding our vantage point, despite the cold and the early hour.



Despite this long face, I don't think Shreya minded the cold very much.





One of the more interesting aspects of the sunrise over the canyon was this Brownian motion we observed in the sky.

Can you tell what it is?


Later in the day, as we took a tour of some of the western viewpoints, we encountered our new Irish friends several times. The babies really seemed to enjoy each other's company!


Anyhow, we took a fair number of photos of the canyon, despite our camera battery running out in the first hour. (We went back to town for breakfast and a quick recharge.) I leave you with a few more that I like.


The canyon looks very barren, but it is not quite as barren as it looks. Also, it is surrounded by lush evergreen forests on both sides.

Looks like someone has been practicing bonsai on this windswept rock.

One of the few vantage points whence we could actually see a piece of the river.

Varsha's turn to wear Shreya.

The sun didn't let up much. Good thing we came in October rather than July!