Sunday morning, Hike for Discovery participants from all of the chapters respresented got on one of three buses and headed from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.
We stopped for lunch and a little sightseeing in Sedona on the way. This area is known as red rock country. It's a tourist resort area with lots of places to shop and eat. The mere hour and a half we spent there wasn't nearly enough time to explore everything the area had to offer.
We hopped back on the bus and took the scenic route to the Grand Canyon. We got off the buses at Grand Canyon National Park Visitor Center. We walked up the sidewalk and caught our first glimpses of the canyon. It was so amazing to finally be there and I'm glad we got to take pictures and just take it all in before we actually started hiking it!
We checked in at The Grand Hotel, just a few miles from the canyon. That evening, we all attended the Inspiration Dinner. All of the chapters were recognized. The top fundraisers were also recognized. Each chapter had a poster to pay tribute to our honored heroes - the people we were participating in this fundraising experience to honor and remember. It was great to see Ron Mazeroski's smiling face greating me as I walked into the room. The entire Hike for Discovery team raised $1.2 million dollars to fight blood cancers!
We enjoyed our pasta dinner buffet, and then met with our chapters to learn the times we would be headed to breakfast in the morning prior to departing for our hike. Brett, Larry, and I were the three Ohioans doing the Bright Angel to Indian Garden. Our breakfast time was 4:15 a.m. We went back to our rooms and got our water and packs ready for bright and early the next morning.
See the albums called "Sedona, Arizona" and "Grand Canyon - first look" for the photos that accompany this post. Part 3 is coming soon. Also stay tuned for another photo album or two.
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