This morning we woke up from an extremely wonderful sleep in the Grand Canyon. We slept in as long as we possibly could… and we woke up at 7am Arizona time. Haha. We got out of our tent and started to get ready for the day. We saw our three neighbor girls from across the way (who helped us set up our tent last night) packing up their things to leave. I felt a nudge to go ask for their number to keep up with their roadtrip adventures – and I am so glad that I did! Daniel and I walked over to their campsite and ended up just talking with the girls, asking about their lives and what they all did. Then their next-door neighbors asked us ALL if we would like to join them for breakfast! This was a delight because Daniel and I woke up rather hungry and didn’t really have plans for breakfast other than a granola bar – so a warm, fresh breakfast burrito was quite the treat! We went over to the camp next to us and ate with a family of ten. It was wonderful to hear about their camping/traveling adventures and what they were all about: the gentleman was a retiree who recently married a woman from the Philippines. They had several adopted children and they split their time living in Hawaii and the Philippines. Sitting at the breakfast table, surrounded by complete strangers who were perfectly wonderful and kind to us, sharing their lives, made me feel extremely blessed. My favorite part about traveling is getting to meet people and hear their stories, so I was in a little travel heaven! It made both Daniel and I excited to be able to pay-it-forward one day, cooking breakfast for our neighbors while camping or helping them set up their tent. It is just so beautiful how God has ordained people in our path to just aid in the adventures we have experienced. God is just soooo good.
Well, on we go! Today we explored the Grand Canyon on both sides. We first stopped at the visitor’s center to buy some postcards and get advice on the best places to visit when we were only there for one day. We met a sweet woman named Jean who gave us advice on the best places to go during a one-day travel. She also told us the best points for sunrise and sunset! Which was something I was definitely excited about. Then off we went! Really the best way to describe our day is through pictures, so I suppose you can just scroll on!
I took about 500 photos today - so after our trip I will have to edit more and post them. The pictures really do not even compare to what we actually saw! It was a rather overcast day - but we were thankful that we were not in the direct heat all day long. Despite the clouds hanging over the sky, the Grand Canyon was a remarkable sight and both Daniel and I were awe-struck many times. It was really cool because we felt really close to God there - just because there was just so much evidence in the beauty of his creation that you just knew that man could not make that or evolution didn't "accidentally" make it happen, ya know? It was just amazing.
It did monsoon later in the afternoon - so Daniel and I ended up being stuck in his truck for few hours, so we just took a nap. Then it stopped raining long enough for us to view the other side of the canyon and see the sunsetting behind the clouds. Unfortunately it started to pour again by the time we ended up back at our campsite, so our second night in the grand canyon was spent in the truck. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was warm and very dry so we were thankful for that! God is always good, even during the rain.
