“The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself.” – John Wesley Powell
In this post, we want to give a little love to a destination here in the U.S. that completely knocked our socks off (lame, I know). Since our international travel options are definitely limited at the moment, we want to share our experience of visiting the Grand Canyon late last year. For those of you on the West Coast, the Grand Canyon National Park is a feasible travel destination, since the South Rim’s South Entrance is now back to being open 24 hours/day!
Let us dive in (please don’t actually dive in)!
If you grew up in the U.S., you have probably heard about the wonders of the Grand Canyon a thousand times, but it is truly one of those places that you can’t fully comprehend until you are standing in front of it. We were planning a trip to Las Vegas, but since we don’t get over to the West Coast very often, I started thinking that we should make the most of it by spending a day at the Grand Canyon. I was initially torn between the West Rim and the South Rim.
Some background:
Grand Canyon West Rim:
-Could get a helicopter ride from Las Vegas
-Has the “Skywalk," so it seems more like a tourist destination
-Is on the Hualapai Indian Tribal Lands and is NOT a part of the National Park
-Depth of about 4,000 feet to the floor of the canyon
Grand Canyon South Rim (Grand Canyon National Park):
-Considered the “true Grand Canyon” and features the best, most expansive views
-At its deepest point, it is 6,000 feet to the floor of the canyon
-There are more than a dozen stunning viewpoints to stop at
-Multiple lodging options are available for those who want to stay longer
It would have been much easier for us to visit the West Rim, but we really wanted those famous Grand Canyon views! Therefore, we chose take a tour with Grand Adventures that left from Las Vegas and drove us the 4 ½ hours to the Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim. Our tour also included a stop at the Hoover Dam and some places along the famous Route 66. However, the South Rim itself was SO WORTH IT!
Peering down at the Colorado River and walking the “trail of time" made us feel so small in the grand scheme of things! Scientists estimate that the Grand Canyon may be as old as 70 million years! While you walk the “trail of time,” there are brass markers every meter, representing one million years of time.
We certainly saw our share of daring people sitting right on the edge of the canyon and generally getting much too close for our liking, so I can see why some people fall. Especially since the ledge can come up pretty quickly. If you have small children, it’s definitely something to consider and to talk to them about. Most of these people were probably trying to get an epic shot “for the gram,” but we aren’t that risky (sorry not sorry)!
Here are some of our favorite shots from this day trip, which include the amazing sunset that we experienced (highly recommend)!
Have you been to the Grand Canyon National Park or the West Rim? Let us know how your experience was!
Thanks for reading!
-Nikki
