Grand Canyon, 2010

Mikki and I were suppose to fly home from California Wednesday. Due to some unexpected work, we delayed the trip until Thursday. Then while driving to dinner the night before, Mikki said, "I guess we could just drive home and get there by Sunday". So, we cancelled the flights and loaded the truck. We left Thursday morning about ten o'clock a.m. We found ourselves late Thursday evening "Grand Canyon 200 Miles", then 100 miles, then 65 miles... so we cancelled our reservations in Flagstaff Az and turned north right before dark. We over-payed for a hotel room in a small town near the canyon on Highwar 64, and awoke Friday morning and headed to see the early light on the Grand Canyon... totally unplanned trip. Seems this type are always the best. I suppose you don't have time to work yourself into a planning frenzy. So here are a few captures from the early morning visit on Friday, before we turned back East and headed to Lubbock. We thoroughly enjoyed the side trip to one of the most awesome of God's wonders. 

We lucked out and saw this bird (not sure what... probably a hawk) soaring around the canyon looking for some breakfast. It was a beautiful, silent experience.

I had a polarization filter on my lens, but the sun was so direct in this shot that I couldn't get it to remove the glare. So I shot it anyway. 

Another of the hawk soaring free... 

For some unknown reason, this lonely rock perched out on the ledge struck me as interesting. 

Mikki standing on the rim trail

This is near the lodge. I'm amazed at the shadows as much as I am at the incredible colors.