East Grand Canyon

Rick ran out of socks! Oops…Janet, Ted and I did laundry and visited the internet café (really just a corner of the cafeteria.) We then packed our picnic lunch and headed east. After our big raft trip on Monday, we decided to stay close to the park for the day. Going out the East gate of the park we passed several potential picnic spots. The Park map showed a picnic area at the Desert View Watchtower area but we didn’t find one. Parking Lot Picnic! As Janet says we’ve perfected it. Grill on the tailgate, Dennis’ lawn chairs, hot dogs, Janet’s Coney sauce...mmm.
Janet, Essie, Rick (yes, Rick) and I climbed the Watchtower, another Mary Colter design. She as visionary and soo talented. Four stories (the roof lookout was closed) with a balcony, all looking out over the Grand Canyon. Back down on the ground we clicked lots of pictures on the rim of the Canyon. Most places there are no guardrails. Often, we would see people and sometimes their kids, climbing down on rock along the edges. Darwin at work… (That being said, these pictures look like we are right at the edge but it is an illusion. We were very cautious!) We made several more stops at points along the Canyon then headed back to the campers. Janet and Ted drove to Tusayan, a little tourist town just outside the park gate, to shop for gifts. The rest of us called naptime. We ate pot roast for dinner then started to pack up for Wednesday: the beginning of the trip home.