Blog

Standing by the Pizza Hut in Winslow, Arizona.

Here we are at last! The south rim is what most people apparently consider the Grand Canyon proper. Oh well, the North Rim was very nice, too. And our campsite was great, except for the part about Tyler getting lost, and the rowdy group that was being loud until past midnight. I’m not sure which happened first — them stopping or me falling asleep.

Back to the South Rim, though. We drove about 240 miles and ended up about 10 miles away from where we started. Talk about inefficient! But, we didn’t bring Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with us, so we had little choice. The drive was through some pretty desolate country, with very few towns between. We kept looking for a place to stop for a picnic lunch, but came up empty (it was 99 degrees and we wanted some shade). We ended up making it all the way to the Grand Canyon before we stopped for lunch. And ironically, after desperately trying to avoid the scorching heat, we had to find a picnic table under a tree to shield us from the brief afternoon shower.

After our lunch, we stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks on the way to the Visitor Center. The kids had been to a ranger program the previous night, and finished up some workbooks along the way, so they could be sworn in as Junior Rangers today, and receive their third badges each. Fun stuff.

From there, we drove to our lodging, which is in a “lodge.” But not what I was thinking of — the place we’re in is closer to a motel room than anything else. I was picturing a single building with lots of rooms. Anyway, not to complain, the room is plenty nice. After dinner in the cafe there, we went to another Campfire Ranger talk, which tonight was about bats. There are really a ton of activities in the national parks — it would be easy to spend a week here and fill up your days, and still not see much of the park. But that’s not our vacation. Tomorrow morning, we will try to fit in one more activity before heading off to Flagstaff and Susan’s cousins.

This morning, we drove from the Duck Creek campground to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It was very exciting to just get to the park entrance, as this is in a way the culmination of our trip. We stopped at the Visitor Center, then took in a couple of quick views, before heading to our campsite which is right in the park. After setting up camp, and cooking a quick dinner over the campfire (something like hobo stew), the kids and Susan went off to a campfire ranger program, while I cleaned up and got things ready for bed. We had a bit of a scare after they got back, as Tyler was allowed to go off to the bathroom on his own, but it’s not so close to our site, and it got dark, and he got lost. We went searching for him, but fortunately we had made sure that he knew our site number, and someone helped him find his way back. Whew!

Right now, I am sitting outsite the general store at the camp site. They have free wifi, and while the store is closed, the wifi is still on. I just had to find a spot with an outlet, so I can recharge the laptop at the same time.

Tomorrow, we will drive to the South Rim, where we have a room or cabin (not sure exactly) at the Lodge there. It will feel good to sleep on a bed again, this being our fourth night camping in a row. There were showers at the first site, which I took advantage of, and there are in fact showers here, but I may wait to get to the lodge.

On our way to the North Rim, we stopped and had lunch at a little restaurant/gift store in the last “town” before you get to there, Jacob Lake.

The waiter/photographer told us that the LA Times rated one of their sandwiches (a house special hamburger) the “best sandwich west of the Mississippi” and while I can’t claim the breadth of knowledge the LA Times has, it was pretty tasty.

After lunch, we stopped just outside of Jacob Lake as we saw a place that offered trail rides (on horses, in case that’s not obvious), which made Emma’s day

An all too brief visit to Zion was on today’s agenda. We had a relaxed morning at the camp, then drove the hour to Zion. The drive into the park is pretty amazing to begin with, including the 1.1 mile tunnel through the sandstone, which was the longest in the country at the time of its completion in 1930. We stopped by the visitors’ center and got some ideas for what to do, attempting to avoid the hottest part of the day (the high for the day was supposed to be 105º). We decided to have a picnic lunch, and then we did a children’s program, which was about Bighorn Sheep today. At the program, we met a family that had also driven cross country, from Long Island. They are taking a seven week trip! That took until about 3:00, at which time we went and watched a movie about the park (20 minutes; very interesting geological history). After that, we felt ready for a hike, as the temperature was beginning to cool. We went along the Virgin River to a couple of waterfalls, and then Clara and I hiked up to a parallel trail, while the others went back along the original trail. At that point, we were all pretty hot and tired, and after an ice cream break we decided to head back. Good thing, too, because once we got back to camp, made and ate dinner, it was 9:30 before we got the kids to bed. And it gets cold here overnight — probably 45º in the early morning.

For two nights, we are at Duck Creek campground in the Dixie National Forest. We have finally found a campsite that seems to suit us reasonably. Not too near a highway (though surprisingly, you can still hear traffic), no freight trains, not too many bugs. Here we’ve also been able to scrounge sufficient firewood, rather than having to buy at the exorbitant campground prices.