Anyone who has seen the Grand Canyon knows how difficult it is to express in words, so I won't even try. We saw it only from the South Rim, but had two days plus to soak it in. The weather in mid-May was beautiful. The canyon and its surrounds have been photographed by experts, but even us amateurs can get some amazing shots.

Photographer,Jack Dodge	A view of the Colorado River	First view of the canyon
Click here for many more Grand Canyon Vistas from the popular South Rim Returning from another trip, Jack caught this view (click for larger version) from the air of the mile-wide Arizona Meteor Crater.

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Grand Canyon Wildlife

This elk, and some companions were found behind the local "general store" in an RV park. We also saw a small herd of mule deer on the Canyon Pines drive.

Rock squirrels are common sights in the park.

If you look hard, you can see this raven on the edge of the canyon.

As birdwatchers, we were thrilled to see the California condors, recently introduced into the canyon.

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Cave Drawings: Ancient residents of the Grand Canyon came to this valley to hunt and left drawings on the cave walls of their adventures.
		Not all the "crocs" are in Florida. This is a natural rock formation in the valley.

Grand Canyon Travel Tips For optimum viewing, plan to stay in one of the South Rim hotels, esp. El Tovar. But ... this will take planning, as they are booked up more than a year in advance. We stayed outside the park at the Best Western Squire Inn (lobby photo, left). It wasn't cheap, but was good value (large, fresh rooms, and good services). The restaurants were excellent. For "native fare," try the Grand Hotel across the way. Park your car in one of the park lots and take advantage of the free shuttles. We chose the one at Yavapai Observation Station. It was almost empty at 8 a.m. From there it is a nice walk (about 1.5+ miles) to the Village with the hotels, etc. Though there are few people in our photos, the place was crowded, and it wasn't even the season.

Official web site of Grand Canyon National Park