Day 2: Grand Canyon, no driving

Note: We are safely home, and back to the land of uninterrupted wi-fi. So here are the detailed stories of the rest of the Great American Road Trip Adventure (or, as my friend Jill refers to it, "GARTA").

I was excited to sleep in on my second day of vacation, especially because I hadn’t done so on my first day. Edra, however, had other plans—she wanted to rise with the sun, and see how the light hit the canyon. I wished her well and told her I looked forward to the description sometime later in the day.

But moments after Edra left the room quietly, she returned, excitedly telling me to look out the window. I did, and was surprised to see four giant male elk outside our hotel window! They were HUGE, and they were CLOSE. I literally could have opened the screen and reached out to pet them.



Not that they would have allowed that, I’m sure. They seemed agreeable enough, as long as there was a safe distance between them and any nearby people. I rushed outside with Edra and stood along the canyon edge, with the elk between me and the safety of my room. I marveled at how big they were, especially since they only eat grass—how much grass does an 1800 pound elk have to eat a day to get that big?? A lot, it seems, and they were munching away loudly—you could hear them tearing and crushing the grass from the lawn.

It was fun to watch the early risers pass by, and then glance over and see the elk. Many people were surprised, and some, like the elk, were non-plussed. As long as we kept a healthy distance, the elk tolerated and ignored us. I did see a few incredibly stupid people press their luck and slowly inch closer and closer to photograph the bucks. I finally went inside when I couldn’t take anymore—I didn’t want to see some stupid tourist get stomped to death on my second day of vacation.

I tried to wake Mark to simply look outside the window, but he was having none of it. He grunted and swatted me away, and missed out on the beautiful elk. I didn’t much blame him, and returned to bed for a few more hours of sleep myself.

When we finally arose for the day, we joined a ranger-led history tour. We had a really interesting, passionate Ranger, who taught us all about Frank Harvey, the man who turned the Canyon into a feasible recreation area by supplying the food and building lodges, and about Mary Colter, the woman who designed the lodges. We also learned that we were standing in the very spot the Brady Bunch stood, when they filmed their special Grand Canyon episode. I liked that our history was tempered with a little pop culture.

After the lecture, we ventured over to the Desert View visitor center, where we explored the Watchtower.



There was some good people-watching there, as well as our second wildlife encounter of the day.



We saw a snake slither across the path, and a crowd of similarly deprived city-folk stopped to ooh and ahh and photograph the snake. I watched it head toward a pair of elderly Japanese tourists, and when one of them looked up at me, I motioned to the ground so she saw the oncoming snake. She jumped up, and tapped her companion on the shoulder, pointing toward the snake. The second lady let out a blood-curdling scream, and ran full force outta there. I thought I was gonna bust a gut with laughter, even more so when the lady recovered, and laughed at her own exaggerated reaction. (I think I laughed because I was glad it wasn’t me—I would’ve had the same reaction!)

Mark climbed all 90 steps to the top of the Watchtower. Edra and I admired the view from the lower levels, which I’m pretty sure was similar to the view 90 steps ups.

Next up, we drove to the Geology Museum. We sat in on another lecture, this time about how the Canyon was formed (those Rangers hold some great talks!). The Ranger told us all you have to remember is what Californians say when they first look over the ledge-- “DUDE!” It stands for depositation (layers of soild being deposited on what was once the ocean floor), uplift (of the ocean floor), division (causing the rift between the walls of the canyon) and erosion (how the canyon walls were shaped). It was a lot of good info in one short hour.

Our last program of the night was a star program! The night sky, devoid of light pollution, was clear, bright and awesome--you could see every star in the sky! The Ranger was super knowledgeable, which was lost on the crowd, as soon as the ranger lit up a laser pointer that went all the way to the stars. (It was pretty darn cool—it seriously pointed all the way up to the specific stars!) She pointed out the zodiac signs and other animal-shaped clusters of stars, and told us how ancient civilizations believed they came to take those shapes. It was very cool.

When we pulled into the parking lot after the program, we had one last treat waiting for us--three giant male elk! They were enormous, and even more scary in the dark! I was a little freaked out--when we parked, I insisted we walk the back way, along the rim of the canyon.

“Doesn’t matter,” Edra said wisely. “There’ll probably be some over there, too.”

She was right--there was a male and a female elk munching on the grass outside. The male nodded to me, as if to say, “Move along, there’s nothing to see here.” I nodded back and quickly dropped my head down--I figured no eye contact was less threatening.

So that was it--we started and ended our second day with giant elk. And I have to say, it was pretty awesome.