Grand Canyon National Park
National Park #1
The Grand Canyon was one of just many stops on our first road trip back in the fall of 2017. It started with a trip to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (ah-mazing!!) and ended in Las Vegas with lots of fun stops along the way: Route 66 in Winslow, Arizona, Meteor Crater, and the Hoover Dam.
If memory serves correctly, we spent less than 24 hours in the park. With the remoteness of the Grand Canyon (and the likeliness we would not be back) this was probably a bit of a mistake but with young kids and no experience with national parks, we weren’t quite sure what to expect.
We arrived in the late afternoon. After checking into one of the National Park Lodges (I can’t remember which one now) we decided to hike part of the Rim Trail and catch the sunset.
We just happened to hike the portion of the Rim Trail that included the Trail of Time. The NPS says “Walking the trail gives you a visceral appreciation for the magnitude of geologic time.” The kids enjoyed the different displays and learning about the canyon along the trail.
Then we watched the sunset!
The next morning we got up before dawn to catch a sunrise from Yaki Point.
Then it was off to hike a bit down the Grand Canyon. Both kids were very excited to be hiking in the Grand Canyon. Isaac insisted we hike all the way to the bottom. But since neither Caleb or I wanted to carry the back out of the canyon, we only hiked down for about 30 minutes.
The Grand Canyon was awesome! If you can swing it, definitely spend more than just a day.