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….

We’re already planing the next trip.

I’ll add a picture gallery soon to show off some of the fantastic pictures we got while we were there.

We’re off to the Grand Canyon for almost a week. It’s going to be soooo cooool. Heheh.

Mommy made reservations for the family for Sunday through Thursday night at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We’ve been working on getting things ready for several days and today was crunch day, getting it all packed, pop up camper prepped, truck fueled and cleaned…

And in the middle of it, we even took time to go to a birthday party at Mission Bay. My friend Paul’s little boy Ryan had his 5th birthday party at Vacation Isle in Mission Bay. There was a jumpie there for the kids (and Paul ). And the weather was beautiful. So much so, I think I got a bit sunburned.

Anyway…. I can’t wait to see the Grand Canyon. I was there many years ago and actually don’t remember much about it. One thing I’m really looking forward to is sunrise and sunset there. I have no doubt it will be awesome. I will be sure to send some pictures in the next post.

Well, I have to go get some sleep before we start. My plan is for us to leave around midnight, and hopefully the kid will sleep most of the way there. Mom’s not so sure that will work out, but I guess it’s about 50/50 whether my plan will work out. Either way, they’ll have fun and we are going to enjoy our well deserved vacation.

We went camping this weekend. We drove a couple hours to Gordons Well which is just outside of Yuma, California. We had a great time, I have to say, and we’re planning another trip sometime in January, if things go right.

We met up with my wife’s Aunt and Uncle, Cousins, and my Mother and Father in law, plus a few friends of the family, too. They all left early Friday but we had to leave later in the afternoon. I would have liked to have left in the morning, and normally we would have done that but my wife (mommy23monkeys.com) had some things to do on Friday morning and we had to adjust the schedule. You can see what she was doing at her blog, Mommy23Monkeys.com. And, she has more on the camping trip here.

Because we left late, we got there and had to put our tent up in the dark. But we got it assembled and ready by 6:30pm, and the group went to the family’s traditional dinner at the nearby diner Pair-a-Dice (aka Duners Diner), which the family always does when we are there.

Now, my family doesn’t have any dune toys (quads, Rhino, RZR, etc) but the rest of the family does. So because we left late and got there late, we missed out on the early Friday rides, but the next day (Saturday), we went on a couple and it was a blast, as usual. Saturday we went to Patton, then to Test. I was a passenger in one of the Rhinos on each ride. When we got to Patton, (which I’ll describe as a really big sand dune, and leave it at that) we all tried and tried to climb the Dune with the Rhino and the RZR and found that the sand was really soft and there just wasn’t a way to get up. The quads were able to climb it ok. For me it was quite exciting (especially as a passenger) when you have to stop and turn around to head back down, or in one case just slowly back down the mountain.

Saturday evening, after all the riding, we had a big dinner. Everyone brought something, from a deep fried turkey, to pulled pork for tacos or burritos, plus all the fixin’s. It was quite good. Then we clothed the kids in double layers of pajamas and put them to bed, including mom who was pretty tired too. I sat with the adults for awhile by the campfire.

This morning (Sunday), before we packed up, we went on one more ride.

I had my cousin stop at the very top on one of the dunes at Test (sure hope I have that name right) and scooped some of the sand up and I swear it felt almost like water, it is so fine. That’s why the Rhino and Razor can’t climb it. A little rain might change that, and I know that with different wheels, Paddles, they would have been climb to the top, but they weren’t equipped with those… Oh well, that’s ok.. It was great fun anyway.

We had a great time and tonight, at home, when we put the kids in bed, we didn’t hear a sound. They were really tired and happy from the great weekend.

Mom and Me are too…