Today we had a great time visiting the Grand Canyon.  We started by going directly to the Grand Canyon Village, which is where the Bright Angel Lodge and the El Tovar Lodge are located. These are two of the oldest buildings on the south rim (actually, they are multi-building complexes). The area looks much cleaner and the roads are much nicer than I remember them being 30+ years ago . Nancy and I walked around the village, went through the Bright Angel and El Tovar lodges, and took a few pictures. We had an interesting discussion with the concierge at the El Tovar. He came to the Grand Canyon as a young man to hike around the canyon and ended up getting a job at the El Tovar restaurant. He liked it so well he decided to stay……for 45 years and counting! We really enjoyed talking with him.

It was a beautiful weather day and we got some nice pics. But as usual, the pics just can’t capture the depth that makes this place so special. We went to Moran Overlook, which is one of the few places on the south rim where you can get a good look at the Colorado River and some of the rapids. We both imagined what a different perspective it would be to be on the bottom looking up vs. the top looking down. Rafting down the Colorado River has long been on my bucket list and Nancy is interested to do it as well. So I’d say there is a good chance we will do it sometime in the next 2-3 years….I sure hope we can work it out.  We checked a couple more nice overlooks and headed back to Flagstaff around 3pm. It’s about a 1 1/2 hour drive back to town. We decided to hold off on lunch in the canyon area so we could go to one of the many local brewery’s in downtown Flagstaff for a sandwich and beer. We went to the Historic Brewery and got the Happy Hour special…..a burger, fries and a pint of beer. We then went to Hops on Birch Brewery where we split a beer and then headed home.

Nancy found a trail on the AllTrails app that was almost across the street from our RV park. She took Frisco and went over for an evening stroll. She called and asked me to hook up the hose….not a good sign. Lol. We had some rain this afternoon, so the trail was wet……Frisco was looking a little rough! After Nancy hosed her off, we discovered she was also covered in pointy burr type things! We both brushed her tonight and we’ll probably need to work on her a little more in the daylight…… Frisco won’t be going back there any time soon!

It was another great day!

Next 6 pics are views from the Bright Angel Lodge – for those that hike down to the Colorado River on the Bright Angel trail, it’s a 8 mile hike descending 4380 ft. with an average 10% grade. And then you have to hike back up!  If we ever go, I think we’ll use the horses or mules!

This is a zoomed in photo showing a rest stop on the Bright Angel trail

El Tovar Lodge

Pano mode from the iPhone camera

A view of the Colorado River from the Moran Overlook

Cool mural in downtown Flagstaff on Rt. 66 (pano mode)