Grand Canyon is grand after all

Okay, I loathe it much less today. I woke up early to sun and was happy that our helicopter flights would be taking off. As time went on the clouds came and went and came and went. So we finally decided to go to the helipad and just wait and see. Once I got them there (early,thank goodness) the lady said "oh do they all have ID's"...um no, you never mentioned ID's, so I grabbed the heads of passports and drove like a mad woman to the hotel (47 in a 35) and they ran to their rooms and we rushed back to the helipad. They were all put on flights and they all came back smiling which was great!
I sat and read a book for a bit and then they were back.
We got all our things together and headed into the park so they could go about their day exploring. The sun was out for teh most part. The rain came a few times and it would really pour and then it was done. It was a great temperature. I parked at Market Plaza and dropped the group there, then as I was buying lunch on of my couples asked about my coming with them on a hike so I gave in and went along. it was great!
We did the top portion of the South Kaibab Trail. Not nearly as crowded and it was really scenic. We did the hike in 2 hours. One hour in and one out, with one hour to eat lunch and befriend a fat squirrel.
The lady I was with told a really funny story about her breakfast this morning. We had free breakfast in the hotel, it was all sorts of things! Biscuits and gravy, weird omelet things yogurt cereal, all sorts of stuff and so she had grabbed a bowl of porridge and had put milk on it and took a big bite only to discover it was gravy! I can just imagine her surprise, she said it looked like oats so she helped herself! Ha! So when she went back she debated about the various breads and picked one and toasted it only to discover it was a donut and so started to burn and bubble in the toaster. ha! How funny is that!?

After a great afternoon hike we three headed back to the gift shop so Mr could buy his vase and as we were waiting for them to wrap it up I spotted this really cute wooden chicken. He is fantastic! They ended up buying it for me, it was really sweet of them! I really love it! I'm going to attach him to the dash somehow and he'll be my watch bird over the group in the van.
He's watching me right now from the nightstand. he's red with corn husk plumage and has a little yellow beak. I'll take his photo tomorrow.
I brought them out of the park and to the hotel and they invited me to see the IMAX with them so we did that, which was really good! Boy, do you really feel like you're flying when you watch that. Over the rim, over the river, through the rapids. Its great! Before the show we had time to get to the cantina at the Mexican restaurant across the street so I introduced Mr to Modelo Especiale. I think he liked it.
After the movie we went to dinner and they braved the "street tacos" which was really good. I had that as well.
So it was a really good day, very laid back and scenic, this couple are really easy to get along with and are my oldest and best hikers. In their 60's and walk a good pace, they bagged alot of tough hikes on this trip!
Tomorrow we head out of here and onto Route 66. I'm excited to see this part of it for sure! I talked to an Intrepid guide (another company doing the same tour as me) and he told me what to see and where to eat etc.
Should be a good day. We head to Laughlin to stay overnight before heading to LA the next day. I can't believe its getting to the end of the trip already!