Hoofin' it 'round the Grand Canyon

Ah, the Grand Canyon. These 2 pictures here were taken before the downpour, and the ones at the bottom were from after. 

Yes, it rained again. But thankfully, we were patient and spent some time buying little girls presents, much like these - a blinking owl and a scorpion puppet. What 2 year old isn't charmed by such a gentle creature as the scorpion.  

So after a short wait, we hoofed it back over to another point in the canyon, though offering the same view, simply because it's a freaking huge hole in the earth. But with the sun setting, the lighting shifted and the earth offered up more pastel colors for our eager eyes. It was definitely a sight. I mean, my goal was to get Graceland and the Grand Canyon into one trip, and it was deeply satisfying sitting on the edge of this massive indentation in the landscape mostly because I made it. I overheard a lady say, "they always tell you it's flat, flat, flat for miles before you get there. And it's true." I came in knowing nothing, expecting nothing other than to arrive, and we did arrive and we saw and it was powerful to feel powerlessly close to the edge.   

Jimmy was like, "boring!"

These pictures, once uploaded, do the canyon no justice!

At one point, my hat, which I had grown to adore, the Zion National Park Junior Ranger cap, flew off of my head in the strong wind and we all gasped! I almost cried, but luckily, the hat had only flown down onto a lower cliff. Chris was my hero that day and overcame his fear of heights to save my precious chapeau! 

Gracias, Chris!