my "new thing"

fyi... to those of you who don't know me well - every year I do a "new thing." It could be something major like skydiving, or something less adrenaline-pumping like holding a stingray, or... And some years I do more than one new thing. My new thing has to be something obviously that I haven't done before, and something that isn't real common, that not everybody does.

Now... for many years I've wanted to take a mule ride into the Grand Canyon. Why? Hmm... because I sure as heck don't want to hike down into it and then back OUT of it! And it's a time-honored activity there. And, well, to say I did it.


Well... I did it. Ok, make that we did it. Sometimes Greg gets dragged into my "new things" since we're usually together! We only did the day trip, which means we only went halfway down the canyon, then across a plateau, so we could look the rest of the way down to the Colorado River. In order to go to the bottom, you have to do the overnight trip. And let me tell you... with how sore I am from one day on a mule, I cannot even imagine how horrible I'd feel if I rode the durn thing for TWO days!!


Anyway... here is my perspective forward going down the narrow switchback path. If you look carefully at the right center part of the photo, you can see a path going out on the plateau - we went out to the end of that plateau, but no further.

And here is my view back. This was a lucky shot, as I was definitely not going to turn around in my saddle to actually look at the camera while taking the picture! I certainly wasn't going to do anything that might upset the mule's balance (or mine for that matter).

This was taken at the potty stop, which was at the bottom of the downhill portion. I have never liked me in hats before, but I kinda like the cowgirl look.

This shot was taken from where we stopped for lunch, at the edge of the plateau. We walked a little ways from the mules (see them looking might tiny compared to the canyon?) to a scenic overlook. I wanted to get a shot showing where we had come down from.

And this is a shot from the same location showing where we did not go to. LOL