North Rim: It Really is Grand

The Grand Canyon -- we expected it to be big. We expected it to be impressive. We expected it to be crowded. It was nothing what we expected. It was so much better. First, we made the absolutely right decision by going to the North Rim, which is several hours from both Cedar City, Utah, and Phoenix, Arizona, thus much more remote (and therefore less congested) than the South Rim. In the North, there is only camping, the stately Grand Canyon Lodge, and lots and lots of wildlife.

The North Rim sits on an enormous wooded plateau at about 7,000 ft. where Ponderosa Pines and quaking aspen trees go on for miles, so it's also much cooler and greener than the south side. Temperatures were in the mid-70s to 80s in the day and low 60s at night.

We camped at DeMotte NPS campground just outside the park. Here's our set-up, with the teardrop and the clam tent that kept us bug-free in the evenings. Just beyond the campsite was a pristine rolling meadow, where we spotted grazing deer in the evenings. (Sadly, the park bison were nowhere to be found during our visit.)

After setting up camp by mid-day Thursday, we headed into the park and out on the trails, to Bright Angel Point first and then alongside a west-facing rim on the Transept Trail. This first hike was close the lodge, so it was a bit crowded, but we took in some magnificent views of million-year old rock formations carved by water and wind.

Day two in the Grand Canyon started with a quiet camp breakfast, followed by a 45-minute drive to the trailhead for the Cape Final trail, a four-mile route that took us through a wooded trail of spruce and fir and a rim view looking east. Hiking at that altitude was invigorating, and hydration is a must, but our old legs and hearts proved worthy.

John enjoys being on the edge.

Of course, photos don't do justice to the beauty of the place. Suffice it to say that after having waited more than fifty years to see this national treasure, we come away incredibly grateful that so much beauty has been preserved for the enjoyment of ours and future generations. 

PS Our final night sky lit up for hours during a torrential thunder/lightning/rainstorm that literally shook the ground under us and kept me awake for hours. But after the storm passed, the starry sky was truly spectacular.

Utah Shakes

What a glorious day we had Wednesday at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City! At 2 PM, we saw the matinee of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. Neither of us had ever seen the show live, although we both knew the music (I can hear my mom playing "Some Enchanted Evening" on the piano.). The cast we saw included Michael Scott Harris as Emil de Becque and Allie Babich as Nellie Forbush; both were great, as was Christine Jugueta as Bloody Mary. Francis Parker alum Nicki Elledge appeared as one of the nurses. So much fun!

After dinner in town, we walked back to the Adams Theatre for Taming of the Shrew. This is the last year that Utah Shakes will perform in the Adams, so I was glad to be there one last time. Construction of a huge new theatre complex is well underway though, and promises another outdoor stage for Shakespeare productions. Shrew was very good, with real-life husband and wife team of Brian Vaughn  (channeling Kevin Spacey, I thought) and Melinda Pfundstein as Petruccio and Katherine, respectively, and fight choreography by my friend Chris DuVal. It's a tough play for a feminist to watch, but the wooing Katherine scene was worth the price of admission, and it's always fun to see Shakespeare's comedies -- all of them comedies of errors of identity and (mis)understanding. Plus, we really liked our box seats for both performances.