Grand Canyon - North Rim

DAY ONE - REACHING THE RIM

It was gloomy, hot, humid and overcast when we finally left Willowinds RV Park in Hurricane UT.

A very nice and affordable alternative to camping closer to Zion!

When we arrived on Wednesday, we just sat outside and visited with Gaelyn for awhile! What a treat just to sit outside! The weather was low 80's coooool compared with the 100+ temps of Zion and Hurricane for the past few months! What a treat to sleep with all the windows open and need a blanket!

On Thursday morning, we got up fairly early and Gaelyn took us sightseeing! Talk about a tour guide.. !!! Gaelyn has been a National Park Ranger for some 20 years, the last 5 have been as a ranger at the Grand Canyon North Rim! We met via our blogs. Gaelyn has been blogging several years and so have we, we just recently started reading each others blogs! When Gaelyn had mentioned in her blog that she was coming down to Hurricane to shop.. I invited her to come for a visit, which she did!

She invited us up to the North Rim when we finished our time in Hurricane. We agreed! Please feel free to visit Gaelyn's blog: http://geogypsytraveler.com

Gaelyn found us this beautiful camping area near the rim and under all these beautiful pine trees!

We took a traditional pose with Angel's Window behind us, Gaelyn was kind enough to take the

picture for us!

There is a short trail out over Angel's Window. But by this time the altitude had gotten to me. The North Rim is over 8,000 feet high. I felt like I had an elephant on my chest, so I handed the camera to Chuck and walked back to a bench hoping to grab some oxygen!

Oooops! I did take this photograph and the one below of Gaelyn.  Then I pooped out and found a bench! It was so cool to see rain approaching the inner canyon!

Gaelyn captures images for her blog!

It was really different seeing both sun and rain in the canyon! The colors are magnificent!

We watched as the storm approached the inner canyon.  This is a very rare sight for visitors! We were so lucky!

Then we moved to a different viewpoint. I stayed in the car, trying to breath as Chuck took these amazing photographs!

Proof that wet rocks are more colorful than dry ones!
As close as we were to the rain, we never got rained on!

WOW!

Amazing job with the camera Chuck!  You just might have a new job!

Imperial Point was our last stop for the day! Even though I wasn't able to participate as much as I wanted, I had a wonderful time! Thank you Gaelyn.

DAY TWO

Breakfast at the Lodge and

Native American Heritage Festival

 Gaelyn picked us up about 9:30am and took us to breakfast at the Grand Canyon Lodge, overlooking the beautiful canyon through huge picture windows! I had wonderful eggs benedict, Chuck had a breakfast burrito, Gaelyn and FabGrandma had 2 eggs with hashbrowns bacon and sausage.  We all waddled outta there! Here you see L to right: Chuck, Gaelyn and Karen (FabGrandma).Link to FabGrandma's blog:
http://fabgrandma.com/

FabGrandma took this candid shot of Chuck and I on the patio outside the restaurant.

 Just below where Chuck and I were standing is a shot walk to another viewpoint!  I remember walking down there with my mom soooo many years ago!

After breakfast, I was still feeling yuckkky, so we went back to The MotherShip to rest up until the festivities started at 2 pm.  One thing for sure to remember about the North Rim, it is not nearly as crowded as the South Rim and it is beautiful! It's not as accessible as the south rim, nor as big, but if I had to choose between the South Rim and the North Rim for a visit, I would choose North Rim everytime!

2 pm came and I was still feeling yuckkky  Darn, I really wanted to attend the festival!  I decided against going and handed my camera over to Chuck once again.  He did a great job!

ZUNI DANCERS

 Hopi Basket Weaving

This young lady, Ranger Susan, put this whole festival together herself!  Thank you Susan!

Hand woven, beautiful Navajo Rugs!

Hopi Dancers

Father and son Hoop Dancers

  Hopi   Singers....  young son also plays drum!

Father and son also dance The Eagle Dance

 Another day comes to an end. Saturday Chuck and I drove to Page and it is from here I am posting this blog. Down 4,000 feet lower, the elephant is off my chest and I am feeling much better! We will be here one more day as Chuck has
to pick up his meds at WalMart and then Tuesday we head up to Bluff Utah via Monument Valley and a quick visit to our friend Emanual Grey!

I must say that it feels so good to be back on the road again! Seems like we were in Hurricane for such a long time, but we made some new friends while we were there. It just feels good to have some wind in our sails again!

We love ya'll and hope you enjoyed the visit to the North Rim Grand Canyon! 
Happy Trails from the crew of the MotherShip:
Chuck, Geri, and our HoundHerd Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar!