We woke up early this morning so we could drive the 80 miles from Flagstaff to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and be there when the park opened at 8AM. There was no line at the gate and we got front row parking. The weather was a perfect 68 degrees and sunny with only a slight haze. Amazingly, we had the park virtually to ourselves.

We decided we would walk along the south rim paved path for about 2.5 miles and then turn around and come back. This was Paula’s 1st time here so we knew we’d be stopping a lot to take pictures.

We ended up walking about 5.5 miles total, had a stroll through the visitors center, and then got back on the road. We then drove further than we thought we would today and made it all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico by dinner time. Tomorrow’s destination is Elk City, Oklahoma.