Grand Canyon

 

June 17-21

Sunday, June 17, 2018

No internet is a blessing of sorts. It gives us the excuse of not blogging, but on the other hand if the purpose is to journal our trip—not so good. Now is catch up time.

On Father’s Day we had a lovely brunch at The Old Place. Joey’s uncle Ronnie joined us with his girlfriend, Michelle. She is a very nice woman who has ties to Cleveland through her step children. We filled up on gourmet pancakes, cinnamon rolls, and omelets. Joey isn’t able to join us because he is still recuperating from back surgery and has work obligations, so we dropped him home first then left for Las Vegas.  Dan drove our car, and I accompanied Jessica and the kids.

The ride was uneventful with lots of potty breaks. The most interesting stopping point was in Baker, CA. The town considers itself the “Gateway to Death Valley,” and has the world’s tallest thermometer.  It showed a toasty 97 degrees that day.  Baker is also home to a gas station/gift store called Alien Fresh Jerky.  It had an extensive offering of jerky of every type, moose, deer, beef, turkey, etc.  More importantly it had aliens as a theme.  We liked that much better than the jerky, which none of us were interested in purchasing.  It was amazing how long the checkout line was to purchase that stuff, but the bathrooms were just fine and the alien theme provided a fun diversion.

Immediately upon arriving at our Las Vegas hotel, the Sunset Station, we saw Jessica’s mother-in-law Joannie Malah along with her husband Dave. It’s always nice seeing them, and we enjoyed dinner together.

Monday, June 18 2018

The next morning day we had a huge breakfast buffet at the hotel with Joannie and headed to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  It was amazing in that as soon as we arrived at the Maswick Lodge, so did Jonathan and Dana.  They had spent a few days earlier hiking at Antelope and Glenn Canyons.  I knew that the Lodge rooms would be nothing to write home about in that they were not air conditioned and the entire complex was going to be torn down and replaced in November.  We actually had stopped at a Walmart and purchased a few small fans, but it turns out they were unnecessary.  Each room had two powerful fans blowing.  While basic, the rooms were comfortable, with the exception of the last night when the temperature during the day hit the high 90’s.

After checking in, our first stop was the visitor center to sign the kids up for the Junior Ranger program and to get help as to what we should do over the next few days. We also got our first look at the canyon.  Mickey was really cute when he yelled out, “It’s huge!” It was too late to explore much that first evening, but I had made dinner reservations at El Tovar for 7:30 PM.  Our dinner was very good and enjoyable.

 

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

We grabbed breakfast at the Maswick Lodge cafeteria.  (The food at the national parks tends to be rather mediocre and pricey.)  Our first activity was a 9 AM fossil hunt led by a park ranger.  After a short hike along the canyon rim the ranger led us to an area filled with fossils from an ancient sea.  She provided all of the kids with a checkoff list of fossils to look for and it was amazing how serious all of them took their assignment.  One interesting point we learned was that no dinosaur bones or fossils have been found at the Grand Canyon, because all of the rocks you see are much older than when dinosaurs wandered the earth.

We then took a hike down Bright Angel Trail.  The idea was to hike about ½ mile down before it got too hot outside, but we were already too late.  The further you walk into the Canyon, the hotter it gets.  Bria wasn’t worried about falling into the Canyon and was our trail leader, but Mickey was very nervous. After a bit, he and Dan went back up while the rest of us trucked on for a while keeping in mind that what goes down must go back up. On our way back, someone pointed out some petroglyphs we had missed earlier.
None of us held up that well in the heat, so after our hike we intended to head back to our toasty rooms and relax and figure out our next plan of action.  That didn’t happen so quickly.  We ended up having ice cream followed by lunch at the snack shop at Bright Angel Lodge.  We also bumped into the Campbell family who were camping for a few days.  Two of their children go to school with Bria and Mickey and the kids were excited to see each other.  We also paid a visit to several of the gift shops that surrounded us.

When we finally reached our rooms, Dan played with the kids while the rest of us went shopping at the Park’s General Store.  We picked up sandwich stuff for dinner, peanut butter and jelly and bread for a picnic lunch the next day, and milk, yogurt, fruit and cereal for breakfasts. In addition, we purchased a wide assortment of drinks.  One thing you do out West is drink a lot because it is so hot and dry.

