See the Grand Canyon

On our way to California, I decided it would be a good idea to hit up some beautiful places along the way. And one of those places was the Grand Canyon.

There was only one problem with this plan. The one hotel in the park is apparently booked out a year in advance. But as luck would have it, refreshing their booking page every couple of hours for a few days in a row yielded results -- one moment I hit refresh -- nothing. The next moment, I hit refresh, and a SINGLE room popped up as available. So I booked it as fast as my little fingers could type!

The place didn't disappoint -- not just the Lodge, but, you know, the CANYON.

The view from the terrace was indescribable. We started our trek with a mule ride, cause supposedly that is the thing to do. Honestly, I have ridden my fair share of animals, from camels to donkeys to elephants, but this was the most nerve wracking of them ALL. My mule was feisty, which isn't really something you want when you are unsettlingly close to the edge of the biggest cliff in the world.

We enjoyed our delicious (albeit overpriced) dinner of scallops and tri-tip at the main restaurant with its spectacular views. Afterward, we drove the main road that stretches through the center of the park and made some stops along the way at the various viewpoints. We saw the sunset from Walhalla viewpoint, which isn’t the recommended one, but I think I liked it better -- because we were alone, and we were able to tango dance and drink a glass of wine with no prying eyes. I turned on Annabelle by The Duhks and had my little moment of beauty with the place.

We did go all the way to Cape Royal at the very end of the road, where we walked out onto the arch, which was slightly terrifying because it was so windy! Then we returned to the Lodge and sat by the fire on the terrace, sipping wine (notice a wine theme here?).

We got up at 5am the next day and watched the sunrise from Bright Angel, which was a bit disappointing because of the cloud cover. But I am still glad we did it.

 As we took our last look at the place and I said my goodbyes to the Grand Canyon, eyeing the pinks and blues as the heat of the day set in, I was reminded of one of my most favorite poems ever, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush aflame with the fire of God.

But only he who sees removes his shoes.

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May I remove my shoes each and every day.