With the mission part of the trip over, today was all play and no work. We woke up and enjoyed the complimentary continental breakfast served by the La Quinta we’re staying at, then commenced the journey to the Grand Canyon. The drive was about two hours in length, but the time flew by with the help of music, movies, and beautiful scenery. Once inside the Grand Canyon National Park, we went to the visitor’s center and watched a short documentary about the canyon. We completed our tourist agenda by then going to an overlook of the canyon, one of many views we got of the magnificent landmark. We shifted our position about the canyon for access to Bright Angel trail, a path down to the floor of the canyon. Grand Canyon is one mile deep, vertically. However, because of zigzagging back and forth to reach the bottom, the trail is quite a bit longer and takes around eight hours to complete. It was also littered with ice, mud, and mule droppings, so the few who went the furthest still decided to turn back early. After hiking, we stopped at the canyon gift shop, then went on to Desert View, home of the Watchtower. The Watchtower was exactly that- a large tower, though now used primarily as a gift shop and mini museum for Native American artifacts. Our last stop along the Grand Canyon was another overlook. It offered a splendidly different view of the canyon, along with a bit of the Colorado River. We left the Grand Canyon, our memory cards teeming with rocks, and stopped at a giant curio shop filled with all sorts of trinkets, Indian jewelry and weapons, toys, and everything else an Arizona gift shop may have. From there we began the long drive back to Flagstaff, where we ate dinner at Chili’s and complimentary birthday desserts were given to Caleb and Hope. Our wonderful mission trip is coming to a close, but we are all ready to be back home. Thank you so much for your prayers, and please pray for traveling mercies for us tomorrow as we make the long trek back to Florida.
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