The Grand Canyon....God's Handiwork!

OK...get ready for A LOT of pictures!! On Memorial Day morning, we set off heading towards Arizona with destination -Grand Canyon! We decided to stop at Mesa Verde National Park since the boys have not gotten to go there yet and it was on the way. Remember, Mesa Verde is where the ancient Pueblo Indians carved their homes under the cliffs. This is the Spruce Tree House Dwelling........

You have to walk down into it and then back up so Pop and Mama Kaye made it a little ways down and decided they would just look at it from afar.....

So we walked on down to check it out....this was a self-guided tours with Park Rangers around that you could ask questions to....



This is Mason coming out of a Kiva that was underground......

The kids loved it!

We then journeyed on down to where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah all meet, called the Four Corners. There is a monument there where they all meet so that you can stand in all four states at the same time. Below are each of the kids taking their turn at being in all 4 states at the same time....

What we didn't know is that this is on Navajo land and they charge $3 a person to go to this spot!( and you are there all of 5 minutes!)


This was our first time to be in Arizona and boy do I pity the people that have to live there! The desert is pretty in it's on way but there's nothing for miles and miles. The soil is red and there are no trees...also when you do see a house, it is kind of pitiful.....the poverty from the Indians made me sad. Mike said that it reminded him some of Brazil. Here are some shots of the Arizona scenery.....


We made it to the Grand Canyon about at sunset time Monday night and it was amazing! breathtaking! incredible! Truly God's handiwork!

Now my idea of the Grand Canyon was that there was one spot you went to to view it. Reality is that there are 2 rims to view it from, the South Rim and the North Rim. We went to the South Rim and there are 20+ places to stop along the rim for the view. You could see the Colorado river down in it but it was so brown and dirty!

We spent the night at the Yavapai Lodge at the South Rim and spent Tuesday viewing more of the Canyon. Many of you have seen the glass platform over the canyon and NO...we did not go out on that because it is at the North Rim (thank GOD!)

I couldn't get a smile out of Mrs. Kaye because she was so nervous about being near the edge of the canyon! She was so funny out there and did better than I thought she would...

I kept taking pictures, trying to capture the beauty of what I was seeing but it was impossible. Each picture I took just didn't do it justice! You need to go see it for yourself!

Now I know it looks like Haven is on the edge in this picture but there is actually ground behind the rocks here. In case you didn't know, many, many children have fallen to their death while visiting the Canyon over the years....so sad. There were many places that we didn't let the children get near. Below is Landon being Clark of Lewis and Clark....

After leaving the Grand Canyon on Tuesday afternoon, we drove on to Grants, New Mexico, to spend the night. The hotel had an indoor pool and a hot tub so it was nice to relax after being in the car for two days. On Wednesday, we took Pop and Mama Kaye back to the Albuquerque airport and left in tears again as we said goodbye. Pop and Mama Kaye, thank you for a wonderful visit and awesome vacation!! We loved every minute of being with you!