Watch Out - that first step's a doozy!

Imagine 8 people, 4 adults, 4 children in a 10 passenger van with 6 feet of cargo space in the back.  Sleeping bags under seats, the back filled with tents, suitcases and coolers.  Now imagine 110 degree temps, and only minimal air conditioning.  Got this picture?  Now imagine lunch time, hungry and hot kids who ate last at 8:00 a.m. at Denny's - full of syrup and carbs.  A 5 hour drive, quickly turned into a 7 hour drive after a short jaunt into the local Super Walmart to load up on supplies and food.  The heat, the quickly melting ice and tempers all added to the experience of getting back on the road for the final two hours of our drive to the North Rim Campground at Grand Canyon.
Was it ever worth it.  Ian had found us two side by side campsites, within 20-30 feet of the canyon itself.  We could sit at our table and look at the breathtaking views surrounding us.  It gave all new meaning to the word awesome - not my 11 years olds "awesome, mom" when he gets a new lego set.  Awesome as in breathtaking, awe inspiring, reverent. 
I will add some pictures here later to let you all see what we saw, but know that there is no camera in the world that could capture these sights as well as the eye.  We were all humbled by the vastness and beauty of the canyon.  Even Dave, who stated that this was the leg of our journey he was least looking forward to!
I must digress a moment, and explain in greater detail one of the humorous moments at to our campsite.  The kids all have Nintendo DS or DSi's (think newer gameboys) to play.  We agreed as parents to let them enjoy these games during longer drives, mostly to save our sanity from hearing "how much longer," or "are we there yet?" or "I have to go to the bathroom".  However, Connor came to us and asked if he could play his games while we were enjoying the view from our camp.  He was told no, that it was for when he was in the car.  We found him, an hour and a half later, sitting in the car as we got ready to leave for a Park Ranger event.  Asking him why he was playing his new game, he stated very simply "you told me I could only play it in the car."  He wasn't wrong, but we more clearly stated our expectations - that the car had to be running, driven (by an adult) and with permission from said adult.  Point taken by all.
We have now left the Grand Canyon, and are at Glendale KOA campground.  Tomorrow we are off to Bryce Canyon (early - but 7:30 is never early when the sun rises at 5 with the birds singing a good morning tune!) to ride the horses and hike the trails!
Happy trails to all, and I look forward to sharing more of our adventures and pictures!