Our family took a wonderful trip in mid June. We loaded up and headed to the Grand Canyon! While planning the trip I had several options available to me concerning travel and accommodations but for the sake of money we chose to drive to and from Arizona in our trusted minivan.
We left of Friday June 17th and took three days to drive into Sedona, Arizona. I wasn’t sure what to expect with four children crammed in the car but I took as many precautions as possible to make the trip pleasant and I’m happy to say it worked. It’s wonderful that nowadays we have portable DVD players, Ipods, and Nintendo DS’s. Jason and I hardly heard a peep from the kids on the way there.
Our journey took us through the Rocky Mountains, out Interstate 70. We could have saved an hour or two by going a more southerly route but the mountains were something no one else had seen except me, I felt that the beauty of them HAD to be shared and appreciated by all. We came upon the Rockies toward the end of our second day on the road. We saw them an hour before we actually drove into them. Everyone was just blown away at the beauty. The colors, the snow, the snow melt the fact that tulips had just bloomed, every aspect just left us all speechless!
We also traveled through Monument Valley. I saw this site and HAD to stop! It was extremely windy so that is why it's so dusty looking.
These are some big red rock formations that Jason and the kids climbed on when we stopped for lunch near Moab, Utah.
On Sunday June 19th we finally arrived in Sedona, Arizona where we planned to take in a few of the sites there before heading a couple hours north to the Grand Canyon. I think we were just anxious to make it to the canyon because we didn’t putter around Sedona like I had planned, we just drove up through Oak Creek Canyon, spent some time looking at and buying some Native American handmade items and then headed an hour east to Meteor Crater.
Oak Creek Canyon
Nineteen years ago my mother and father took my younger brother and I on a two week trip to the southwest. Two years later they took us on a two week trip to the northwest (Jason accompanied us on this particular trip, as we were dating at the time). I loved those trips, the huge variety of beauty that we saw never left me and I’ve always wanted to return to appreciate it again. Nevertheless, we were so close the Meteor Crater, a stop on our trip 19 years ago, that I insisted we visit it. Its size is amazing and after realizing that an actual meteor impacted the earth at that actual spot and made that huge crater, the kids stopped to appreciate it too.
Finally, on the evening of Monday June 20th we got to the Grand Canyon. As Masamo said with much excitement, “We made it Mommy! We made it to the Grand Canyon!” He had been asking all three days of travel when were going to go “to vacation”. We had to explain that we were “on vacation”, what that meant and that we were going to see the Grand Canyon. It was hard to explain what the Grand Canyon is to a four year old but we did our best. That evening we took in the sunset at Yavapai Point. The canyon was bathed in evening sunlight and so it was not quite as visible as during the daytime but the effect of its vastness and beauty was not diminished on Jason and the kids. We sat for the better part of an hour taking in its beauty and watching the sun set.
On Tuesday June 21st we went to the western part of the park and took the shuttle buses out to Hermit’s Rest, first stopping at The Abyss and then Powell Point and Hopi Point on the way back. I think this time, during the day the effect of the canyon hit everyone. Its vastness just left everyone speechless. There are no words to describe this creation of God. Pictures, paintings, even the best photos just don’t do it justice you literally must see it to appreciate it.
That evening we went on a horseback ride and hayride. Jason and the girls went took the horseback ride and I took the boys on the hayride as they were too small to ride on horseback. Both experiences met up at a spot in the Kaibab National Forest. We were supposed to have a campfire but due to the extreme dryness of the land and the high forest fire risk, they were not allowed any open flames. The substitute they were allowed was a propane grill. You were allowed to bring food to cook over the flame but we opted not to and just brought snacks. The younger three spent their time playing tag and hide and seek with the other kids that had come along with their families.
David looking longingly at the campfire ring where we couldn't build a fire.
Wednesday June 22 was spent driving in our minivan out the east side of the park on the Desert View Drive. We stopped at Grandview Point where Jason took Ella and David on a very short hike down into the canyon. Emily, Masamo and I hiked about 200 yard into the canyon at this point just to say we’d done it but then headed back up to wait while Jason and the other two went a little further in. We then headed to the Desert View Watchtower. It was beautiful and also afforded us a better view of the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon and also a view of the Painted Desert to the east.
Thursday June 23rd we left the South Rim of the canyon and headed northeast to Page, Arizona for a smooth water rafting trip. As this was a WATER trip, I did not take my new camera on the raft. As a result, I will put up an update at a later date with photos from the disposable cameras I took on that trip. That night however we drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and settled in.
Friday June 24th we woke up and took in the sights at just one spot on the North Rim, Bright Angel Point, near the North Rim lodge. This point is actually across the canyon from most of the activity on the South Rim, but because of the distance we couldn’t see any of the goings-on to the south. I must say that the North Rim is almost a completely different world. Its sights are much more far apart, not along an almost smooth rim as along southern part. There were a lot less people and the pace seemed a lot slower. The surroundings are much different too, the temperature was almost 10 degrees cooler and the environment was not desert scrubland like on the south rim but rather a lot of grass, pine trees and deciduous Aspen trees.
After taking in the sights and climbing many rocks we headed back to our cabin and enjoyed the rest of the day there. Emily and I took a nap while Jason and the three younger kids played outside for a few hours. That evening we played games in the cabin while waiting for nightfall.
After nightfall we went to a “star party”. This particular week they had a group of people with very large and powerful telescopes set up for free star gazing. We were able to see Saturn with three of its moons and also Albireo, a blue and gold double star in which the two rotate around each other. It was awesome! The continued beauty of God’s nature never ceases to amaze me!
I found these celestial photos on the internet and they are almost exactly what we say through the telescopes.
Albeiro
Saturday June 25th arrived quickly and we had to head on our way home. At Jason’s insistence we were going to attempt to drive home in two, rather than three days. Let me remind you that we were losing three hours coming home. We left at approximately 5:30am and would have left earlier if we could have but we needed gas in the car and no gas stations were open at an earlier time. We drove, and drove, and drove; only stopping for gas, pee brakes and food. Finally at 3:30 am, I made Jason stop and we got a hotel room somewhere in Kansas. We slept for 5 hours and then were back on the road. I drove for awhile that Sunday morning before Jason decided he was rested enough to take back over. We got home at 11:30pm Sunday night. I will describe the whirlwind trip home as mind numbing. The kids were entertained, I guess since they didn’t fight too much but I do NOT recommend traveling over 1900 miles in under two days, take three days it makes it A LOT more pleasant.
I think it took us all the better part of this week to recover from not only the trip but also from the time change. The trip was worth it though. If we had more time available we would have taken in more of the sights out west but alas, we didn’t. The motivation for this trip was Emily. Jason and I figured this is one of the last summers we know we’ll have her home and so back in December I asked her where she would want to go in the continental US if she had the choice. Her first response was California (I nixed that) and her second was the Grand Canyon. Sooooo, that is the reason why we ended up taking our very long and very beautiful vacation to see the Grand Canyon which, by the way, “has a big crack” as Masamo informed us!
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