Over The Edge

As you already know I am not a fan of standing close to the edge of a cavernous drop with jagged rocks below.  The first sight of the Grand Canyon found me standing well back from the edge with heart papitations as the rest of my traveling companions got as close as they could to the edge and then...dropped over the edge.  (I found that the ones I had given birth to caused me the most anguish.)  But I managed to overcome my totally paranoid well founded extremely rational  fear enough to take a short hike down into the canyon.

Which gave us some spectacular views of the canyon. 

This is a picture I took of someone else's child out on the edge.  

 This also gave me palpitations because I have an excellent imagination and I was imagining having to tell his mother how he fell into the Grand Canyon while I stood against the cliff wall and snapped his picture. (Here.  I thought you might want this.  It's the last picture of your son. Umm, look how happy he was, just before he, umm.....)  

 None of the pictures of the canyon can even come close to capturing the grandeur of the place, so I will not post them.  You will just have to go yourself.

We hiked down the West Kaibab Trail to Ooh! Aah! Point.  Here we are ooohing and aaaahing.  And looking like a rock band.  Or maybe like a band on a rock.  Or maybe bandits on the rocks.

There is a rule on the trail that what goes down must come back up.  And going up is harder than going down.  I'm just saying.  Here is the Goob starting back up.

I stopped to take a few more pictures on the way up.  And I stopped to encourage the STP.  And I stopped to get a drink and eat chocolate, because hydration and nourishment are key to getting out of the canyon alive.  (That and staying back from the edge.)  And I stopped to let my heartrate return to normal.

This is a picture on the way back up.  At this point the kids are already at the top.  See them up there?  Okay, let me zoom.  (X12)

And here is the most amazing part of the hike.  While we were at Ooh! Aah! Point the Goober says, "I have to admit that of all the outdoor places you have taken me this is the first one I don't totally hate."

SCORE!!