Thursday, August 6

Today, we visited the Grand Canyon. It was simply jaw-droppingly stunning. We got up pretty early, as we had about an hour drive to get to there. We set off around 8:45 or so, and we got to the Canyon around 10:00. The first thing we did (after sitting in line at the entrance for about 20 minutes) was to get a parking space. The Grand Canyon is hugely popular, so the sooner we got one, the better. We got a rather good spot, and we proceeded to wait at the shuttle bus stop so we didn't have to traipse around the park in a car, constantly looking for a spot to park. When we got on the bus, the first place we visited was the visitor center, where we had lunch. After our brief respite, we went out to Mather Point, a short walk away, where we got our first look at the Grand Canyon. It spans ten miles across, and is at least 5000 feet deep from rim to river. We visited several view points today, all of which did not disappoint. Something interesting about the Canyon is the fact that so many of the landmarks were given religious names; for example, there's Jupiter Temple, Vishnu Temple, the Temple of Solomon, the Temple of Isis, and Angel's Gate. The list still goes on!! Anyway, we looked around the park until about 4:30 pm. After a full day with lots of fun, we headed back to camp. I know that I've said this about a lot of things this summer, but if you get the chance in your life, visit the Grand Canyon. It is amazing. Tonight's closing will be "goodbye and good night" in Vietnamese: Tạm biệt và tốt đẹp ban đêm !