Day 2

We tried to sleep in, but had a crew of ravens flying over our tents. So we got up, made coffee, cocoa & oatmeal. I packed lunches & lots of water. We cleaned up & we didn't see our campsite again until evening.
We explored the middle section of the South Rim today. Lots of window shopping took place also. Billy & Ricky got metal badges for their hiking sticks. They collect one from each National Park we hike in. CJ found his treasure at the last store we went to, it was a Christian store, so we were glad to support them.
Our first view of the Canyon was absolutely incredible. No photo we took did justice in showing the Canyons color, width or depth. Even the boys were frozen in awe. It is truly a contemplative place.
We took advantage of the free shuttle bus to take us to each new area we wanted to explore. Because we got to the park too late for the entry booth to be open we weren't given a map. We just went where our fancy led. We had a relaxing day-really. We walked a lot, but it wasn't hard.
We listened, shortly, to a free concert. We toured historic buildings, art galleries & museums.
The really wacked out, completely strange thing that happened was the weather! It was humid & muggy-hot & yucky!! That is, except for one spot. We could see this black rain cloud from a long way off. It didn't move, the way clouds seem to as you draw close to them. The closer we got, the closer we were, period. As we finally reached the cloud we realized it was hailing. Big , hard hail balls! We could see all around us. Outside of the clouds cover the dirt was dry. The rocks were dry. The sidewalk was dry. As surely as it stayed put before our arrival, it did the same as we departed. We turned around in absolute confusion. We starred in utter disbelief at the scene before us.
We went back to our camp & we were greeted by a family of Elk. mama's, babies & even daddy-o. They were all very willing to participate in a photo shoot. We grabbed dinner, smores & cocoa as we watched the stars come out over the canyon.