Winter Road Trip Day 10: The Grand Canyon

We got up early on the tenth day of our vacation and drove west toward Flagstaff AZ and Grand Canyon National Park. This would be our last major tourist expedition of the trip; we'd saved the most spectacular for last.

Driving out toward Flagstaff you have a great view of the San Francisco Peaks, which are the winter home of the Katsinam in the Hopi religion. These mountains rise up from the desert and are visible in the far distance as I-40 travels west.

From Flagstaff, you can take two routes to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We chose the eastern route, which took us first to the "Gateway to the Grand Canyon", the Little Colorado Gorge.

It is anything but little.

The viewing area is occupied by an outdoor bazaar of Navajo crafters. We bought a pot as a gift for my Dad, and went down to take a look at the gorge.

Here is Gynn making her way down to the cliff.

And staring over the edge.

Here's that view straight down.

And a couple of shots at the walls of the gorge and the rock formations.

And then it was on to the main event. Approaching from the east, the first viewing area after paying park admission is Desert View, site of the famous watchtower.

The tower was designed by architect Mary Colter for the Fred Harvey Company. Colter also designed the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, where we had made plans for New Year's Eve dinner the following night.

The tower was completed in 1932 and stands 70 feet high.

Of course, the view from the top involves quite a bit more height.

The interior of the tower is painted with Native American symbols and murals by Fred Kabotie.

Even the ceilings are decorated.

Here's a look at some of the interior stairways.

There is a gift shop on the first floor and an observation deck above it.

After getting the view from the tower, we drove the length of the South Rim, stopping at overlooks to take pictures and attending a ranger talk on the lives of the Ancestral Puebloan people who once called the Canyon home.

We exited the park to at the west gate and had lunch at a nearby diner, then drove back through the Canyon, making a couple more stops for photos.

Words can't do justice as far as this scenery goes, and photos are barely adequate, but I'm going to let the rest of the photos speak for themselves.

Enjoy!