How could I forget?!

I specifically shot this video to let you see and hear the peacefulness of floating on the Colorado River deep in the Grand Canyon.

I guess I was so focused on getting out the blogs, and making sure the best stills were included that I completely blanked on the videos I have.

That was just a “riffle” (so no splashing on my camera) to let you see and feel the speed pick up, before watching the next short bit from the infamous Lava Falls. Unfortunately, the first 3 boats with passengers that went through were out of focus, and I couldn’t fix it while I was filming. (I’m definitely cut out for still photography) This raft is one of the gear boats that is super heavy and loaded down, and doesn’t carry passengers -

After we left the river, we drove by the Vermillion Cliffs. That crack in the ground at the bottom of the picture is actually the beginning of the Grand Canyon.

The cliffs are hazy because they are miles away, and we had to be that far back to get it all in. Those cliffs are nearly 3,000 ft high! I just love the color variations in the layers.

We were on our way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We wanted to see it from that perspective, after just having seen it from the depths. I was kinda disappointed (but maybe it was the light or time of day). I don’t know if you remember me saying, but the river does run closer to the South Rim — so much so that you can’t see the river from the North Rim.

After we visited Utah again (next post, I promise), we retraced our route back to the Grand Canyon, this time stopping at the South Rim. We actually only went to the Desert View Watchtower, as we wanted to avoid the crowds near the main visitor center. We had seen the Watchtower from the river, so we wanted to see the same area from a different viewpoint. {As an interesting side note, we ran into one of our fellow river travelers there! And this was just about a week after we got off the river.}

Again, these views disappointed us. I guess after spending so much time getting up close and personal, this big-picture view left us cold.

The canyon that you can just see at the very top of the next picture is the Little Colorado entering the main Colorado. (Remember that turquoise blue stream that we floated down its little rapids?)

I’ll close this quick post with a scrub jay, whose brilliant blue color just made me smile.