This year over UEA we decided to take a trip to the Grand Canyon and Phoenix. We took the kids to the Grand Canyon when they were little, but they didn't remember it, so we thought it would be a good time to go back and also to stop by and see some of our friends in Phoenix.
We left early on Wednesday, October 12th. We stopped for lunch at a Carl's Jr in the middle of Central Utah. That was the first time any of us had eaten there. Bart and I both tried the "$6 burgers" and we really liked them. I never eat hamburgers out (like less than 5 in the last 20 years), so it was pretty shocking for me. The kids also liked their chicken "stars". As we continued our drive, we ate dinner at Denny's in Page. We had to drive through the Grand Canyon Park to get to our hotel, so we were hoping to get there in time to see it before dark. We made it to the "Watchtower" just as the sun had gone down. We weren't able to see much, but we walked out to the edge anyway. After we checked into our hotel and got settled, we walked over to the museum to see the IMAX show about the Grand Canyon. It was a great way to start our trip.
On Thursday, we got up early, ate breakfast and headed to the canyon. It is so breath taking. You wouldn't think it would be so exciting to go look at a big canyon, but it is. We walked around the path around the visitor's center, and stopped in to pick up the Junior Ranger booklet so that the kids could earn their badges. Then we took the shuttle bus to the South Kaibab trailhead to go on a hike. They say you should plan on it taking twice as long to hike up as it did to hike down and we wanted to make it back in time for lunch, so we made it a little past Ooh Aah Point and then headed back (about 2 miles total). The kids did a great job. We were very proud of them. We ate lunch in a cafeteria at Market Plaza and then went to Yavapai point to attend the Geo-Glimpse ranger talk - one of the requirements for the junior ranger program. The park ranger was very nice and taught us how the grand canyon was formed by remembering DUDE - Deposition, Uplift, Down-cutting, Erosion. Maddy even won a prize for paying attention and being able to answer a question at the end. After the ranger talk, we decided it was time to get on the shuttle. I really wanted to be at Pima Point- one of the western-most points of the South Rim - by sunset, and the only way to get there is by shuttle bus. It seems that everyone had the same idea, because the line to get on was really long. We finally made it on and then got off at a few points along the way. The views were amazing (and different) at every stop. We finally made it to Pima Point and we found a nice place to sit and watch. Luckily, by then, it wasn't very busy, so we had the area pretty much to ourselves. We took a bunch of pictures as the sun was going down. The sunset was beautiful and it was definitely worth it. As soon as the sun was down, we rushed to get back on the shuttle bus. We had left our car at Yavapai Point, and apparently the bus only stops there when it is headed the other way, so the shuttle bus driver told us to get off and go wait at a different shuttle stop. It was pitch black and there were not any lights by the stop. It was kind of scary. We waited for what seemed like forever and then the shuttle finally came. He dropped us off at our car where the parking lot was also pitch black. By then we were all very tired and hungry. We ate dinner at We Cook Pizza and Pasta which was very crowded. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all dead and in bed by 8:30. It was a very exhausting but wonderful day.
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| A steep hike - and that's only the beginning! |
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| A friendly squirrel |
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| DUDE! What an awesome canyon! |
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| Amazing sunset! |
Friday morning, we ate breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and then headed back to the Grand Canyon. We stopped in the visitor's center where the kids turned in their junior ranger booklets and received their badges. Then we went to the market plaza to buy some souvenirs. We all got matching t-shirts and many other things. We didn't have time to take the eastbound route on Thursday, so we headed back to the Watchtower where we had began our trip. It is very cool to go inside and climb up to the top of the tower.
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| The balcony of our hotel. |
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| Junior Rangers |
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| The Watchtower |
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Inside the Watchtower
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| A river runs through it |
Then we headed for Phoenix. We checked into our hotel and Maddy was very anxious to go see her friend Makell who had moved to Phoenix over the summer. Even though we don't let our kids have sleepovers, we decided that this was a special occasion and we would let Maddy spend the night at Makell's. We left the boys behind to relax and Maddy and I went off to find her house (which is very far North). We got there and her mom (Amy) wasn't home yet, so her dad took me on a tour of their new house while I waited for her. Bart and I both love Phoenix houses and this one was very nice. It even included a pool. Amy finally got home, but I was only able to visit with her for a few minutes because I had to get back to pick up Bart and Keegan to go to dinner. We were meeting our friends Mike and Stacey at our very favorite restaurant - Fajitas! They have two boys, Christopher and Nicholas, who just loved Keegan. After dinner we went to their house to visit. Keegan and the boys played with legos while the adults visited and took a tour to see the status of their remodel (that has been ongoing for about 10 years). Everyone knows Keegan has a lot of legos, but their legos were all organized and sorted by type and color. It was crazy! (As soon as we got home we bought an organizer for Keegan's legos.) We left around 10:00 and went back to the hotel.
Saturday morning, we had planned on picking Maddy up in the morning, but Makell's mom begged us to let her stay all day, so we compromised with late afternoon. Bart, Keegan and I went to see RED at our favorite movie theater by our old house - Deer Valley AMC 30. It was a great movie. Then, we ate lunch at Sardella's, one of our favorite pizza places in Phoenix. After lunch we went to Golfsmith. Then it was finally time to pick up Maddy. They were swimming and she really didn't want to leave, but she also didn't want to miss visiting our old neighbors. Mary Lou, Al and Henry lived across the street from our house. Keegan and Henry were only 3 months apart and we both moved in about the same time (Keegan was 6 months old). They were best friends while we lived in Phoenix. It was great to see them and find out what has been happening in their lives. After that, we went to dinner at Fajitas (again)! It was delicious (again)! Then we went to Swenson's ice cream parlor. They have big, yummy desserts that you have to share. Yummy! When we got home, the kids went swimming while I started packing.
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| Maddy and Makell |
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| Best Friends! |
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| Keegan and Henry |
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| Mary Lou and Al |
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| Ping Pong! |
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| Their pet turtle. |
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| Check out these hula hoop skills! |
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| Fajitas! Yum! |
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| A relaxing end to a busy day. |
Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and went to McDonald's for breakfast (we actually went to a couple of McDonald's because the first time we got frustrated with the person taking our order - long story). Then we headed out of Phoenix towards Las Vegas. When we got to the Hoover Dam, we were surprised to see that the bridge (Hoover Dam Bypass) that they have been working on for forever was finally finished and opening the following week. It was pretty cool. Then we got to Las Vegas and it started pouring rain. We stopped at Tony Roma's for lunch (we are really sad that there aren't any left in Utah). We ordered the special 2 for $25 deal that included an appetizer, 2 entrees, and 2 of their new mini desserts. I tried the mini red velvet cake and it was wonderful! Then we decided to stop at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets and ended up staying a lot longer than we planned (and we hardly bought anything). We had dinner at Panda Express in St George and by the time we finally got home it was 1 am (poor Bart). It was a great trip!
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