In early May, Shiju and I headed out to Tucson, AZ, to spend time with my mother, Grandmother, Aunt and Uncle. We had decided that we would head out to the Grand Canyon because Shiju had never been there before and we were looking forward to a nice holiday of hiking and taking in the sights.  Shiju had a new camera to experiment with and we soon headed out in search of a new lens that would enable him to take better pictures.  Since he had not researched this very well, the first thing we did when we got to Phoenix was to pick up our rental car from the Airport.  M Aunt dropped us off and we took the shuttle bus to the Rental car place.   We picked up the car and the GPS and headed out in search of a lens.

We found a Best Buy and while Shiju went in and searched for the right one, Mama and I went to a pet strore and looked at the cats and dogs there.  We got water and then went to see if Shiju was ready to leave.  He had got his lens and we continued on our way out the Grand Canyon National Park.  It as about a four hour drive and we were planning on getting there about sunset to watch all the gorgeous reds, golds and browns of the canyon as the sun set.

We had to stop a few times when my nose began to bleed and to stretch our legs.  We stopped to get gas at one point and then decided to take the scenic route through the Sonoma valley, but that upset the GPS and we finally had to shut her off and go with our maps.  It was a lovely drive and we stopped at one little town for a quick break and got root beers at a store and then enjoyed the views for a while and went on towards the Grand Canyon.

We arrived at about 5:00pm just in time for the sun to be setting and headed stright for Mather Point to watch the canyon change colors.  Shiju set up his camera and new lens and started clicking away and Mama and I realised that it was a full moon and went to the Visitor Centre to find out what time the full-moon walk started and where.  Seeing the it started about 8:00pm, we two rushed to the hotel to check in and see where our room was and if there would be enough time to take our bags up.  There wasn't so we rushed back as fast as we could without blowing the speed limit and were just in time to watch the big moon rise over one of the buttes.  It was beautiful and we soon gathered for the group walk, but soon decided that there were too many people and branched off to explore the rim by ourselves. 

It was a beautiful clear night and the moonlight made everything so much more beautiful bathing the trees and buttes in a silvery glow.  We got a few good pictures and then decided to head back in time for a quick dinner at the cafetaria before it closed.  After a quick dinner we went back to the lodge and settled into our room for an early night, with the idea of waking up early to watch the sunrise over the canyon.

After a good night's sleep we woke up at like 4:00am in preparation for the sunrise.  Shiju got his equipment packed up and we got coffee and tea and headed back to Yavapai Point this morning for a good spot to watch the sunrise from.  Mama and I watched for a while and then headed off for a walk along the Rim while Shiju took pictures.  A while later we headed back to the lodge to get ready for breakfast and head out to see other sights along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.