Grand Canyon

After spending one night at Lake Havasu our journey continued to the amazing Grand Canyon. It took us about three and a half hours to drive to out hotel, which again was Days Inn. I have to say it again; it was cheap, continental breakfast and free parking. We really could not ask for anything better. From our hotel it took about an hour drive to get to Grand Canyon and I could not believe what I was seeing when we got there.

Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona. It is about 446 km long and up to 29 km wide. Nearly two billion years of the earth’s geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. Recent evidence suggests that the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the river continued to erode and form the canyon to the point we see it at today.

The canyon is one of the world’s premier natural attractions, attracting about five million visitors per year. I can totally understand why this is a popular attraction as I dreamt about seeing it for years myself.

When we arrived I was amazed over how grand it was. It all looked fake and looking back at pictures that I took it truly looks like I’m standing in front of a blue screen. But I promise all of the pictures are real. I cannot express how happy I was to finally experience Grand Canyon, but I also realised just how scared I am of heights when we were standing there. I was the only one in the group that was scared so I admire my friends for being so brave (and stupid!) as to walk on the edge. I tried that a bit too, so I actually saw just how far down to the bottom it actually was. 

What I did not know is that there are several hotels you can stay at that are on the canyon. You can request a room with your personal view of the canyon, but I imagine that it is a bit expensive. I did not mind driving for an hour as you can spend several hours walking the canyon once you’re there. You can also book helicopter flights over the canyon but that was also a bit expensive, or raft down Colorado River.

Spending time at Grand Canyon was a lot of fun and I totally recommend visiting this spectacular wonder if you’re in the neighbourhood. I guess I am stating the obvious here, but it is worth it. Make sure you have batteries in your camera and be careful on the edges. And if you're worried that you'll get hungry, you can always have lunch at McDonald's (yes there was actually one there). But most of all enjoy!

All of the pictures are my own, and the facts about Grand Canyon are from Wikipedia.