Sedona to the Grand Canyon and back...

One of the main reasons we came to Sedona was to make a journey out to the Grand Canyon. Sue and I had been there from Las Vegas in 2004 and unfortunately I have to say I was disappointed... the reason I think was that it was such a hot day and the tour company had allowed about 5minutes there and corralled us into an area feeding us some disgusting food while we tried to find shade and some comfort. This time however was the opposite end of the tourist spectrum.
We started out early having been picked up from our gorgeous Sedona Springs Apartment in a small van in which there were three other people. We were it- 7 people for the whole day traveling out to the South Rim of the grand Canyon and back.
The tour guide, Steve, was/is fantastic. He provided interesting useful information about the area without being overbearing and was knowledgeable, friendly, careful and allowed sufficient time for us at each point of interest. We didn't feel rushed nor did we feel as though we were hanging around waiting all the time. In all it was perfect!
We headed through the Canyon out of Sedona and stopped at Sunset Crater National Monument, the Colorado Plateau's youngest volcano. Steve told us about the history and geology of the area, gave us time to walk through part of the lava fields, although it was very cold and windy- a series of short rushes from point of interest to point of interest.

Next we headed to Wupatki National Monument, a well-preserved ruin site of this Sinagua Indian trading village that was still being inhabited when the eruption at Sunset Crater took place. Another well informed walk around the area with Steve and attempts to avoid the wind.
We then traveled across the Navajo (Diné) Reservation and the western portion of the Painted Desert, and stopped at the Trading Post in Cameron, originally built in 1916. We had lunch at the restaurant at the Trading Post, and tried their Navajo Tacos- the base being Indian fried bread- even the mini tacos were monstrous, delicious but far too much.
After lunch we traveled finally to the Grand Canyon National Park where we got our first views of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River at Desert View. We climbed up to the first level of the Watchtower Observatory, and Steve had a scope which he set up and pointed out aspects of the canyon -people rafting down the river, aspects of the landforms and answered ours and others questions. We then had a leisurely, ½ mile walk along the South Rim and again used the scope to see both Phantom Ranch as well as the Kaibab Suspension Bridge.
The last stop on our tour was at the Grand Canyon Village, where walked part of theBright Angel trail , when I say part I mean like about 500 yards! We could see the mules heading out of the Grand Canyon.
We got home around 7pm completely tired but very happy with the days outing!