Thursday May 30

Day 48

GRAND CANYON BOUND!!!

Everything charged and a fresh filled propane tank meant time to hit the road to our first “long term” stay. I say that so loosely but we were finally going to stay in one spot for 4 nights!! From Flagstaff to Grand Canyons South Entrance was just under 2 hours. Hitting what we thought was all snow near the entrance turned out to be tiny balls of hail. It hailed almost 2 inches within a fast 15 minutes. We would soon find out that just the week before everyone was camping in snow.

This national park is huge with several campgrounds and our stay was spent in Mather campground. Once the RV was leveled out I tried to let the boys chill but my curiosity was getting becoming overwhelming. I just had to lay eyes on the Grand Canyon, one large wonder of the world.

Now like many other National Parks, Grand Canyon has a shuttle system. A very busy shuttle system but amazing when you don’t have a tow vehicle. The nearest shuttle stop to our site was just a 5 min walk.

We always start our visits at the visitor center saving massive amounts of research time and just getting right to the source. We got real close looks at the hikes, shuttle route/stops, and Phoenix played with the interactive displays.

Then we walked to our first viewpoint……..

I was literally taken back by the view. The sight so unreal it felt as if we had placed ourselves in a picture, everything stopped moving even my thoughts. The Grand Canyon is unfathomable! Jason and I didn’t speak and oddly neither did Phoenix. We all stood like deer in headlights falling for the raw beauty, unmerciful to those who dare to walk within the canyon walls. Adding Rim to Rim on the bucketlist.

Once we could function properly again we walked the rim trail for a while being surprised by up close viewings of Elk and trying to keep Phoenix far from the edge. This park averages 20 deaths per year.

Heading back to camp we hopped out at the Market Plaza stop and checked out all the goodies hiding in the General Store. Just about everything needed or wanted is found here. It was here I learned that the Grand Canyon Village was indeed a town with annual residents, 1500-2000 depending. That fact had escaped me.

We made it back to camp with a pizza for dinner, our best meal when game planning our 3 day attack of the park. It was difficult to pick a starting place but we got it down to 3 different shuttle routes for adventures of hiking, biking sunsets and a sunrise. Feeling blessed to have 4 nights and 3 days to get it conquered. Anyone with toddlers know a schedule of sightseeing must be flexible. We tend to make a general game plan and rearrange 4 to 5 times.

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