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i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
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i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Thursday, June 14, 2012

grand canyon

GRAND CANYON
we just checked off another item from our bucket list
the grand canyon
one of the seven wonders of the world
after seeing this i agree

i research and plan all our trips since im retired
i went to multiple websites and blogs to read about the
grand canyon

like a lot of situations in life i wish i knew then what i know now

heres what i recommend if you are a regular person interested in
seeing the grand canyon and not some gungho hiker or if you are
in poor health

how to get there
i40 from williams az up hwy to grand canyon
can catch a train from williams az
most people dont fly in but you can

where to stay
there are several lodges to stay in the park
they are crowded and booked up
there are some cabins available but are booked
there is an rv park and camping
you got it they are booked up frequently

we chose to stay a few miles from the park at tusayan
at one of the several hotel/motels there
found it very convenient to get back and forth
probably took 10 minute to get to the parking lot
at the visitor center

what to do
go to visitor center and get your paper guide
watch the 20 minute video there
walk to mather point to see your first view of the canyon













watch for ranger programs

use the bus system to go to each of the view points
west its called the red line bus
go to each point and enjoy each view

















we did take some walks along the rim between these view points
this trip took us about 4 hours

do the rim walk that took us about 1 1/2 hours and has lots
of good views of the canyon

you have to drive to the desert view and climb the tower
the site and view are beautiful
this is a must see viewing


































if you are in good health do one of two walks down into the
canyon
we did the kabob trail down 1 hour and 2 hours back up
we took our time coming back up the trail to rest
enjoy the view and to take pictures
going down you are more focused on not falling over the edge
of the trail













(on the way back up we actually saw a teenager
hikexting-texting while hiking-down a steep narrow trail that
a mistake would result in a fall hundreds of feet down a cliff)

this is a must do (doing the trail not hikexting)
if you come to the grand canyon
we chose to do a ranger walk going down since we
got some historical talks on the way down
dont do this walk without adequate water and snacks

at the end of the hike down and out of the trial
this is how my wife she felt about it

















if you know my wife she you know what word she is
signing and saying

see a sunrise (sun comes up at 5++am) or see a sunset
most viewpoints are good
this is another must do


























the bus system is easy to use
red go west
orange go east
blue connects the two

there is spring water available at multiple sites
they do not sell bottled water
bring your own refillable water bottle
we should all be doing this anyway everywhere

the place is clean
we saw no trash
they recycle

the park has used a lot of stimulus money to do much needed
upkeep on the trails and some of the historical sites
they hired a lot of college students to do the work

this park is one example of our tax dollars being put to good use

it was interesting that there are a lot of foreign languages
spoken here
a few japanese and a lot of europeans

my wife she and i regret we never came to this site before
but maybe we would not have enjoyed it as much then
as we did this time
sorry kiddos

oh the other thing bring a camera and take ton of pictures
we did

on our way back to texas we stopped at
meteor crater lake


no thats not a picture of the moon but where a meteor hit
in arizona years years years ago
if you are a jeff bridges fan this is where they filmed starman
and its where the astronauts practiced before they walked on
the moon

then we went to the painted desert and the petrified forest
two places i had always wanted to go to




4 thumbs up visit

the organicgreen doctor

2 comments:

  1. I did that trip about 14 years ago. Staggering how beautiful this country is - also visited Zion Park and the Lava Fields in NM on that trip.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is on our bucket list as well. Thanks for sharing your tips for the trip!

    ReplyDelete