Grand indeed.

The girls and I took off Friday night heading North, and even after taking into account the 15 hours of driving and 15 hours of sleep, we had an action packed weekend.

We found Elk camp in the Kaibab round about 10 PM Friday, turned on the heater in the camper and bunked in.  As always, Phil left us long before sunrise, and we snuggled under the down blankets until it was warm enough to make coffee and cocoa.  We drank coffee and cocoa until it was warm enough to venture out.  Before we even had the chairs set up, we had a visit from the cute blond female park ranger warning us of a controlled burn (the girl kind of ranger not the boy kind).  Before she even finished her story, Phil drove up so she started all over for him (he was flattered and hopes she comes back this week when he’s lonely).  Then we had a little breakfast with Phil, and the girls and I set off on a scavenger hunt – looking for rocks, flowers, great pictures, you know – the basics.  Before we finished our hunt, our friend Amy, who had the tag with Phil, came back from her hunt.  

We showed her our treasures, so we hopped in the truck to go see hers – a very nice bull elk.  Grace watched intently and asked questions as they worked on the elk while Andra and I pretended meat comes from the store.  We got back to camp, and when the elk was taken care of, we decided that it would be some sort of crime to be 10 miles from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at 2 PM and not go, so Amy cleaned up, and we went.   We drove along, stopping, gazing, and amazing. It really is a grand sight, especially at sunset, and we marveled at the fact that all these people around us came from Germany, and India, and Louisiana, and we just happened to be down the way and thought we’d drop in.  We got to drive through the controlled burn,  see the canyon filled with smoke, and then found our way back on a dirt road through the monument and the park.

We played some cards, waited for Phil to come back, and then ate dinner and went to bed. 

Today, we just hung out in camp, played alot of Graceball – which is an awful lot like baseball but the rules are constantly changing, as determined by, you guessed, Grace.  Then we drove to Flagstaff, had lunch with my sister, and drove home.

Phil is still waiting for the big one.  We are waiting for him to come home with the camera.  You didn’t think we did this all without taking any pictures, did you? 

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