From the bottom up.....

November 4, 2008...what a day to behold. Steve and I made a return trip to the Grand Canyon leaving Williams, AZ at 9:00 am for an open air jeep tour from the west rim to the Colorado River. Our tour guide and driver for the day was John who has lived in the area for 42 years...we actually took these pictures after lunch at the Colorado River but I wanted everyone to see what we were traveling in (knowing the temperature was 45 degrees). We initially traveled from Williams to the Grand Canyon Caverns in a 15 passenger van. Stopping to visit the caverns for a tour 21 stories below ground...the ground sloth in the picture below was found in the caverns...thought to have fallen through a shaft into the caverns 3000 years ago. It measured approximately 14 feet tall and because there is only 6 % humidity in the caverns the remains were naturally mummified.

After recovering from the caverns (I have really never liked being under ground) we loaded the jeep for the trip to the west rim of the canyon. Nothing like being in an open air jeep traveling 75 miles per hour when it is 45 degrees. We access the west rim of the canyon on the Hualapai Indian Reservation stopping first at the Lodge to pay $90 access fee. The reservation in one of the poorest in Arizona even though they have the only road access into the canyon...our guide explained that the tribal elders do not disperse the revenue equally among tribal members. The largest building on the reservation is a teen detention center...John explained that teen gang activity is a growing problem on the reservation. Our next encounter as we traveled into the canyon was the wild burrows (which can be adopted) Steve fed this little fellow an orange.

The scenery was beautiful as we traveled into the canyon we could not believe the natural spring waterfalls that emptied into the Colorado River. The view when we arrived at the river was breathtaking.





Steve and I ventured to rivers edge to admire the peacefulness.

The sites as we traveled out of the canyon were awesome as well...note the boulder that is perched on the left side of the rock face. Our driver has been watching this for some time waiting for it to fall. After leaving the reservation we stopped in Seligman, AZ which Disney Pixar used for the basis of "Radiator Springs" in the movie "Cars". Steve and I were able to see the fire truck and police car with "eyes" and have our picture taken with "Mater" the tow truck. Hunter, know how much we admire you because it was really cold by this time to be out taking pictures.