Crinkly's Good Ole American Family Road Trip Day 26: Revisiting the grand hole in the ground (Grand Canyon) (9/22/15)

Woke up and had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out towards the grand canyon so that I can be humbled at the sheer size of nature for yet another day of this trip. Get into the canyon grounds and there are storm clouds all around the canyon (north rim is being poured on) so we decide not to do the hike down into the canyon and stay along the rim checking out the nice views.

Beautiful sunrise starting off the day but clouds definitely are everywhere. 

Health lodge at the Grand Canyon. Didnt see this part last time I was here.

These are the trains you can take to get into the park from nearby. 

The OG GC train.

Those storms, they are a brewing. Let the stunning views begin.

Yes beautiful indeed.

Found a lodge one can stay at when visiting the park. Looks good.

You can use this scenic locator to view the canyon.

Or you just look out and take it all in.

Found this guy as we were walking on the path.

Scary lil dude.

Looks like the formation in the middle is being back lit. Even on such a stormy day, the canyon is amazing.

Found a mammalian friend to hang out with as we walked around.

Another site I think I missed last time I was in the park. Not this time :)

Think I can make it to that landing? Yeah me either.

"Small" plateaus in the canyon.

A nice panoramic shot of the canyon.

I think its kinda cool you can see the different levels of the canyon (river gorge, plateaus, and north rim)

I know all these pictures are probably pretty redundant to the untrained eye, but the canyon is truly spectacular in person.

Clouds giving us some cool coloring on the rocks.

Getting a better look down into the valley.

Clouds starting to clear up a little bit.

Great example of the size. That wee man out there is my dad.

Just some siblings enjoying the view. They may have been scheming on the other accidentally falling into the canyon. Sibling love :)

Crinkly wanted to get a glimpse of this magnificent landmark.

Clouds are coming back in with a vengeance.

Another little panoramic shot of the canyon. Wish I had a better camera for this place.

This. This is the reason a picture of this place is the background on my phone.

Some more wee people over yonder. 

Found another critter to hang with.

Crinkly taking advantage of this beautiful day.

Not sure I like the horde of birds just chilling in a nearby dead tree.

Crinkly is starting to show his age.

Got us a glimpse of the mighty Colorado.

Moon starting to come out.

Crinkly doing his best imitation of the tower.

Sunset over the canyon is starting. Gotta finish seeing our sights before no light left.

Ahhhh more views of the Colorado and the Eastern most area of the canyon.

Crinkly was thinking that was a volcano. Dont think thats a thing in the canyon.

Yeah this will be a gorgeous sunset me thinks.

Panoramic view as we set up for the sunset viewing.

Trying to get a few last pics in during dusk.

Crinkly is loving sunsets... almost as much as me.

Crinkly and his tower.

We found us a pretty good spot I think.

BEAUTIFUL!

The moon is ready for his time to shine.

Now for a series of sunset pics as you can never have too many to enjoy :)

El Fin!

Grab lunch from the canyon cafe in the Market plaza. They have ordering kiosks which are cool in theory but when putting in an order for multiple people, it would take much less time just telling someone the old fashioned way. Oh well, get our food which is cafeteria food; nothing too good or bad. I had a porter from historic brewing company that I thought tasted close to a young's dbl chocolate stout, which I liked but was a little too sweet/chocolatey for me; turns out it is a cherry vanilla porter. We left there, took the tram to yaki point which was another gorgeous view of the canyon (don't know that there is such thing as a bad view of the grandest of canyons) before heading back to the car to begin the exit via the eastern (Desert View) entrance. Get to the tower at the desert view stop after the stairs are closed at 530pm so we just explore the grounds and wait for the sunset (plenty of clouds in the sky which I believe makes sunsets/rises infinitely better with the right amount of clouds) before heading out towards Flagstaff. Get into town and go to eat first, but Oregano's has a 45 min wait so we put our name down and head to hotel (Budget inn) to check in and get unloaded before walking over to the restaurant to be seated. Eventually get  to our table and I ordered the kiltlifter first (4 peaks – Scottish ale) before getting the santan pale ale. I ordered the grandma G's chicken potato pizza (or something like that) which had some garlic chicken with sauteed onions, gorgonzola, potato slices (little thicker than potato chips), and some other stuff. Was great but I was lied to when I asked if their small was for 1 person (12” pizza is not for one person – I could have gorged to finish the last 25% but didn't). Was a great place (well priced and very good food with a waitress that was quick witted and cool to interact with) and would recommend it for people going through town. After dinner, we head back to the room to book some rooms for the remainder of trip before heading to bed.