on our way home from thanksgiving in arizona, we took a (kind of long) detour to make a stop at the north rim of the grand canyon (we were planning to visit the south rim on our next road trip to az). our timing worked out pretty perfectly – we got to the viewpoints on the bright angel trail at golden hour and witnessed a gorgeous sunset over the magnificent canyon. some things are worth alllll the hype, and to me, the grand canyon is one of those things. grand is right.

the drive to the north rim passes by some pretty amazing landscape, including the vermillion cliffs:

and the colorado river gorge (we stopped at the bridge at marble canyon):

when we reached the north rim, at first we tried going all together – with the babies in the buggy – on bright angel trail. it felt a little treacherous (especially for ian, who has a pretty deep fear of heights), so we split up: i took moses to the end-of-the-trail viewpoint and then ian took gabriel.

then we all hung out at the start-of-the-trail viewpoint as the sun said goodnight. golden light poured through the canyon’s ripples and then was replaced by darkness. we saw a few other humans but by the time the light was nearly gone we were the only ones there. it was pretty spectacular.

just before we walked back to the car, the boys listened as i sang the hymn for the beauty of the earth and we all soaked in the immense beauty before us. a memorable evening for the wright family, for sure.