The Grand Canyon is Only A Hole
I think you will recall that I wanted to go to the Easter Sunrise Service at the Grand Canyon. Saturday night Adriane and I packed up our cold weather gear, booked ourselves a room at the Red Feather Inn, and headed off to the always beautiful Tusayan. Sunrise was scheduled for 6:10, the sunrise service started at 6:00. Last time I went to the Grand Canyon we had to wait in a long line of cars just to get in to the park, so we left our hotel just before 5AM, planning to drive to the market plaza and catch a shuttle back to Mather Point, where the service is held.
Well, apparently when you arrive at Grand Canyon at approximately 4:50AM, there are no rangers taking money. So you get in free. Bonus! That saved us $25. We drove on in, still intending to park at the market, when we came to the turnoff for Mather Point. Oh, let's just check it out- if we could park here, that'd be really great. So we turned in and lo, a huge empty parking lot. I mean, there were a few cars but there were many spaces. It was still really early so we weren't too panicked. We parked and felt smug about our planning and our general awesomeness.
Eventually we got out of the car and attempted to locate the actual spot for the sunrise service. We followed the Mather Point signs, complete with directional arrows. We did not run into any sunrise service. Maybe it is the other direction, we think, so we go the other way. We drive around to the other side of the parking lot, but all the people seem to be heading the same direction we'd been walking. We tried again. We walked and walked and walked. It was nearly 6AM, but no sunrise service. If we turned around, we'd miss the sunrise altogether, we thought. At least if we stay here, we'll get something out of this.
So, long boring story short(er), we didn't make it to the sunrise service. We did see the sunrise over Grand Canyon, which we both agreed should be put onto a list of cool things we've done in our lives. Once the sun was up we hopped back in the car, where Adriane proceeded to read me the Easter story from the Bible while I zoomed us back to Camp Verde for church at 10AM.
Nah, that didn't really happen. We did eat donuts though.
Here is the proof that we really were at the Grand Canyon at sunrise. I don't know how to take pictures of sunrise so these are not very interesting.
Well, apparently when you arrive at Grand Canyon at approximately 4:50AM, there are no rangers taking money. So you get in free. Bonus! That saved us $25. We drove on in, still intending to park at the market, when we came to the turnoff for Mather Point. Oh, let's just check it out- if we could park here, that'd be really great. So we turned in and lo, a huge empty parking lot. I mean, there were a few cars but there were many spaces. It was still really early so we weren't too panicked. We parked and felt smug about our planning and our general awesomeness.
Eventually we got out of the car and attempted to locate the actual spot for the sunrise service. We followed the Mather Point signs, complete with directional arrows. We did not run into any sunrise service. Maybe it is the other direction, we think, so we go the other way. We drive around to the other side of the parking lot, but all the people seem to be heading the same direction we'd been walking. We tried again. We walked and walked and walked. It was nearly 6AM, but no sunrise service. If we turned around, we'd miss the sunrise altogether, we thought. At least if we stay here, we'll get something out of this.
So, long boring story short(er), we didn't make it to the sunrise service. We did see the sunrise over Grand Canyon, which we both agreed should be put onto a list of cool things we've done in our lives. Once the sun was up we hopped back in the car, where Adriane proceeded to read me the Easter story from the Bible while I zoomed us back to Camp Verde for church at 10AM.
Nah, that didn't really happen. We did eat donuts though.
Here is the proof that we really were at the Grand Canyon at sunrise. I don't know how to take pictures of sunrise so these are not very interesting.
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