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| | | Grand Canyon - Family Weekend, AZ | | | |
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Grand Canyon - Family Weekend, AZ
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| partners | | Family weekend (3 kids 7-11, 1 adult) at the Grand Canyon. Decided to do the "tourist" version of the park to get a different perspective.
Thursday
After a quick stop at Cornish Pasty in Flag for an early dinner (yum! kids were unimpressed) we came in via the East Entrance, arriving at Desert Watchtower around 6:30pm, about 20 mins before the scheduled "sunset talk". This turned out to be a very focused interview / podcast recording about ancient basket weaving, testing young kid patience, so we bailed about halfway through and watched the sunset under spitting rainclouds and cold winds. Finished the drive to Maswik Lodge, quickly unpacked, and had a second dinner at the Pizza Pub. Lost power during dinner (which was exciting) and several times overnight due to the storms.
Friday
After a few hours we headed out at 6:30am to walk the Rim Trail from the Village -> Mather Point. Saw plenty of wildlife (including sheep near El Tovar!) and only a few people out this early. Trail of Time was interesting, kids enjoyed comparing the different textures of the rock layers, and the Geology museum made a nice end-cap to that section. Mather Point was super busy by 9am so we skipped over to the Visitor Center for breakfast & Junior Ranger booklets. Oldest was stoked to find scorpion lollipops at the Cafe. After breakfast we rode the Kaibab bus to S Kaibab trailhead, said hi to the mules, and then followed a use trail to Yaki Point (probably wasn't supposed to) before riding the bus(es) back to the Market for lunch at the Deli.
Kids were getting tired by now, so after a quick stop at the Backcountry Office for some intel we crashed at the hotel for an hour. Then it was off to a geology talk by Ranger Russel, who was easily the star of the trip, who gave a very engaging presentation with a lively Q&A before swearing in the Junior Rangers. We then drove back to the Village and took the Hermit Rd bus to Monument Creek Vista and a "this is forever" hike to Hermit's Rest. Showers to the west made some fantastic views along the way, but the limited ice cream selection at the 'Rest almost led to a mutiny. We took the bus back and had a sub-par dinner in the food court, capped with some extravagant desserts to make up for the "why do we need to walk this when there's a bus next to us" afternoon hike.
Saturday
Early start and checkout, followed by a fantastic breakfast at The Foodie Club in Tusayan. Easily the best food from the whole trip. Drove through Bearizona to break the drive up, then took 89 back to Phoenix for a change in scenery.
Final thoughts: being a tourist was an interesting take on the 'Canyon, the bus system was great and the rangers were all awesome & knowledgeable. My only complaint would be around the food price-to-quality ratio. Both the food & lodging within the canyon were quite pricy, and while the lodging was fine, the food was rough. If we do this again I'll be bringing most of our meals. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
I was amazed at the number of people who were testing their courage ( and intelligence) by walking, posing, sitting.....on the very edge of some very sharp precipices. 
Nice quality with wife 
