Day three - so much to see!

Our one big idea for this trip was to visit the Grand Canyon.  Not so much for Xander's benefit, but because it's one of the few things that Mama has done but Dada has not, so she was eager to show him something new.

That morning, the boys were so cute when they woke up!  Little did they know what a long day they had ahead of them.  It is a really long drive from Scottsdale to the GC, but we hoped it would be worth it.  With a pitstop for lunch and again for gas, we made the journey in about 4.5 hours.  We would have gone faster, but the time we made up by speeding all melted away when we got stuck behind an oversized load caravan made up of a bunch of police cars leading the way for a giant floatation device (we are still not sure if it was a yacht or a strange looking ship, but it was gigantic, not Titanic, but monstrous in its own right) that was so wide it took up all lanes of traffic and we all had no choice but to putt along behind it all the way up the curvy road.  Finally there was room for the monstrosity to pull off and let us all pass, so we could put that painfully boring part of our journey behind us, literally.

Once we made the stop at what we thought was our last chance for gas, we had a lot of open road ahead of us.

We made it!  This is the viewpoint from the Watchtower vantage point.  Xander and Dada shared this moment as it was the first time either of them had taken in the amazing view!

You can see the river from here too!

Family photo op.  What is with people who take your picture for you?  No, we didn't come here to see the trees, we came here for the GRAND CANYON.  Can you maybe get that in the shot next time.  Thanks buddy.

Mama!  I like this Grand Canyon thing!

As you go along the route at the Grand Canyon, there are many places you can stop for photos.  The view is different at each one - so crazy!

Wave "hi" to the camera!

Kisses for the bubba!

Camera shy?  No, Mama, I just need a hug!

As we approached on of the main viewpoints near the visitor's center, we heard some commotion.  Anthony thought someone had been pushed or jumped over the edge, but Mama knew better.  We'd been seeing this massive bird (could have been different birds) along the way as we had made our journey from the Watchtower to the other side of the park.  Finally this big bad bird decided to take a rest.  Of all places, he chose this rock just outside of the viewing area.  People were going a little crazy for this bird!

As it turns out, this is a condor.  Massive thing.  They used to live in the canyon, but at one point there were less than 10 birds still living there so someone decided to reintroduce the birds into the environment.  This is one of those birds, number 87 by the looks of it.  He's a scary looking bird beast, like a vulture.  The park ranger that we spoke with said this bird has a wing span between 8.5 and 9 feet wide.  Woah!

Overall, it was a very long day, but it was worth it to take in the beauty of this amazing sight.  Xander was an amazing trooper.  We are so lucky to have such a good baby boy!

Thanks, Grand Canyon, for the good times, great photos, and precious memories!  (Double click for a bigger version of this panoramic view!)