The Grand Canyon

We went camping at the Grand Canyon the end of March. We had fun. The kids really enjoyed sleeping in the tent and having a campfire. It was cold at night but as long as we stayed in our sleeping bags we were warm. The cold mornings made it hard to wake up though!

Setting up the tent.

The late sleepers. Don't worry, William slept in the sleeping bag with me, not out in the 20 degree air!

Dale found a bug.

Two elk were right by a camp site near ours.

Our first photo buy the Grand Canyon. Well not really the first but this was one of the first.

Emma working on her Junior Ranger book.

I like this photograph, but am not sure why. Maybe because the angle I took the photo at reflects the tilt of Dale's head.

I was there too!

They had little metal tubes to look through that helped the viewer see a specific aspect of the Grand Canyon that the information sign talked about. Dale and Emma liked looking through them.

This bird really liked nuts. We had a container of trail mix sitting on the picnic table in the morning while we ate breakfast and one of these birds came to the table and tried to peck at the nuts through the plastic. When the kids dropped a couple at snack time they were ready for them!

Goofiness

Getting a little off trail . . .

Let's cook!

William did not appreciate the smoke.

Little marshmallow cookers. To see the resulting marshmallows look at the photos on Emma's birthday post.

Fun on the rocks

A cautious climber

Emma's favorite part of the trip

Looking over the canyon

Emma kept getting tired of walking and wanted to sit down or be carried. We carried her a little bit of the time but for the most part just let her sit for a minute and then had her keep going.

Walking along the rim trail on the west end

A cute group shot of us. A nice couple saw us walking around at one of the stops along the trail and offered to take a photograph. There are some funny ones too. William is represented by his hat behind my shoulder.

Dale looking over the railing at the canyon and the Colorado River. Jason and Emma were back on the shuttle bus going to the previous stop because Dale had left his hat on the bench when he sat to wait for the bus. Luckily they did find it and came back, it just took a good bit of time because going out west the bus stopped at all the stops in between where we were and where we left the hat. Going east the bus only stopped at 2 or 3 places (two-way stops).

The Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon

On our last morning there Dale and Emma received their junior ranger badges. Here is Dale being sworn in. Emma wouldn't repeat the words so I don't have a photograph of her doing it. She did complete the activities though.

We all had a good time and want to go back. I am hoping next time the kids will cooperate and hike down into the canyon with me.