Missed it by THAT much! (Day 3)

We had every intention of going to the Grand Canyon. Granted, it was going to be a sort of Griswold family drive-by, but since we were going to be in the "neighborhood", we couldn't miss showing our kids the canyon.

The main problem we ran into is: we're DORKS! We were just a tiny bit yonder from the actual Grand Canyon, happening instead upon Marble Canyon (sort of a lesser-known relative of Grand).

And, here we are, clueless:

At least we had the right river. It was the picturesque Coloraddy, alright.

We crossed on foot at the historic Navajo bridge. Truly an engineering feat, but not for the faint of heart (Kevin, I'm talking to you.) I think Kevin had himself in a panic that one of the children might inadvertently hurl himself or herself off the bridge to a muddy death below.

In reality, all that happened was that we walked across the canyon on a cool old bridge and listened to our offspring whine slightly about the heat and sunlight.

(Pedestrian bridge on the right, motor vehicle bridge on the left)

Back at the tourist bookstore, Kevin bought the book Cadillac Desert, to thoroughly depress himself on the topic of The American West and It's Disappearing Water. (This is his job, after all, as a civil engineer working for a firm that concerns itself with such things.)

And I, in my usual fashion, bought a book with a completely obscure topic, but I've been relishing the reading of it. Sunk Without a Sound - The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde. I'm enjoying the story (totally true, and took place in 1928) as well as the dose of river running information I'm gleaning.

Well, if you're going to mistakenly miss the Grand Canyon (not many people can miss a landmark of such great proportion) - you might as well do it right and at least get a good book out of it. However, now we not only have to go back to see the actual Grand Canyon, but thanks to the bit of history I learned at Marble Canyon, there are a handful of things I'd like to go back and see there, someday.

Not this trip, though. Off for Flagstaff!