Well, anybody who has seen the Grand Canyon knows it cannot fit in a nutshell, but I will try and describe our vacation in one.
It was a short vacation, so I will keep this short and sweet. We stayed in a little town called Williams - about 50 miles outside of the National Park. Talk about Smalltown USA, this was it. It had one street, and it was pretty much all hotels. It was quaint to say the least, but very reasonably priced, and a fun little town to stay in.
Our first day we drove into the Park at the South Rim and just did our own thing. And our own thing meant walking miles and miles miles all round the rim. I will have to give a special shout out to Jacquelyn Gerali for the use of her walking sticks, they were a LIFESAVER! It was exteremely windy that day, hence the reason we are bundled up in the pics, but it was very clear, and the views were amazing. Jaime and and I were able to take advantage of a TON of photo ops, and braved some steep hills to do so, but we made it and have amazing pictures to show for it.
Let me backtrack just a little here. It was so cold when we got into Williams on Friday night, and the wind was blowing harder than any kind of winds I had ever experienced. It was actually kind of a scary drive. But we got there safe. That next morning, it was so rainy that the wind and rains pounding on the hotel window woke me up at 5am. And that is some loud weather, because 9 times out of 10 my own alarm does not even wake me up. Needless to say, we thought our day at the canyon would be ruined due to stormy weather, but thankfully, it all cleared up by the time we made it to the park.
The day was amazing, and believe me when I tell you, we got our exercise. It was awesome to rest that night after hours and hours of walking. We stayed at the Canyon to watch the sunset, which was not as spectacular as expected due to some clouds, and sadly the winds came back and it was so cold, it was a little hard to enjoy, but still totally worth it.
Sunday we booked a jeep tour down to the bottom of the Canyon, and while it was a little pricey, it was again, totally worth it. Our tour left from Williams, and we went through Peach Springs, AZ (the town that Radiator Springs from Disney's Cars was based off of) and closer to the West Rim of the Canyon. We rode open-air jeeps down a very bumpy road to the bottom and got to swim in the Colorado River. And what a difference from the day before, it was almost 90 degrees at the bottom of the Canyon, and what a different view looking up as opposed to just being along the top of it. Another exhausting day, but a great one.
We left early today to beat traffic and made it home in about six and a half hours. So to sum up, we drove 933 miles, saw the South and West parts of the Canyon, got to see from the top down, and the bottom up, and got to truly experience this spectacular Wonder of the World.
(Little FYI I feel like I should throw in here, with all that driving, Less than $150 was spent on gas for my car - a Honda Fit. Anybody out there in the market for a new car can save tons of money with this fuel-efficient beauty....we averaged about 30 - 35 miles to the gallon.... I wonder if Honda reads this I could get some money for the endorsement...)
Hopefully my next blog will be a bit more international, but until then, I hope you enjoyed this one.