What an experience yesterday was...Grand Canyon completely rocked my very soul. Amazingly spiritual yet vastly unforgiving. You can not begin to gauge the true size of it or the Colorado River unless you see it for yourself. A land to truly inspire your spirit! It's one of earths most powerful landscapes, it really did overwhelm my senses. I spent the first 15 mins sobbing like a baby in complete awe at the beauty to which I was blessed to see before my very eyes. The story of this mighty wonder of creation tells of geologic processes played out over unimaginable time spans. We started our venture into the Grand Canyon by road from the southern rim, stopping first at Desert View watch tower, only 22% of tourists get to enter the canyon this way, most enter & exit via the northern rim, we were lucky to go right thru from the southern rim exiting today thru the northern rim. The Grand Canyon is 190 miles long as the Condor flies & within that is 277 miles of river. The canyon width varies from 10 to 14 miles. I liken it to looking into the geology of the earth with the earth surface being cut open a mile wide. The northern rim is 8000 feet high & it was this rim that we first flew over in the chopper exposing the Grand Canyon to us in all her glory from the air....this was my first point of pure serenity, it simply took my breath away, I was very conscious of actually holding my breath for what seemed like eternity. Today was all about our hour chopper trip which did not disappoint! Our pilot was extremely good & had us diving down deep below the rim & soaring high above, he had as sweeping sideways along various faces, we dove tailed back & forth sighting many animals within the canyon & I even saw my very first black bears in the wild. I cried when I saw them, they are such majestic creatures. The Colorado River is a milky blue colour & flows pretty damn fast, it really is much wider than it appears on TV, we fly down over where the Lil' Colorado River (which we had been following in the sheep truck for several days) meets the Colorado River proper. Amazing!!!!! I was a tad apprehensive about going up in a chopper with my vertigo issues but thoughts of my first flight with my son in control of the plane got me through....so Chris, yesterday's flight over the Grand Canyon was as much for you son as it was for me. All fear was replaced with a nervous excitement as the canyon opened up before me.....one of God's greatest creations. None of my words best describe such a wonder. Our accommodation was at Yavapai Lodge which is actually inside Grand Canyon National Park, quite a ways in from the village. Yavapai is an Ecolodge & very much blended in with nature. There were many Elk roaming freely about & I am sure bear too! I have a serious fascination with bears....love them! We decided to spend sunset at Bright Angel viewing area & I am so pleased we did, the changing of colours was brilliant...what an experience. Whilst we were experiencing sunset over the Grand Canyon we were lucky enough to sight several Condors....such graceful creatures. How wonderful is nature! We also got to see the Mules that are used for trekking down to the base of the canyon along the very narrow ledges of the Bright Angel trail. I did not know that a Mule is a crossbreed of a Jackass & a horse...seriously! So maybe that is where the saying a horses ass comes from...... Also I did not know that Bedrock City is a real place....truth, got the pic! I also did not know that it's LEGAL to wear a 6 shooter hand gun on your hip anywhere here in the state of Arizona, prolly other states too I reckon...me tinks I will keep my own counsel until we get the hell out of this state eh! All in all....smile can't be wiped off moi face! I am truly blessed & I will never forget my experience in the Grand Canyon nor indeed this entire trip! Be back later Hoo Roo