Grand Canyon vacation

We’re back from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely beautiful, and a wonderful adventure for us all.

The drive up there was interesting to say the least. We started driving at just a few minutes before midnight. Rhea and I grabbed the kids and buckled them in their seats and started the 11 hour drive. The pop up trailer was already hooked up, so off we went. She napped and the kids slept and I did pretty good by myself till about 4 or so. The kids started getting restless and then about 5:30am we made it to Las Vegas. We planned to meet up with a friend of hers at 6 for breakfast in Vegas so we were doing good.

Breakfast done at about 8, we took off again. So, a long story short, about 11am or so, I was pretty tired and Rhea took over driving, after noticing that I was kinda drifting off while driving. Heheh. Well I noticed it too, so it was her turn. I napped some, and took some pictures along the way. It didn’t take long to hit the mountains after leaving St George, Utah, and it was about then we found that the weather was not going to be so nice to us. It was raining like crazy as we got closer, and once we had arrived, it was pouring on us. When we parked in our camp site, it was pouring and I think we got the camper opened and set up in less than 20 minutes. A new record.

A bit later, and it stopped raining. Mom and the kids wanted to go take a short hike, and I was too sleepy, so I took a nap. We goofed around in camp and had a fire that evening for dinner and settled in for the week.

None of us had been here before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. Over the next few days though, we found a few hikes to go on, although short, for the kids sake. 2 of the 3 boys had a tough time hiking with us, which made it harder for mom and me to hike too. Nathan though, was my “hiking buddy” as he called it. He was a real trouper and pretty much hiked anywhere we went without problems. Usually I would take lead and try to lead everyone on, and it ended up with mom dragging the others along. Pretty funny in the grand scheme, but exhausting as it was happening. Anyway, one of our hikes took us on the Bright Angel trail to the highlight of my hiking. The highest point of that hike is awesome. Rhea was complaining that she wanted to vomit, just watching me climb to the highest point there, a “small white limestone knoll about ten feet above the end of the path.” This is the view from there (taken from my iPhone)

The last day there, before we packed up and started the long drive home, we went on one more hike. This one was a difficult one for us considering we had the 4 year olds to contend with. We went on the North Kaibab Trail, to the Coconino Outlook, which was only 1.5 miles round trip. But… This was pretty steep the whole way, so pretty easy on the way down but not at all on the way back up. The trail continues all the way down into the canyon to the bottom, and Rhea and I talked about our next trip to the Grand Canyon, North Rim…. we’re going to the bottom. It will be incredible, I’m sure.

Oh, and here’s one picture of my Hiking Buddy, I believe at the Lodge there at the North Rim… That was a nice place to hang out, too. And though we weren’t there to witness it, I’m told that in the lodge, with the giant windows looking out over the Canyon, the Thunder Storms that frequent the area, it’s beautiful to witness….