Saturday morning started out with EK deciding we needed a real breakfast before our journey out to the Grand Canyon. Using the power of 4square or Urbanspoon, I am not sure which, she gave the Garmin our destination a few miles away from the hostel. I pulled into a shopping center, and then realized that EK occasionally has the memory of a goldfish and didn't remember the name of the restaurant she had chosen. We decided that, of the possibilities, it was probably Mike and Rhonda's The Place, a little hole in the wall diner.
Turns out, it was another win for food, and we enjoyed a ridiculously hearty breakfast that included more coffee for me, and the heartiest portions of hash browns either of us had ever seen. Those alone could have been breakfast. Stuffed, we popped back into the car and headed about 90 miles north towards the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The ride itself was pretty chill, and we paid our $25 to get into the national park and headed towards the visitor's center. We parked in the Raven parking lot, and headed to Mather Point and for our first view of the Grand Canyon. I am a reasonably verbose person. Occasionally, I even make sense and am eloquent. There is no way that I can adequately describe what the Grand Canyon was like on first viewing. If I am recalling correctly, a lot of it was me breathing deeply, and saying, "holy shit" over and over again. In person it's unreal. There's a part of you, staring into this enormous hole in the ground, that genuinely cannot comprehend the scale of the thing. You can focus on just about any point in the distance, and it takes concentration before you start to really make out the topography inherent, and are able to discern that no, that is in fact not the canyon floor, but a point several hundred feet above it still. Surreal is probably the best word that I can offer up.
We decided that our best bet was a walk around part of the Rim Trail, so after gaping at Mather Point, we headed on our way. EK was extremely indulgent every time I darted off the trail to stare at the, as the brochure claimed, "gentle views." This frequently involved me clambering over and down rocks and standing as close to the edge as I could until the vertigo set in, or the wind started howling past my ears. The Rim Trail lead us along to the Yavapau Lookout and the Observation Center that was there. It was nice to spend a few minutes out of the sun and looking at diagrams of the geological make up the Grand Canyon, and catching glimpses of the Colorado River waaaaay far away. Before long, we were out again. The park had decided at some point to set up the "Trail of Time" along the South Rim. This was done mostly with little metal inserts into the Rim Trail denoting years, and with exhibits along the way of the different rock strata that make up the Grand Canyon. While it wasn't exactly accurate in terms of time scale, it was definitely effective in showing the make up of the canyon, and giving people a general idea of the extensiveness of time.
Several times along the Rim Trail, the pathway split into two sections; one would always venture closer to the edge of the canyon, but was less well cared for, and often steeper, and the other was well maintained and and easier slope, ostensibly for the ease of disabled users. During one of the steeper splits, EK and I looked up to see an older Asian couple coming down the pathway. It looked like the lady's wheelchair was out of control, but the gentleman insisted it wasn't as they careened down the pathway. We watched in amazement as the lady screamed, "No, Dad-ddiiiie!" to her grinning husband and they zoomed past us. Several more stops for pictures and dubiously wise ledge excursions on my part, we eventually made our way to the outskirts of the Grand Canyon Village, where we explored an hundred year old building that had been turned into a gift shop-cum-historical exhibit. We also managed to see a raven that was about half again as large as my cat, before heading down to the train depot. We managed to find one of the free bus routes to take us back to our car, which had been our goal. On our way back to our lot, we got an impromptu tour of part of the park, got to see the mules getting ready to leave for a trail ride into the canyon, an elk who was just chilling by one of the trees, and a small herd of deer next to the road.
Our route:
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Exhausted, we hopped into the car and headed back to the Grand Canyon International Hostel for a much needed round of laundry and dinner. Despite having to get the hostel attendant to Fonzie the washing machine, we managed to obtain clean clothes without too much money or hassle, and then headed a block down the street to the Lumberyard Brewing Company. We had imbibed dinner from them the night before, so tonight we thought that we might actually try some of their food along with their beer. Turns out, it was a pretty good choice. EK and I both got the pulled pork BBQ platter with a side salad. While the BBQ sauce (we got their regular) wasn't anything to write home about, it was still very tasty, and the meat was nice and tender, and served with Texas toast and cornbread. The salad was pretty good as well...no iceberg, and plenty of vegetables. EK tried their Porter, and I indulged in their Trippel, which was delicious, if also 10.8% ABV. I also got a half pint of their Gold, which wasn't bad, but wasn't spectacular, either.
Stuffed and satisfied, we wandered back to the hostel, and passed the rest of the evening giggling (me) and reading (both of us).
Day 12:
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