my first attempt

Hi family and anyone else--I will attempt to start a blog in way of sharing myself and my world view. We (Doug and I) had the wonderful experience of viewing the Grand Canyon by Mule. This trip was 39 years on hold. When Doug was planning our honeymoon, he had briefly thought of doing a mule ride. I nixed that then--not enough time, not the most romantic thing--and as it turned out it was for the best. So in December, in thinking of possible Christmas gifts for Doug, I thought of the mule ride and arranged for it all. It was a great surprise for Doug--and we began to anticipate taking the trip for our 39 th wedding anniversary. The first night, after traveling to the South Rim, we stayed at the Bright Angel Lodge on the rim--so as to be ready for an early take off at 7:00 am. They assigned us a mule and we proceeded down the Bright Angel trail. The trail, like most trails into the canyon, was narrow and steep, with many, many hikers trying to make there way to the Colorado River below. I have a new appreciation for Mules. They are awesome. They know what they are doing, they stay the course and don't get distracted (no matter who is going around their backside) and they are not afraid of heights. I wasn't much scared either--probably from the couple of Uinta Mountain horse back rides and other rides on narrow trails with sheer drop offs. But I will say I was nervouse somewhat as I was not sure of what to expect. No worries though--the mules did a great job of taking us down the rock faces and along narrow trails. It was jarring to descend 4600 ft--so was sore from that, but mostly it was the heat that took the toll--110 degrees at Phantom Ranch the end of the trail for the day. Took about 5 hrs of saddle time. When we dismounted at the Ranch we were grateful for electricity that has made its way down there so we could have some air conditioning in our little cabin. After a shower and some cooling off there was even a steak dinner that was excellent. Then to bed for some much needed rest. After a big breakfast at 6:30 am we were back in the saddle and heading back up the same trail. We passed the mule pack train coming down. everything that they have at Phantom Ranch was made possible by the mules bringing it down, and hauling garbage back out. We arrived back at the top about 1:00 pm--its much easier and nicer going up then down. Doug was ready to turn around and do it again, I needed some down time. We headed to Williams, Arizona where we spent the 2nd night of our honeymoon 39 years ago. We were glad to have a nice cool hotel with nice soft beds --modern conveniences that were much appreciated after our ride.