DAY 19, Grand Canyon
Today we decided to try hiking from the visitor center to Bright Angel Lodge in Grand Canyon Village. It is all paved trails, so we took the stroller and the Snugli and the backpack and rotated which child rode in the stroller. We had a separate backpack with water and snacks. In the morning, our next-door neighbors were packing up and leaving. They had a 3-month-old son, their first. So we socialized a lot. They had come in a fifth-wheel, and the baby’s grandparents came in a big Class A. It was so new and fancy that there was a motorized mechanism to wind in the power cord. They were really nice.
We packed our lunches and took the shuttle to the visitor center. A little way into our hike, we came upon a family with 3 boys, ages almost-5, almost-3 and 2 months. We both looked at each other with relief and said, “Thank goodness we’re not the only ones!” (There aren’t that many families around because school has started.) We decided to hike together for awhile, but because their older two were walking on their own, it was a slower pace. They were a little bit high-strung, and the almost-3-year-old was still using a pacifier, but other than that they were nice and normal. They stopped for restrooms at one point and we decided to keep going. We did see them later when they were getting off the shuttle we were getting on. We stopped at the El Tovar hotel and had our lunch on their back porch. David and Nora went for a walk while I fed Michael in a highbacked cane chair with the wind blowing in from the canyon. It’s a beautiful day. We made it to Bright Angel Lodge and I got to see a photography exhibit at one of the studios. We shared an ice cream cone. Nora shared it, too. “Lick, Mama! Lick!”
We decided we weren’t tired yet, and we hiked all the way back to where we started. We caught the shuttle back to our campsite.
When we got back, our campsite was in chaos. We had put the dogs inside so they wouldn’t bark, but our screen tent had blown upside down and apparently left the campsite. Someone brought it back and put big rocks in the roof to hold it to the ground. Our camp chairs had blown around, too. The screen tent looks like it might be damaged a bit. We are thinking about taking it back, since it failed on the first time out. For now, we bungeed it to the camper. David made chili for dinner on the outdoor stove.
We decided to try the hot water tank today, too. We usually don’t even turn it on because it doesn’t get the water very hot, and takes a lot of propane. David messed around with the valves and found some mixing valve that was open all the way, letting cold water mix with the hot before it even got to the tap. So we have real hot water, and we took showers in the camper. It was a first for me. It was a hassle moving all the stuff we normally store in the shower, but only about as much of a hassle as packing a bag to go use a public shower. And showers here at the canyon are 75 cents for 3 minutes. So we are probably going to shower in the camper a lot. David also hooked us up to the water here, instead of using what’s in our tank and refilling it at the end, which we usually do. Hooking up to the water means the pump doesn’t come on when you turn on the sink, which is kind of weird now that I’m used to it. It’s nice, though, because the pump is loud. We got new neighbors tonight, too. A retired couple from Grand Rapids, Mich., pulled in next door. They are very friendly, and have grandchildren the same age as our kids.