Grand Spring Break, pt 1

Whenever spring break rolls around, I'm really itching to get some warmer spring-like temperatures. Unfortunately, Mother Nature rarely obliges here, so we usually have to head south. This year the Mr. could not be away for long, so I bravely/stupidly/crazily decided to try a single parent vacation to Arizona with the kids. Mainly, I wanted to see the Grand Canyon before our parks pass expired this month, and we had some friends to visit in Phoenix. We left on Saturday and stopped after a full day of driving in Kanab, UT. I'm always amazed by the playground settings these kids get to play in.

And we already knew that our kids love hotels! Between TV in bed, sleeping in the same room, endless breakfasts, and a pool, I think we could just stay in a hotel in our town and they'd be fine. Note to self...

The next morning, we awoke to quite a surprise! 4-6" of wet, white stuff all over. The hotel employee said that was the first good snowfall they've had all season. Of course it was! Nothing like breaking out the snow brush on a heat-seeking vacation!

 It did provide a beautiful highlight on the red rocks though.

Our next stop was just an hour down the road at Page, Arizona. To get there, we had to go over the Glen Canyon Dam, which was worth a view, overlooking Lake Powell. So impressive! Hadley wanted to take the tour down inside; Owen did not. We compromised by watching the video of how they made the dam, which was pretty interesting.

After some PBJ in the car and a few more miles, we did a short hike to the Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River. It was incredibly stunning and hard to believe there is no railing or any safeguards, except signs saying as much. (They did appear to be constructing a safer viewing platform.) With Hadley's track record, I was pretty nervous for her and all of those rocks. One trip and whoops!! But we all survived. Phew!

All of the rocks and foot traffic made for some cool red dirt to play in, at least until the wind picked up.

And then it was on to the biggest stop at the Grand Canyon! We went in the east entrance on a Sunday afternoon, and it wasn't crowded at all. 

The easternmost overlook is at Desert View and has a unique watchtower with lots of windows and balconies. Of course, the kids had to check out every level and view.

I kept thinking the windows were pictures, but I had to keep reminding myself that I was really here! All of the views felt like I was standing in a painting. Truly amazing!

Here's the same view from the lowest overlook outside and from the highest overlook in the watchtower. You can see the first overlook in the second picture's right corner.

On the way back to the car, we went in the gift shop. Only my kids would want ice cream after being whipped around by the chilly wind outside and stepping through snow!

Here's a couple more viewpoints: Navajo and Moran. The clouds provided interesting changes in color, and I could see why people like to come at different times of day for variations in light and perspective. It's hard to put into words the vastness and stark beauty of this place. And we only went to a handful of viewpoints! Someday I hope to make it back there and stay a while to really soak it all in.

For a bit of a change and more education, we stopped at the Tusayan ruins (800 years old!) museum and trail on the way out. It helped the kids to imagine life so long ago and how everything surrounding Native Americans had a special purpose, sometimes even multiple ones. We couldn't stay very long because our hotel for the night was in Flagstaff, still an hour and a half away. So long for now, Grand Canyon!