The Trip--Day Three

 This morning we decided on a 9am departure time from the hotel. This was early for us for a "vacation" morning and halfway through the day for Jay and LeeAnne. Thankfully the weather was very favorable. Jay and LeeAnne would have started the hike we had planned at sunrise. Instead we got back to Grand Canyon about 10:00...used the restrooms...bought Isaiah a hat (totally worth it, he loves that hat!)...waited for the shuttle...rode the shuttle to the trailhead...some used the bathroom again....and THEN we started the hike. 

We each had a backpack with 3 bottles of water plus our filled water bottle and our lunch. The altitude at the top of Grand Canyon is 7,000 feet. Drinking twice as much water as you normally do is the best way to prevent altitude sickness. We all took that to heart and did lots of drinking and it really worked. We all drank a bottle of water before we even got to the park to front load. When I tapered off drinking yesterday evening at sunset, I had a headache when we got back to the car. Lesson learned.  

I'll sprinkle the story throughout the excessive amount of pictures I have here!

This South Kaibob Trail ultimately goes to the bottom of the canyon. We went to Ooh Ahh Point which is 1.9 miles round trip. I had watched videos about this trail so knew that there were rock walls on one side and cliffs on the other side of the trail. Anna is afraid of heights and I was not sure that she was going to be able to do this hike. I had my kindle and she had a book in her backpack just in case we needed to stay at the trailhead and wait for the others. 

 Aliza and Isaiah were buddies. They stayed in the front and Isaiah never complained. Anna and I were in the back. Anna held on to my hand. She was always on the inside of the trail. 

The first 1/4 mile of the trail was switchbacks where most of the descent happened. In this picture you can see 3 levels of switchbacks. 

Anna said, "I'm doing this for you, Mom. I know how much you want to do this trail." And she did. We all gave her lots of encouragement along the way. 

You can see some people at the bottom of this picture. That is the point where the trail mostly leveled out. 

The rest of the way we followed this line of rocks. 

Anna still held my hand, but she was willing to stop once in a while to take pictures. 

And then we made it...Ooh Aah Point!

We ate lunch on the rocks overlooking the Canyon. Who gets to do that??!! 

It was really special to do this hike with Jay and LeeAnne. They taught us how to pace ourselves as you'll see on the way back up the canyon. We stopped at every shady spot to take a drink and/or catch our breath. 

Anna felt more confident on the way up. There were some stretches where she didn't need my hand. 

We had to wait for the pack mules to pass! The mules carry supplies up and down the canyon. 

And when we got back to the switchbacks, we stopped at each turn!

We made it back to the top! 

I had to just take it all in for a few minutes before we left. That we were here. That we got to interact with this majestic creation that God gave us. That our children are all old enough to do a hike like this. That we are all healthy enough to do this hike. My heart was full of gratitude. 

It was mid afternoon when we got back to the car. No one was ready to say good bye to Jay and LeeAnne! Our adventures were calling us and we sest the GPS for Page, Arizona.

 At this point Aliza asked if I forgot what family I had planned this trip for! Our vacations usually include some down time and this one did not have much built in.  
 

We drove 2 hours through Navajo Nation to Page, Arizona. The beginning of our drive was through Grand Canyon National Park and we had some glimpses of the canyon along the way. 

I was supposed to drive this stretch, but this straight road about put me to sleep. Jeremy was not very impressed with me. lol.  

It was possible the longest, straightest drive of my life. 

In Page, we stopped at Horseshoe Bend. This was a 3/4 mile trail that would have been easy had we not already hiked earlier in the day. There was a lot of complaining and everyone was hungry. 

This is what we found at the end of the trail and it was worth it. 

We ate at the nearest restaurant. Everyone revived to a degree. Then we drove 2 more hours to Hurricane, Utah where we will spend the next 3 nights. It was another really long drive, but we made it. When we got in our Air bnb the kids were super excited to find a ping pong table in the garage. The energy level increased enough for some late night ping pong!

 

The Trip--Day Two

 It was very special to spend some time with Jay and LeeAnne in their house. Isaiah enjoyed their dog, Flossie. My cousin, Hannah, and her boys came over for breakfast. It was fun to catch up with her and watch our children hang out together. 

I was very proud of my children for sitting around the table with 2nd cousins that they haven't seen in years and play games and interact like they were family. The time wasn't long enough. Hannah's boys needed to go to school and we were headed to the Grand Canyon. We all wanted this moment to last longer!

Jay and LeeAnne joined us for our time at the Grand Canyon. We had lunch and checked in to our hotel in Williams, Arizona first. 

And then we took Route 66 to the Grand Canyon. 

As we drove into the parking lot, there were 3 elk standing on the hill. We were complete tourists and took pictures. (I guess that means we can longer be annoyed with tourists that take pictures of wild ponies on our beach!)

After Jay and LeeAnne let us borrow hats and we put sunscreen on, we had our first look at the Grand Canyon. Words cannot describe the depth, the immensity, or the beauty. It is just amazing!

The weather was perfect. I wore leggings and was comfortable all day. 

We decided that we would walk the Rim Trail. I kindof highlighted it in the picture below. We only did a couple miles. It was a paved and relatively flat, easy trail. The problem was that every few feet the view would change and we would want to stop and take more pictures. Everyone enjoyed this...until some of the children had seen enough "of the same thing!" 

Aliza scared Anna and I so badly. I knew in my head that there had to be a ledge below her, but my body reacted anyway. Anna was crying. I was trying really hard to be respectful of my adult child's ability to make her own decisions. Ultimately, I was accused of completely ruining all of her fun. 

The colors. The layers of rock. The cloudless blue sky. It did not get over it!

Anna brought "Jesus" with her. She and Jay had fun playing with photography. I'll come back to the trip through Anna's lens eventually!

I did request family pictures pretty regularly!

We ate supper and then took the red bus route to it's farthest drop off point to watch the sunset. Arizona does not follow daylight savings time so sunset was about 7:30. Watching the light change was the best. 

This was Jay and LeeAnne's first sunsest at the Grand Canyon. We contemplated staying at this point until it was completely dark to see the stars with zero light pollution. It's good that we didn't because we would have missed the last shuttle back and none of us were up for walking a couple miles in the dark. 

We were on the last shuttle to the parking lot when we transferred to the blue line. The parking lot was basically empty by the time we got there. It felt pretty good to shut the park down! An hour or so drive back to the hotel and we all fell into bed!