C'mon, Cupcake; or, The Best View Yet

Yesterday was Grand Canyon Day. We were too excited to wait until it was light out, so we left the RV at 4:40 in order to make it to the rim by sunrise at 5:11. Well, we thought it was 4:40, anyway, so we were rushing around in the dark, trying to beat the sun to the rim. When we finally found a shuttle heading the right way, we discovered that it was actually only 3:45 am and we had a long time to go before we would see any sun. In reality, it took a lot longer than we were expecting, as the sun missed its entry cue and didn't show up until about noon. By that time, we were back at the RV for a nap – a long nap. The Canyon was pretty spectacular anyway, even in the early morning light, with all the clouds. We weren't the only crazy people waiting for the sun to come up, either; we got to listen to some cool accents and languages from the other crazy people.

Since we were up anyway, we did some exploring before the crowds arrived. It was at 8 am that we came across one of the funniest events of the trip – something that will no doubt continue to amuse us for years to come. If you plan your trip far enough in advance, you can book a ride on a mule to the bottom of the canyon. As this is not the most comfortable way of travel (nor does it appear the safest), the mule guide gives a little speech each morning to the day's group of adventurers...and draws a crowd from those that heard about him. He gave some advice to the mule riders: Show your mule you are not a marshmallow – use your mule motivator. Keep your mules head to tail – if you let them stop to eat, they will eventually notice and run to keep up with the herd. The mules have all been down in the canyon before – and none of them want to go back, so keep them facing the bottom at rest stops. You'll have to ask for a personal imitation of our favorite part when we get back – we've been perfecting it for hours!

Anyway, when we got back to the rim after our mid-morning nap, we went for a real hike, down into the canyon. We made it as far as Ooh-Aah Point, which truly lives up to its name. It was quite windy, which is not surprising, considering the location.


Here, we found the “best view yet”. Of course, we found this view many, many times over the course of the day, and I suspect we'll keep finding more. It's hard to believe we can beat this view, though...