Somehow it’s hard to start with today’s story, perhaps because whatever I’m going to write, it won’t be enough to recreate either the thrill nor the positive emotions of my day, which I spent in the Grand Canyon National Park. Talking about my Bucket List, the most famous Canyon was the first thing that used to appear in my mind and I could probably categorize it as one of the biggest childhood dreams of mine.
In the morning after the unplanned Rodeo in Williams, we headed to our next destination – Grand Canyon! The drive took about 30-45 minutes and as we started to approach the National Park. My excitement was not the only thing that grew bigger with each passed meter, but also by overcoming the fear of possible disappointment after all those years …
In order to visit the national parks in America, everybody is supposed to pay a fee, which also includes the camping authorization for a certain period of time. Our entrance ticket included 2 adults and one car. The fee that we paid was $ 35 for one week (you could not by a ticket for a single day). So after entering the park, we rode to Grand Canyon Village. This is a small village located on the South Rim of the Canyon. It offers a very limited number of rooms for its visitor. And to make it more clear how limited the number indeed is, I will share “my disappointment” from January (5 months earlier!!!), when I tried to book a double room, but all rooms were already booked!!!
We spent the whole day in Grand Canyon, but maybe even a week would not have been enough to enjoy everything worth it! Besides the canyon, which of course is the main attraction in the national park, there are also numerous wild animals to see! My personal favourite is the cute North American ground squirrels, who were looking for some piece of food or just some gulp of water … Or the really huge condors, that impress everyone with their size and speed of flying. Unfortunately, there were some small lizards everywhere…. And lucky me! What I was hoping not to see – I did not see (the famous Arizona’s snakes)!
The southern part of the Canyon offers a great variety of panoramic views, the most famous of which are Mather Point, Yaki Point and Desertview Watchtower. From one point to another, for example from Yaki Point to Desertview Watchtower, it takes about 30 minutes by car. So we started from Grand Canyon Village and this was the very beginning of a very special day for me … I went speechless for several hours … My fear (of possible disappointment) might have left me only after the first seconds in front of this unbelievable nature … There is no way to describe the feeling while staring at the greatness of that Giant. There was half an hour, where we just stopped by a tree, sat down, and “mentally” flew through the great distance … and the history of the earth, gathered in one place … Endless thoughts, memories, emotions, gratitude … And a great reminder of how small and insignificant we actually are …
Stay with me! Next time we are heading to the Red Rocks and the uniquely beautiful town of Sedona!
Enjoy the day!
