Day 3

We were headed to the Grand Canyon today, so that necessitated a 5:00AM wake-up call, with a 6:00AM departure.  We headed out in the grey of early morning, backtracking a bit from our travels to Zion.  We hit route 59 in Hurricane and that's where the road really opened up.  We cruised through little towns like Colorado City and Fredonia and soon enough found ourselves in the Kaibab National Forest.  Now, this place wasn't really as forresty as you might expect, but there was lots of open space and the views from the overlook were nice.  After some quick pics and an attempted bathroom break, we were back on the road.  We stopped at a gas station/inn in Jacob Lake for the loo and some cookies and coffee.  Jacob Lake was the last town before the North Rim, so we knew we were getting close.

 

Imagine our suprise when the road opened up to these big green pastures, surrounded by pine trees.  We saw wild cows (?) and wild turkeys as we continued to the park entrance.  After paying our entry fee, we continued on to the North Rim Visitor Center.  There didn't appear to be too many cars in the parking lot which was an encouraging sign.  It turned out that the crowds were negligible at best.  After buying a patch at the gift shop, we headed out to the only trail hike of the day.  Bright Angel Point Trail runs for about a quarter of a mile beyond the lodge.  As we rounded the corner of the lodge, we got our first glimpse of the canyon.  It was spectacular.  We found a porch behind the lodge where people were sitting and soaking in the magnificent view.   We also found a couple of look-out points right below the lodge which we investigated before continuing to the trail.

 

The trail was a paved trail that ran out along a ridge into the canyon.  Here's where we encountered the most foot traffic.  There were a good many folks coming and going.  The trail takes you out to another overlook which offers a clear view of the Canyon to your left and to your right.  After a few snaps there, we headed back to the lodge and after a few more purchases, we headed to the parking lot.  Our next stop was Imperial Point, which was approx. 11 miles east of lodge.  We pulled into the parking lot and had another breaktaking view of the canyon.  After taking a few snaps, we packed up and headed back to St. George.

 

But not before stopping at the Jacob Lake Inn.  We decided to stop for gas (they offered full service!) and also for some cookies.  This was the same place that we stopped at earlier in the day on the way in.  One of the cookies we had picked up was a six-grain cookie which turned out to be quite tasty.  So we wanted to get some more to take back with us.  And then we just decided to eat lunch there at the lunch counter.  My grilled cheese wasn't that great, but the fries were some of the best I've ever had.  And then we were gone.

 

We headed back to the condo and after resting for a bit, I headed out to do a bit of exploring.  We were headed to Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner and I didn't know exactly where it was.  After I found it's location, I drove back to the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor.  They had phosphates on the menu and I had to try one of those.  I had cherry and it was good.  And a relative bargain at $1.00.  I headed back to the condo to pick up the rest of my party and then we went to Famous Dave's.  I had the pulled chicken bbq sandwich with some firecracker green beans.  The food was pretty decent and they had sweet tea.  After some souvenir stops, we headed back to the condo.  And that was day three.