Stage One: The Grand Canyon

Depart: Hyatt Place Hotel, Ontario, California
Arrive: Kachina Lodge, Grand Canyon National Park
Miles Traveled: 451.4

Leading up to the vacation I read plenty of narratives which claimed that photographs do not do justice to the Grand Canyon, and that seeing the Canyon in person is an awe inspiring moment.

As it turns out neither photographs or promises of being amazed prepared me for what I experienced ~ the Grand Canyon was much more significant than something to look at. A few moments worth sharing:

• Christine saves the vacation: Some of you may already be aware that Erin, our daughter, is (like nearly every other fifteen year old) addicted to texting her friends ~ so much so that she managed to break her phone a few weeks ago. I managed to obtain a new phone but was unable to successfully activate it, leaving Erin very cranky. Christine managed to get that done by calling our service provider while riding through the Arizona desert. Erin's relief was palpable, and she expressed that relief by actually speaking to her parents and being nice to her brother. There is no telling how things may have gone if not for her Mother's heroics.


• All Dad wants is a little appreciation: Lots of time and money is expended by millions trying to figure out their fathers. But we had a moment when I realized what I want from my children, and it really is pretty simple.
  
  At about 9:30PM on our first night at the Kachina Lodge (i.e. Wednesday) Christine, Joseph, and I decided to go back out to do some stargazing (Erin was wrapped firmly around her newly activated phone and could not be bothered with things astronomical). For those of you who are not a part of urban sprawl might be surprised out that some of us cannot see very many stars at night; but on this night we were dazzled by all that we could see. As the three of us stood there, in a quiet moment Joseph told us "I'm really glad we came here." A thank you from one of my children and I'm good for a few more days.


• Who knew we would need so much water: With only one full day at the park (i.e. Thursday) we decided to do the easiest possible hike ~ the Rim Trail. It is a little more than nine miles from one end to the other, and quite a bit of the trail is actually paved.
  
  How hard could it be?
  
  Well, it was much harder than I ever expected, and the fatal error I made was in purchasing the water bottles I did (before leaving on the trip). I purchased 750ml bottled for Erin and Joseph, and 500ml bottles for Christine and myself. All the bottles were completely filled before heading out. We rode the free shuttle up to Hermit's Rest (the extreme west end of the Rim Trail) and started out. After about 90 minutes we were out of water and had only made it to the Abyss (a nice spot to see several thousand feet of vertical drop) ~ four miles from Hermit's Rest.
  
  Temperatures were climbing, and in the interest of personal safety we waited for the shuttle at that point and rode back down to the hotel. All of us said we could have gone further ~ of course all of us (except for Erin) also took long naps shortly after getting back to the room.
  
  But there were many sights that made even that worthwhile, one of which was a squirrel who was apparently contemplating suicide ~ take a look and decide for yourself:
  
  
  I do not have the ability to describe how close to the edge he was ~ so close that it was not clear how he intended to get away from the edge. We waited there with him for quite awhile, and after a lot of coaxing from Christine, the squirrel turned around and gave us all a look of disdain.
  
  We left the area immediately.
  
  


• Here is how a visit should end: I was awakened Friday morning to squeals of delight from my son and wife as they looked out the window of our room (I paid the extra $10 extra for a partial Canyon view room at Kachina) and saw this:
  
  
  It did not look like a deer to us (though I was still asleep), and so we ended up referring to it as a Caribou ~ or, more accurately, we referred to them as Caribous! There were actually four of these creatures (if anyone can provide positive ID let me know) along with five mountain goats grazing on freshly cut grass and nibbling on small trees/shrubs around the lodges.
  
  To say that it was worth the extra ten dollars is an understatement.

Finally, for those of you wondering what the Aubele family looks like in the wild, here is this:


I'll have a little bit on the drive from the Grand Canyon to Grand Junction later on ~ until then.