It was cold last night! We ended up not buying a portable heater while in Phoenix, and I hope it wasn't a mistake. While bundled in our sleeping bags, we were fine. But if it is this cold here, what in the world will it be like in Yellowstone or Glacier?! Of course, I'm not sure I'll be gutsy enough to camp there anyway, in a soft sided trailer...bears!

We woke up this morning with Clark feeling terrible. He was unusually exhausted yesterday and fell asleep before anyone else was even ready for bed. He complained a little of either a dry throat or a sore throat, he wasn't sure. When he woke up this morning, his throat was KILLING him and he had a killer headache. Even his voice sounded thick. There is a clinic in the Grand Canyon park, so we headed over there, unsure if they only treat emergencies, or what. Turns out, this is a full service doctor's office, taking care of the 2000 employees and their families that live here! One stop shopping…doctor and medicine. (They even have a K-12 school here with 300 kids attending.) After waiting hours, due to someone before us who was "worse than very sick"????, the Dr. took one look at Clark's throat and said, "Strep! Is anyone else feeling badly yet?? Get them in here if they are." So far, no one else feels anything, but it probably is too soon. The bad news is that we will be away from civilization until Thursday.

So, with Clark loaded up with Amoxicillin, we headed out for our first view of the Grand Canyon. It was comical how long it took us to get there. First the Dr., then bathroom break, then almost there and Big Jimmy's head was killing him…back to the general store for Advil. Finally, the view!

Everyone agreed that pictures do NOT tell a thousand words. They all thought they were prepared for what it would look like because of seeing pictures. They all agreed they were amazed at the size. We walked along the rim for a little while, wearing jeans and jackets, and were freezing. Poor Clark felt awful, but still wanted to see everything. Then it started raining. Then it started hailing! We took a shuttle bus back to the car and headed back to the trailer.

Everyone bundled into their sleeping bags (2:30 p.m.) and was getting toasty. I just couldn't stand the thought of spending my time at the Grand Canyon inside a trailer. I opted to put on a poncho, another jacket on top of my first one, and go back out to walk the rim. It was really miserable outside! Foggy, rainy, etc. I still enjoyed the walk! When I came back, the sun broke through the clouds and turned into a nice evening.

We went to dinner at a little town just south of the South entrance to the canyon. Had a nice meal, only marred by having to go to the store next door for Advil for Nona because she had a killer headache. Uh oh.

Low key night…came home, bundled into our sleeping bags and settled in for what promised to be a 32 degree night. I uploaded some photos, but they aren't the good ones. Big Jimmy took a million pics with his high end camera, and once he downloads them I'll update them here. These are from Clark's camera, and are still pretty good.

We head to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon tomorrow.