Our Weekend in the Grand Canyon (Yep, Lots of Photos)

Well, not in the Grand Canyon but nearby.

This past weekend we decided to make the 6-hour trek from Santa Fe to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Our original plan was to go to the North Rim, which is less developed and thus less crowded, but due to Amie's new work schedule we didn't really have the time to drive all the way up there since it's an extra 200 miles or so.  This time around we had to settle for the more tourist-y side.

The drive down was actually pretty awesome.  Rob's back has been a lot better in the car for some unknown reason so he's been able to drive without a ton of pain.  Since driving causes an inappropriate level of stress for me, this works out really well for us. COMPROMISE. Also, driving 6 hours in the Southwest is so much easier than driving the same distance on the East Coast--the speed limit is 75 the entire way and the road is mostly straight--so the ride really wasn't as awful as I'd feared.

We got to the park and got our camping site all set up.  We managed to find a "corner lot" so to speak so we had tons of room and were positioned far away from the old people in RVs, which meant we could talk loud and drink and listen to music without fear of bothering anyone else.

Soon afterward we drove to one of the scenic viewpoints so that Amie and Robbie could actually see the Canyon since neither of them had before.  I know this probably makes me into a super nerd but I think I was actually more excited than I was the first time I saw it, just because I was anxious to see their reactions.  We spent the rest of the day checking out the different spots, throwing rocks over the edge to see how long it took to hear them land, and doing a lot of general oohing and aahing.  I took a lot of photos, too, as you can see (and the first photo of Amie is a great photographic portrayal of her initial reaction to the Canyon itself).

That night we had mac and cheese and hot dogs by the fire, and a few drinks of course. Pretty typical.

Also, I did a sexy dance, which Rob wanted to capture and I decided to share with you.

At around 9 or so we decided to go back to the rim and see how the Canyon was at night without the huge throngs of people cluttering everything up.  It was seriously gorgeous and, dare I say, almost spiritual.  I kept thinking about how crazy it is that the sun rises and sets on the Canyon every single fucking day without a single thought about whether I'm there staring slack-jawed at it or not.  I felt so insignificant and in such awe of our world and my tiny place in it, and yes, even atheists can be rendered speechless by how beautiful nature can be.

As we stood there, I decided to play with my camera settings a bit and see what my camera could do taking photos at night.  The pictures below were taken at this time (around 9pm on Saturday night) with no light whatsoever except an almost-full moon.  I haven't made any changes to these editing-wise except for a little bit of brightening on the first one.

Crazy, huh? It looks like midday!

Anyway Rob wanted to make sure I added that he did, in fact, pee over the side of the Grand Canyon while I wasn't looking.  He was pretty proud of himself.

We returned to the campsite and enjoyed the fire and each other's company.  We got a little crazy with the photography settings.

We all slept very well snuggled in our sleeping bags, and in the morning Amie was kind enough to make us some amazing breakfast sandwiches to start our day.  We went back to the Canyon to say goodbye and made our way back home.

So there you have it, a recap of my third time to the Grand Canyon.  We really had so much fun as a trio and I'm hoping we can take a longer, less crowded trip at some point.  

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.