The area surrounding the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was very beautiful: huge forests fronted by rolling expanses of short-grassed green meadows filled with wildflowers. If we’d never seen the actual Grand Canyon I think we still would have been happy with the beauty around it.
It’s quite a ways before you actually enter the park. These folks, Helmut and Helga (no idea, sounds good), were doing the traditional “photo in front of park sign.”
We had been warned about beefalo, but this was the only one we saw (alive – there was a dead one, probably hit, that had been dragged off into the woods for vulture food. Ick).
And here was our park sign photo. 
We drove straight down to the lodge (another 12 miles away!) to get our first view of the grandaddy of all canyons, the Grand Canyon.
And here was our very first view:
The kids were, once again, somewhat more interested in the creatures around than the awesome rocks. Biology, not geology, for them, I guess.
In the lodge there is a statue of “Brighty,” a mule about whom a story has been written (by the author of “Misty of Chincoteague!”). The legend states that good luck will come to those who rub his nose. Someday I bet his nose will be worn to a stump.
We rushed out of the lodge, hopped into the truck and headed off to try to catch the sunset from Point Royal, the farthest point along the canyon-rim road. Along the way, some beautiful wildflowers: lupines, or BLUEBONNETS!
While we missed some of the beautiful color variations of the canyon walls because we got to the point just a few minutes before the sun dropped below the horizon, we still did get to see some beautiful stuff.
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