Our good friends, the Mulders (Ken, Camille, Jenny, Helen) came to visit for 3 weeks. We joined them on their tour of the Canyons, covering over 1900miles (over 3050km, think Adelaide - Darwin) in 5 days. It was very enjoyable, and we learnt a lot about holidaying with young children - the Mulders are experts at it!

Departed Redondo Beach Friday 2pm, arrived Needles (near Arizona border) around 9pm. The length of the drive was made worse by the traffic jam conditions we had to cope with for the first 3 hours. It was a frustrating introduction to Stop and Go for the Mulders.

We drove from Needles to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon via sections of Route 66, the famous highway which used to stretch from Santa Monica just north of where we live to Chicago. We passed through a small town Oatman, which looked like a real wild west town, where the main attraction was lots of tame Burras (Donkeys).

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon was amazing. The air was a little smokey from a fire on the North Rim, but the Canyon was still amazingly large. It was something to experience - photos don't really show how wide and long and deep the Canyon is. We wandered along the trail which ran along the rim, taking looks over the edge and watching the sun set. Jenny was tired and put sleep ahead of the view.

At different points we could see the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon, and even a buiding and a suspension bridge. Ken also made out trails which went into the canyon, some of them perched along ridge lines, which looked quite hair raising. The only way into the canyon is by boat, foot or Donkey. We've read that one is not permitted to walk into the Canyon past a certain point unless equiped to stay overnight - walking in is hard, but walking out is many times harder.

In the evening we went to a National Parks Ranger talk entitled Because it's there. He showed us slides of the canyon inside and out, telling us about how to see it, and what to do, because it's there.