grand
We got up this morning at 7AM, and drove to the eastern most edge of the park, Desert View. It was a gorgeous, but chilly, morning. The sun was still in the eastern sky, and rising which made for some amazing views of the canyon. We could easily see the Colorado River as well. From there, we drove west, stopping at most of the notable pulloff points. One thing that sucked a bit, although not terribly surprising, is that alot of the services in the park (gas, general store, etc) were closed because it was Christmas Day. As a result, we ended up getting lunch at the Yavapai Lodge cafeteria. I've learned that the concession food here is either very expensive & very good, or expensive and mediocre. As a result lunch was expensive and mediocre. Afterwards, we drove continued our drive west to Hermit's Rest. On the way back, we stopped at the El Tovar Hotel, because Denise wanted to see their Christmas tree. I thought it was pretty good (prolly about 15 feet tall), but she expected it to be much bigger. Overall, the views of the canyon were amazing, and I'm quite happy that we spent the day.
One interesting thing is that the overwhelming majority of visitors to the park were not Americans. Most were from Asia, with some from Europe.