On the balcony near both Jonathan and Jessica’s rooms were several chairs. Because there was always a breeze it was quite comfortable outside as long as you were in the shade.  This is where we ate several of our meals and enjoyed two relaxing evenings sipping wine and talking while the kiddles were sleeping.

That evening, however, the kids stayed up late and we took one of the shuttle buses up to Hermit’s Rest to watch the sunset.  We all got a kick out of the bus driver who announced at each stop how that particular view was the best place to watch the sunset.  Each advancing stop got higher rave reviews from the driver, but at the end of the line, our stop, he admitted that there were no bad places to watch the sunset.  He also made an offhand comment saying anyone looking directly into the sun would be staring into oblivion.  Maybe you had to be there to find this funny, but the guy was hysterical without meaning to be funny.  The sunset was awesome.  While there were lots of people surrounding us, it was almost a religious experience.  Everyone was quiet simply taking in the beauty.

After sunset we waited in line for a shuttle bus to take us back to Maswick Lodge.  For some unknown reason, the driver closed the door right after Jonathan got on despite the fact that there was still plenty of room.  Dana and I were going to be left behind.  Instead of telling the driver to open up the door to let us in, Jonathan gave us a big smile and waved goodbye. The driver did open the door again.  For some reason we all found this to be very funny and laughed all the way back.  In retrospect I have no idea why but we were all laughing like crazy people, but we couldn’t stop until we got off the bus.  I’m not sure what the other riders must have thought. (NOTE: We seemed to break out every night into streams of laughter.)

 

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

 

After having a quick breakfast on our balcony, we headed off for an early morning hike.  Fortunately, we all fit into Jessica’s ‘Pacifica’ minivan.  One of the rangers had told Jessica and Dana of a “secret” trail that was suitable for children that led to a beautiful view of the Canyon.  It was a nice easy walk through pine woods that opened up to the Canyon.  There is no bad view of the Grand Canyon, but this one was a little special because you could get up close and personal to a “balancing rock.”    An added bonus, was that the area offered bathrooms.

We all jumped into the van and headed toward Desert View and Watchtower, where we enjoyed our peanut butter and jelly picnic.  It was then time to check out The Watchtower that was designed by architect Mary Colter in the “Ancient Puebloan style.”  The Tower as built in 1932 and rises 70 feet above the Canyon rim.  We all climbed to the top of the tower where the view of the Canyon, The Colorado River, the San Francisco Mountains, and the Painted Desert was spectacular.  Inside the tower it was interesting as well, with painted murals and re-creations of Native American petroglyphs.

On our way back to the Maswick Lodge we made several stops along the way. At Tusayan Museum and Ruin there were ruins and artifacts from early Puebloan people.  Another interesting stop was at Yavapai Point and Geology Museum.   The museum offered exhibits that described the geological history of the Canyon and had a small but interesting gift shop.  It also offered another vantage point of the Canyon.  We then had dinner at the Maswick Lodge cafeteria and headed to the Canyon rim to view another fantastic sunset.  Then off to bed with the children and wine, conversation and nighty laughter time for the adults.

 

Thursday, June 21, 2018

 

Dana and Jonathan had to head back to Phoenix today so we picked an activity outside the park.  After breakfast we headed to Bearizona, about 2 hours away including construction tie-ups in the Park.  Bearizona is kind of a combination zoo and drive through wildlife park.  Driving through you see bears, reindeer, bison (brown and white), wolves, and other North American animals.  At the zoo, there was a beautiful jaguar, porcupines, racoons, fox, beavers, otters (that the kids threw fish to), etc. Everyone seemed to enjoy the place.

Jonathan then found a very nice place for lunch called Kicks on Route 66.  It was the best meal we’ve had since eating at El Tovar.  After lunch, however, we had to say our goodbyes to Jonathan and Dana.  The rest of us headed into the town of Williams.  There is a well-known train ride you can take from Williams to the Grand Canyon and a re-enactment of a gun showdown in the evenings, but we did neither of these things.  We just visited a few interesting shops including a Western wear store where Jessica purchased a pair of “fancy” jeans and the kids tried on a million cowboy hats.  We also visited a few more typical Route 66 style stores.   We treated the kids to ice cream before heading back.  Dinner was leftover picnic goodies on the balcony.