North Rim ~ Day 1

We did it!!! 
Our trip-of-a-lifetime ~ the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! 

I'm telling you, the most amazing trip EVER!
The 6 hour drive was gorgeous ~

unlike the South Rim, where the drive is rather ugly, brown and boring.

Occasional stops at roadside stands selling Native American jewelry is always a must-see.

I was simply in awe of Glen Canyon... and walking over the Navaho Bridge... 

and looking down on the Colorado River. Truly awe-inspiring. 

Randy always lets me stop for various photo ops along the way.

And come on, who could pass up this one near Lee's Ferry.

I fell in love with the ginormous Vermilion Cliffs ~ miles of dramatic red rocky cliffs.

And then the Vermilion Cliff Highway starts climbing and before you know it...

... RAIN! LOTS of RAIN... and then... SNOW everywhere!!!

Ok, so what appeared to be snow was actually a ton of hail.

But who cares... still quite a thrill for this former Wisconsinite!

And seriously, within minutes... this is what awaited us!

Beautiful, lush forests ~ aspens, pine trees and my favorite ~ blue spruce trees!

Oh my gosh ~ our very first glimpse of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! 

Even now, remembering this moment... takes my breath away.

No one told us trees and forests surrounded the North Rim.

No one told us there are very few people here... unlike the South Rim.

No one told us that it's strangely and utterly quiet everywhere we went.

No one told us it would be grander than anything we could have ever imagined.

Just so you know, I will only be posting a fraction of the pictures we took 

over a two day period. (we took 775!)

But wait till you see the images I shot the next day! 

This was our camp site at the North Rim Campgrounds. 

Get this ~ we could see the edge of the canyon from our camp site. Unbelievable.

Because there are limited accommodations, you have to book way in advance.

We slept in our van and stayed snuggle warm in spite of temps down in the 30's both nights.

And I'm not kidding, the campground is so totally quiet by 8pm ~

that you could hear a pine needle drop.