The GRAND Canyon!

We started on our journey to the Grand Canyon with mixed feelings. This would mark the middle of our road trip, almost the middle of our holiday.  We had seen so many wonderful things as well, in the week leading up to this, with Arches and Bryce Canyon being especially spectacular. The question was 'would the Grand Canyon still look 'GRAND' after all of that??????  It didn't disappoint. It really is vast and magnificent!

We left our motel in Kanab- where some pensioner had flirted with me as he checked in and where we had been given three queen beds for the price of two because the receptionist thought that after travelling for so long we might need them- and headed out for the North Rim. There are two edges to the canyon, North and South. They are only a few miles apart from each other on top, and you can walk from one rim to the other. Walking it is about 30km because you have to zig-zag down and up.  But to drive around it, that takes a few hours!
We arrived at the North Rim visitor's centre, in the woods, and parked beside some Germans!  There are quite a few that we have run into this holiday. Then we drove out to the look-out point. The view was fantastic. The rounded hills, little valleys, layers of different coloured rocks and the sheer drop down to the bottom were amazing. We were really conscious of holding onto Josiah there, even with fences everywhere. It was so quiet....we heard only the wind whistling through the Ponderosa Pines. There are far fewer tourists to the North Rim than to the South. That being said, there are some interesting ones. As we were driving the long and windy road to the rim we passed some one driving slowly. I guess they were enjoying the woodsy scenery. Well, after our walk to the looking we came back to find a note on our car.  It advised us to 'slow down and enjoy the beautiful trees. You nearly killed a squirrel!'. Well, that was partially true, but it was a suicidal squirrel and we missed it anyway. Clearly that man was retired and didn't have five kids in the car!

After a nice walk around and some lunch (yeah for Rahmen noodle soup in it's own cups!) we set out for the south side and a cheap motel. We opted for Flagstaff, AZ and finally tried a Super 8 motel. We 've been sticking to independent motels because we thought we would have a better chance of only needing only one room despite the five kids. Some places, especially near the Grand Canyon have a maximum room capacity of 4 or 5 people! So, that had worked but we did have some clean but quite run down places to stay. Now at the Super 8 we found the cheapest motel yet AND it included a hot breakfast for all!!! We were thrilled!

So, Dominik's Birthday and the South Rim! We wanted to use our first day to get oriented and organised because Dominik and Jonathan planned to hike down and up the South Rim the next day.  Dominik dutifully went for information to the ranger station where he met a difficult and unfriendly ranger who clearly didn't want to answer his questions. The only real info that we got was that the water going down the Canyon trails would be turned off the next day, making any hikes much harder. The ranger also harped on about the extreme heat and danger at the bottom of the Canyon. So, we had to reevaluate what we would do. It really put a damper on the day for all of us but especially for Dominik who had been planning this for months. So, horrible man aside, water was a problem. To carry two gallons (8 L) of water each would make it a much harder hike. We decided that instead Dominik, Jonathan and Rebecca would hike part-way down and see how it was. So, the first day was a bit  discouraging but the views from the South Rim did compensate for that a bit.  It was even more beautiful there than at the North Rim! There were loads more people but it was still a wonder to behold!

We also decided that the kids could do the Junior Ranger Program here. This is on offer at every National Park but we hadn't done it yet. They received a booklet and had to complete four activities and listen to one ranger talk. For our second day then we arrived a bit earlier at the park and our three hikers were on the trail by 10 am, armed with water, boiled eggs, trail mix and beef jerky. I went with Jeremiah, Elena and Josiah to listen to the ranger talk about raptors. Raptors being Hawks, Eagles and Falcons- not dinosaurs! They player in the dusty dirt as the ranger talked,but they learned something and had their books signed. We had our lunch at the visitor's centre and completed their ranger books, and then suddenly Dominik and the kids were back! They had hiked to the third and last stop of the day-hike portion of the Kaibab Trail in less than four hours, including a half-hour lunch break. All rangers and the notice boards advise that it should take 4-6 hours! So much for their advice! We're proud of how well the kids did, the youngest ones on the trail at that time and they were passing people! They met three people heading down the trail as they were almost back up and as they stopped to chat they found that the three had almost no water! They had missed that bit of information, and there were no special signs poster at the visitor's centre saying that the water had just been turned off. Dominik filled their bottles with their extra water and off they went, but not as well prepared as they could have been.

Jonathan and Rebecca ran over and listened to the Raptor talk and then all four kids went to the a ranger to receiver their Junior Ranger badges. And which ranger did they have to check them out and to swear them in? The same one that Dominik had had the day before. He showed no sign of remembering his encounter and was quite nice with the kids. That made for a nice end to our time at the Grand Canyon. Really, if you're not planning to hike a lot there then you just need a day and a half or so, to walk along the rim and maybe to take the buses to the various lookouts.

We went on a hunt for a kids-eat-free restaurant to celebrate Dominik's birthday and ended up at Denny's for a nice (cheap nice) steak for him. And the "suprised"?  Dairy Queen for dessert. I (Cathy) went in to order and when I got back in the car, there was Dominik sitting eating a Blizzard! How? I was SO puzzled! Apparently some guy had ordered a chocolate cherry blizzard and had received two. Since he couldn't eat two he knocked on the car window and offered one to us!  A great end to the day, and to the biggest part of our National Parks tour. Now we're off to Viva Las Vegas!!!! Ready for our adventures there and on Route 66?  To be continued......... :-)