May 28 - United States: Grand Canyon North Rim, Arizona

We'd intended to sleep in today, but I was so dirty that I woke myself up at 5:45AM.  DYING for a shower!!!  Unfortunately, the showers didn't open until 7:00.  So I got up and brushed my teeth and washed my face.  Minor things, but they made me feel slightly better.  I went back to the tent to read until 7:00, which is exactly when Jon woke up.

After our (glorious! refreshing! delightful!) showers, we made pancakes and planned our next few days.  Today, we would do the half-day North Rim Drive, interspersed with a few simple hikes.  Tomorrow, we'll do a serious hike below the rim after taking some sunrise pictures.  Thursday, we'll play by ear.  Friday we'll leave early to head to Vegas.

North Rim Drive

So we hit the road and drove to Cape Royal at the end of the North Rim.  The views really were incredible, and Jon decided that this is where he wants to be for tomorrow's sunrise photo shoot.

At Cape Royal, North Rim of the Grand Canyon 

We spent the next few hours driving from point to point and looking at views.  For lunch, we stopped at Point Imperial and had lunch.  All the picnic tables were taken, so we pulled out the cooler and sat on the curb in the parking lot.  Lunch was turkey and cheese wraps with Diet Sprite.  And we split a Snickers for dessert.  

Point Imperial

We hiked a bit around Point Imperial and then went to our final stop - The Lodge and Bright Angel Point.  Interestingly enough, we never made it to Bright Angel Trail or the historical lodge.  We got stuck in the Visitor's Center and were thoroughly entertained for a while by the various books and stuff.  Jon asked the Ranger a bunch of questions and found out about a nice hiking trail on which to run.  Right then, our trip to the Visitor's Center was over and he was raring to go.

Back at the campsite, Jon went for a run and I had some hammock time to write journals.  Then we hit the showers and made dinner.  We finished off the last of our steaks and potatoes and had some more corn.  Another superb steak dinner on the campstove!  I could get used to this.  Then it was the typical do-dishes, brush-teeth, bedtime routine.  We got everything ready for our early morning tomorrow, so all we have to do is get up, get in the car, and go.