SOUTH RIM

On our way home from my parents house a couple of weeks ago, just as we were getting to the turn-off of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, all of a sudden my husband hit the brakes and turned and announced to me, "I think we're going to go to the Grand Canyon!"  Since we had planned on staying in Flagstaff that night and our stop at Lee's Ferry hadn't taken near as long as we thought it would, I thought this was a great idea!
It has been several years since we've been to the South Rim and every time we pass the turn-off, we always mention that we need to go there again.

There were some things that we had not remembered about the South Rim.  For some reason we had not remembered that the road inside the Grand Canyon was actually lined with trees.  Why did we always remember that it was just desert?  When we stopped at the entrance to pay our fee, my husband asked for the senior pass, now that he is 62 (required age).  The ranger told him it would be $10.00.  My husband said, "Ten dollars?  Isn't it like $35.00?"  The guy said, "No, that is what you paid last year for your entrance fee to all the parks for a year, but now you can get the Lifetime Senior Pass for only $10.00."  We had thought that they quit selling them for that and had raised the fee.  Of course our information was from our parents, who always gloated that they had bought their lifetime senior pass for only $10.00 and that they heard that the parks had raised the rates and they were so lucky that they had gotten that pass for only $10.00.  Anyway, we were really glad and realized how smart the national parks are to offer the pass for that low of a price for seniors, since they are their most frequent visitors. :0)  I am not able to use my husbands pass, since he has to show an ID when he uses it, but if I ever am in a situation where I am going into a national park (once I am 62) without him, I'll just buy one for myself!  :0)
Here are some pictures we took: