If you are just getting started on what we lovingly call our “Epic Trip Out West,” where our family of four drove from Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, hitting all the parks we could in between, start with our FAQs and full itinerary here. Otherwise, here’s the low down on what we learned touring our VERY LAST PARK, the Grand Canyon National Park, with the family…
DAY. NINE: Travel from Zion National Park to the Grand Canyon (South Rim)
Navajo Bridge
Lodging: Yavapai Lodge
The Grand Canyon is stunning but from each of my visits so far, the thing that always wrenches my heart and stings my eyes is how suddenly it comes. You are driving for miles, nothing but flat and barren land in sight, and then, if you don’t stop soon enough, you could roll over into an abyss larger than your mind can fathom. Two minutes earlier, you never would have guessed it was there and then, suddenly, you are on top of it.
But I get ahead of us… Last we left you, we had just (finally) conquered Zion National Park.
We began the long drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We logged many miles in the car this trip, yet this was the only drive that felt excruciating. We elected to take 89A to 64 – the alternate route. According to Google Maps, it only added 10 minutes to the drive, but the local we talked to at the Subway counter in Kanab was adamant that it was much better, much more rewarding.
We followed her advice and for a while, the road was quite beautiful. We found ourselves passing through National Forests and looking at the Marble Canyon. We stopped at the Navajo Bridge (another stamp!) and experienced the adrenaline-inducing feeling of hanging over the Colorado River from hundreds of miles up. It was stunning and I was so glad we had chosen the alternate life.
But after that, the ride quickly spiraled downward. The road was through poor, rough, dry, haggard, and prickly reservation land. It was so sad, yet eye-opening. This was an education for us in a raw way.
Finally at the Grand Canyon, the behemoth cherry on top of this cupcake, we stopped at the Desert Tower (because the signs told us it was good First Look). We rushed out into the gusty and chilly flat land and raced to the lookout, blown away by sharp winds that felt hateful. Yet there was the Canyon: as gorgeous and inescapable as ever.
Back in the car, warmed up and, laughing at the “breeze,” we found our way to Yavapai. We realized we had crossed into another time zone, and we were hungry an hour earlier than everyone else. This served us well as there are a lot of tourists who need to eat and not that many places to do it.
We had a sit-down dinner at The Tavern, where a friendly waiter explained that he lived inside the park, had married a Ukrainian woman he met while she was on holiday at the Grand Canyon, and was working there because rent was $200/month. He could work off his student loans while getting good industry experience. I immediately went back to my youth and possibilities of other roads taken.
Full, satiated, and noticeably waning in energy at the end of a long trip, we went to bed early, all of us. The hotel room felt cramped as our five suitcases exploded and our souls were weary from all the road time.
I woke up at 1:12 am, contemplating the direction of my life and stayed wide awake until 3:00 am, trying to figure out a way to viably exist on writing, travel, and yoga. I am not sure what voodoo spirits linger over the Grand Canyon, but they were having a great time preying on my mind. Finally, I fell back to sleep, woken by my children at 6:00 am, everyone ready to see what the last day of our Epic Trip Out West would deliver.
DAY TEN: Grand Canyon
Bike greenway
South Rim Trail
Lodging: Yavapai Lodge
Obviously, I was exhausted. The trip and constant traveling, the miles hiked, the packing and unpacking, had caught up. Dad’s entire right side, from shoulder blade to neck, was in severe pain every time he moved too quickly or sneezed. I had spent too long on middle of the night assessments of my life as the Canyon had cracked open something inside me. I did not want to move, but it seemed to be a requirement for life that day.
The Grand Canyon is striking not only for the fact that it is a hole in the earth that goes far off to the horizon and never seems to stop, but also for the tourist infrastructure that has been built around it. While many parks we went to seemed running to catch up with the amount of people who came with their cameras every day, the Grand Canyon was the opposite. The Grand Canyon was a destination before it was a park. And it shows.
Since we knew we weren’t going to be hiking down into the Grand Canyon with our boys (because you have to get back up), we elected to rent bikes and take use of the 10+ miles of paved greenway trail. Our youngest had a tag along bike, attached to Dad, because if falling was a sport he would win and the Canyon is right there.
So for an hour and a half, we biked around the South Rim. This was a fantastic way to see the Canyon. You get a better sense of scale when you are outside your car, biking beside it for miles.
After an early lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge, a little piece of history, we walked around the South Rim a little. We considered taking the shuttles up to Hermit’s Rest just to see the views along the drive, but it was a bit of a wait (albeit significantly less than Zion’s shuttle bus hell) and we weren’t inspired enough. After all, my husband and I had hiked down Hermit’s Rest for a memorable trip that gave us a story for the ages…and for another day.
So we relaxed. I took the boys to cash in the bribery points they had earned on the trip (20 and 21 noncomplaining hiking miles, bike miles not included). We ordered pizza from the cafeteria in the village and watched football, which was blissfully hours earlier than we are used to because of the time difference. We unpacked everything and then repacked it all in place for our trip home. In the morning, we were headed out of the mountains and valleys and canyons and peaks and back to sea level….ready or not.
DAY ELEVEN: Travel home
We came home. Without much excitement, we found ourselves back at our home at midnight. I looked around at our beautiful home in awe. We each had a bedroom and a dresser of our own. And the fridge was humongous!
It didn’t feel like we had been gone that long, but so much had happened. The trip had a hefty price tag after all was said and done (although we tried to control it with smart choices), and we didn’t get a stamp in our (real) passport, so I wondering if it was worth it. We also couldn’t do this trip the way we would have unfettered by little feet in size 1 boys shoes, so would I do it again? Or what I recommend it? I felt tired that night, and nostalgic already.
The next day, as I watced the boys recreate hiking paths we experienced with popsicle sticks and build historic buildings we saw with Lincoln Logs, it was clear their minds and imaginations had been changed. They were bigger.
Also, I have to admit, I loved our time together as a family, every single hot mile and boot tread. It took courage to bite into this trip and make it happen, and it wasn’t perfect. We cried in hot, red sand and yelled with nothing but the Grand Tetons to witness it. But ultimately, it was absolutely worth it because there were many precious memories created that we will never create anywhere else: memories of scaling canyon walls, laughing at burping sulfur from deep in the earth, and rolling stones off a rock whale’s back.
America is beautiful, and discovering some of her corners and edges for the first time with my family made this land even richer to me. A piece of us will also be in those parks, and they will forever be part of our family’s story.
I am so glad these parks are there, and I am so glad we saw them….together.
To read about our entire trip, head to our Epic Trip Out West page. You can see our itinerary as well as detailed articles about each park we experienced. Happy travels!