Canada 5

I decided to split my blog into 2 parts otherwise it would have been too long and maybe boring. Today, I will tell you about our trip to Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon.
We left the Monday after the wedding and had reservations (kindly made and paid for by David for our Wedding Anniversary) to go on the Hulapai Indian Shelf overlooking the Grand Canyon West. I had expected to be quite nervous because I do not like heights. However, it was almost an anti-climax as there was no feeling of fear or anxiety.

You can see the shelf in the above photo. We were not allowed to take cameras, camcorders etc onto the bridge. There were photographers on the bridge to take our photos (for an additional charge, of course).

 In the bottom left hand corner you can see the shadow of the bridge. It looks like a horse shoe.

 I decided we had had enough bad luck on the trip so I decided to get rid of it!!!! It didn't work as you will see.

 This is a nice photo of David on the shelf. No, he is not on the shelf, I mean on the ridge!!!!!
On the way to the shelf we passed these cows with very large upward curving horns. However, standing apart from them looking very sad was another cow with horns that curved downwards. Perhaps that is why he looked so forlorn.

I love the desert which is hard to believe with someone of my origins. I love the clear skies and the plants. When I went to take the pictures of the cows I came across this plant. To you it may not look anything special but when I tell you it was no more than an inch high you may like it better.

Ooooh, I nearly forgot to tell you about the dust devil we saw on the way to the canyon. It was so tall that it looked like a tornado. We did not drive too close because we were in a rented car and we did not want to get it dinged from the dust and rubbish in the whirling debris.

To give you some perspective, there is a car just the other side of the joshua tree in the bottom left hand corner. The "tornado" lasted for several minutes and then dissipated after it crossed the road.
The next day we drove to Bryce Canyon. What a wonder that is to behold. There is nothing else like it on the planet. The columns or hoodoos are created by ice thawing and freezing and torrential rain. We saw it with David and my parents about 25 years ago, Gary with his parents about 7 years ago and I am still filled with awe when I overlook the canyon.

Because Gary was still feeling ill, David and I hiked down the Canyon by ourselves. We followed a trail made by the rangers which was made of dried mud and very small loose stones in places. The view from the bottom was worth the hike.

 OK, so the photo above is not from the bottom!!

The above photo shows two artificial bridges caused by the wind, rain and ice.

 This is difficult to see in the photo but there is a very windy path coming up from the bottom of the canyon that we had to use to get ourselves out. David is in the middle of the photo on a lower path.

 David "messing" with one of the hoodoos. Hoodoos he do that!!!!!

I mentioned at the Grand Canyon that I tried to "push" our bad luck off the shelf (Gary). Well, he should have "pushed" me instead. Down at the very bottom of Bryce Canyon I saw this flower about 6 feet down off the trail. Well, you know me and flowers, I just had to get a piccy. I stepped onto the small pieces of gravel about a foot from the trail and my left leg went out in front of me causing me to sit on my right leg which was now flexed under me. I heard my right knee (the one waiting a knee replacement) make a scraping noise and thought I had dislocated my knee cap. My right ankle was sore, too. No problem I thought. I have my wonderful, strong son with me who loves him Mum dearly. He will be my knight in shining armour and come to my rescue. No such luck. My knight in shining armour told his dear Mum it was her own fault and she should not have left the trail. Therefore, it was up to her to drag her injured self back up the slope to the trail. It took me a while during which I thought my dear!!!! son would change his mind and help his poor old Mum. Wrong. I finally got myself back onto the trail and tried to stand up. The result was an awful pain shot through both my knee and ankle. Crikey, I thought. I still have to climb out of the canyon.

  My "dear" son did take this photo of me feeling sorry for myself. He did not even offer to give me a piggy back part way back up the canyon. So much for my knight in shining armour. Luckily, the knee seems to be OK but I have a terribly bruised right ankle which is quite painful and swollen. Even the underneath part of the heel seems to be swollen as I cannot find a comfy pair of shoes to wear. I am wearing my bedroom slippers as I type this.
We did manage to take some nice wildlife photos during our hike/hobble.

I got MYSELF out of the canyon and thought that would be the end of my bad luck. Well, was I wrong. I put my zoom/macro lens on the back of the car whilst I used the wide angle lens and forgot about it. We drove off and realised a long while later that the lens was missing. I recalled putting it on the back of the car but not picking it up when we drove off. So, another lens literally hit the dust. Then, yes it continues to get worse. Gary and I were riding the bus back to Peterborough when I scratched my face with my emerald ring or what used to be my emerald ring. Somehow I had lost the main centre emerald without realising it so had no idea where it may be.
So, to summarise our trip to Las Vegas. The wedding, baptism and family were great. So were the canyons. However, Gary being ill (now David has whatever Gary had, poor baby. I wonder if he is expecting any sympathy from ME!!!!), the fall at Bryce and the loss of my lens and emerald kinda spoiled it. However, we are still here to enjoy whatever follows.

 
 Kingston Rover Great Loop Map