The Grand (amazing, stunning, snowy) Canyon

Hi everyone! I write to you this evening from the private terrace outside our (free) room at the W French Quarter in New Orleans (Platinum status has its perks), but details will have to wait for a future post. First, I must update you all on our trip to the Grand Canyon. We last left you in snowy Bryce Canyon, and suffice it to say that the snow did not stop there. Our drive out of Bryce was almost as exciting as visiting the canyon itself. We were "driving" in 3-4 inches of packed snow, without snow chains, or snow tires, or four-wheel drive. So we took it at a nice easy 25 m.p.h. until we got to a low enough elevation where we could see the pavement again through the snow. We thought we were in the clear once we escaped from that, but when we arrived at the eastern entrance road to the Grand Canyon, we discovered it was closed (again, due to snow). SO, we had to take a 2 hour detour to get to the southern entrance. Anyway, by the time we actually got there it was a little anti-climactic, as we couldn't actually see the canyon. That was quickly remedied the next day, when we took a hike into the canyon on the South Kaibab trail (or, as I liked to call it, the Shish Kebab trail). For anyone who has seen a picture of the Grand Canyon, you can imagine what it looked like, but it's just awe-inspiring in person. It is vast beyond what I could have imagined (17 miles wide at points), with entire mountains (mesas, technically) rising in its midst. The Shish Kebab trail descends the full vertical mile (5000+ foot difference in elevation) to the river, but we only did the first 2000 feet (about 6 miles round trip), as there are warnings at every turn that tell you that "What goes down must come up". They STRONGLY discourage you from trying to hike to the river and back in one day. The amount we did was just right for us (especially trudging through the snow, as usual), and we even got to do a nice picnic halfway down the canyon, which is way better than having lunch at the Cambridgeside Galleria food court by my office, that's for sure. My computer is running out of batteries, so time to post pictures and run. Hope everyone is doing well! -Amit