After leaving Zion, and before heading to Vegas, we decided that we would make a quick stop at one of the 7 Wonders of the World: The Grand Canyon! We were completely awestruck. Even though the weather was a little overcast and a bit rainy, we still were able to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of the Grand Canyon. We visited the North Rim, which is the site of Point Imperial. This is the highest point of the canyon. And also some photographic proof that my car is still chuggin’ along.

We stopped at the North Rim Visitor Center which seemed to be quite a popular tourist destination. There were clearly people there from all over the world. We were lucky enough to find two Adirondack chairs that overlooked the Canyon, and we camped out there for awhile. Neither of us talked for a long time because we were just taking it all in. Those of you who have been to the Grand Canyon will probably agree that there are no words to describe how beautiful it is.

After we peeled ourselves away from this view, we headed out of the park and spent some time with some “buffalo”. We had seen these beauties on the way in, but were unable to get good photos. The whole way to the exit of the park I had my fingers crossed that they would still be lounging in the same spot… and they were! I had never seen a “buffalo” before.

We spent just as much time watching the “buffalo” as we did watching the Grand Canyon 🙂 Oops.

Why do I use quotes around “buffalo”, you ask? Well after some careful research, Dave and I discovered that these in fact were not buffalo at all, but BISON! Apparently, buffalo do not even live in North America. What are the differences between a buffalo and a bison? You may not care like we did, but if you do, you can go here.

So after we overstayed our welcome with our new bison friends, we ventured out on another detour… this time to the East Rim view point. The sign told us it would be 4 miles down the road. No biggie – we had already done over 3,000 miles in the car, what is 4 more? Well, the terrain of this particular road was a little more than baby Acura could handle… especially with all of the extra weight she was carrying (yup. I’m talkin’ all the beer and cheese we’ve had on this trip!)

Hard to see in this picture, but this was all rocks. So we bumped along for 4 miles until we got to the East Rim. We met a deer friend on the way… (pun intended)

And the view from the East Rim was beautiful as well. We were the only ones there… I wonder why?

The trek back down this unpaved road was the first and only time this trip I had a minor heart attack about my car. As we pulled away from photographing our deer friend, we heard a loud “screeeeeech” coming from one of the wheels! It sounded like metal on metal. So this required some investigating, but in the end it was one of those pesky rocks stuck somewhere. Dave was able to maneuver it out, and we were on our way again!

All in all, we were both surprised at how seeing the Grand Canyon affected us. Just a reminder of how small we are in this great big world!