Road Trip: Grand Canyon Day 3

Wednesday we woke up, bundled up against the icy wind, got our breakfast, hopping a shuttle bus, and finally made it out to the rim.

We managed to spy a lonely big-horn sheep far below us.

The day began to warm up and after lunch we hit a woodsy trail to take us to another part of the rim, and the Ranger Station HQ so that we could get Jr. Ranger packets. Along said trail we talked about the native animals... and encountered a giant tarantula!

He even started to get mad at Holly for getting so close to him with her camera: he picked up a leg in front & one in back and waved them at her. (This was not walking - he was definitely doing some cool defensive/aggressive maneuver.)

After the Ranger Station rim area, we took another shuttle bus headed just west toward the Verkamp's Visitor Center and the Hopi House and by the fancy rim-located hotels. The kids were generally excited for the bus trips... but getting little ones in & out of strollers (and folding/lifting strollers into & out of the bus) made them a least favorite part for Sharee & I.

Anyway, we enjoyed a little break in Verkamp's, which was part Indian museum and part book store, and then checked out Hopi House. Cool from the outside:

But total retail joint on the inside.
Back outside was one of the few areas with guard rails and benches, so I decided to let Charlie out to stretch his legs a bit, keeping my eyes on him like a hawk... Which led to my eyes not being on Wanderlust Sam. Can you guess? Yes, he disappeared.

I left Isaac & bawling Charlie with Sharee and her kids and ran as best I could back up the way we'd came... Long story short, had to ask a ranger for help and we split up - she went farther west down the trail and I backtracked some more, praying all the way. When I felt it was right to return to Sharee, Sam had just been dropped off (piggyback) by the ranger. She'd found him on the rim trail near the Bright Angel Lodge about a half mile away, where he was admiring a herd of big-horned sheep. He was completely nonplussed, saying he had just wanted to keep seeing new things and figured we would be heading that way eventually!

Well, this was a major violation of the rules we'd set for the kids in the morning so it was decided that we needed to go back to our rooms for a while. (Really, the kids were getting worn out and LOVED relaxing and playing together in our adjoined rooms so it was more of a punishment for me & Sharee - and Holly & perhaps Isaac - to have to quit and not get to see the herd for ourselves. Ahhh, discipline!)

After dinner we got our coats back on and hopped the last possible far-west bus to "sunset point" aka Hopi Point for about 30 minutes of viewing time before the sun was all the way down.

Here's everybody waiting near the bus stop (a slightly different location than drop-off).

And then we trudged back "home" to put the kiddos to bed. Sharee & I went for a short walk to admire the zillions of stars visible there (14-yr old Holly stayed behind), and then talked in chairs just outside our doors about plans for the morrow, parenting philosophies, and all that good stuff.