Grand Canyon

Per the request of my dear niece Natasha, I am blogging about the Grand Canyon sooner rather than later. :)  Since Natasha has similar aged kids I would offer this advice: don't get your hopes up too high of your kids recognizing the grandeur before their eyes, and to eat at 'We Cook Pizza and Pasta' since it's the best pizza we've had since Craigos in Rexburg.

So while we were road tripping, we did something sort of crazy. We decided that we wanted to not only stop at the Grand Canyon on our way back to Colorado, but camp there too! We had never camped as a family, but always wanted to. So who better to help us than Amazon.com? We got all the gear we needed and got ready to camp!

Considering that we were camping near the Grand Canyon and visiting it, you would think it would all be one blog post, but they were truly separate events with how the kids acted. Camping? loved it. Hiking at the grand canyon? Hated it. So the camping post will be next :)

I'm not sure what it was, but the kiddos, and therefore the parents, did not have a good day at the Grand Canyon. One element was that Cade had decided in his mind that we were going to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and camp down there. Never did we say such a thing, but if you know Cade, when things don't go as he has planned you're in for a rocky day. So we get there and see this A.MAZ.ING view and he is throwing a fit.

Alex is our homebody. He didn't want to walk. He didn't want to look at the views. He asked for food every 5 minutes and a drink every 2. He was just being super stubborn and difficult to work with. So Cade's unmet expectations plus Alex's stubborn homebodiness = frustrated parents desperately trying to get their kids to appreciate what was before them.

I know we haven't done a ton of hiking, but we certainly walked more than drove in Korea and this was a flat paved trail. No hills, nothing. 3 miles of sidewalk with amazing views and all they remember is the 'trail of time' where there were pennies in the ground. If you ask Cade about the Grand Canyon he'll tell you he loved seeing all the pennies. Great.

For those like Natasha who haven't been and are curious about going with kiddos  I'm sure you won't have the same experience as us. It's great that there are such easy trails that go along the rim. There is convenient parking and shuttles that take you everywhere else. We stayed in the BLUE area (of the south rim) and after about 3 hours we were done. Now what? We went into town and ate a second lunch since our bottomless pits ate our PB&J's at 10:00, and went to the IMAX of the grand canyon. I know, I know, the real thing is right there, but we weren't about to roast at our campsite for the next 8 hours.

The most interesting part of the whole adventure is not what happened that day, but what happened the next day as we were leaving the area. Since we get into National Parks for free as military, we decided to take
64 back through the park and exit out the east side. That little drive along the rim there had some great pullover spots and views, and also had a watchtower you could go to the top of and see even more. If we had known how awful our kids might have acted we would have just driven straight through the grand canyon with all those neat pullover spots and made our way to Mesa Verde or something else interesting to see on our way back. That's life, right?

So here's the pictures of our day at the canyon. We really wish we'd had our good camera with us, as these definitely don't do it justice. I know the kids will always remember that they've been to the Grand Canyon, and the sour memories don't seem to last for them. We will be able to remember the breathtaking views and just wish we'd had more time to be 'at one with nature'. I guess that's what the camping was for. :)

Squirrel!

These are pictures from the second day as we were driving out. I love the view of the colorado river here.

 And here's the cool watch tower I was telling you about.

Farewell Grand Canyon. I'll come back with my teenage sons when we can do some real hiking!