The Sheppard Sheep: The Grand Canyon

Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Grand Canyon

The kids got up at 6am again. We are not adapting to the new time zone well. We did get to see elk again just behind our camp. You can tell that they are national park elk, they weren’t afraid of us at all. We got to Angle Trail at 8:30. It took 30 minutes using the bus system to get there. We hiked 3 miles round trip into the Grand Canyon. Carter whined and complained the entire time down and then was as pleasant as can be on the way out. My kids are very friendly and talked to everyone they passes. They ended up making friends with another family and we finished the hike together. The other mom asked if we wanted to go out for ice cream but I didn’t bring my wallet with me, so she treated each of us to an ice cream cone. It was really nice of them and the ice cream was great after a long hike. (We finished at noon.) The kids worked on the junior ranger program for the Grand Canyon while we were sitting on a bench facing the rim. We took the bus back to camp and after snacks we drove to the visitor center. The kids got sworn in as junior rangers and we watched the visitor center video. It felt really good to sit for a while. Back at camp, both Gavin and Renee cut themselves making a spear with Gavin’s pocketknife. I got to go through some of the photos I have been taking. I rented a Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. I am loving it. I will definitely have to buy one when I have an extra $2,200 lying around. We went to a fireside ranger program but they couldn’t make a fire because of the burn ban. Carter wanted to make comments and ask questions the entire time. I have to put my hand over his mouth to keep him from talking. All of my kids wanted to ask a ton of questions and make comments. I often wonder if all kids talk all the time, or just my kids.