Today was our Grand Canyon day. Since this trip was a little last minute, we weren't able to find a hotel in the Grand Canyon. Flagstaff was the closest nice option and is about an hour and a half drive to the Grand Canyon. We had talked about waking up early and trying to be at the Grand Canyon at sunrise, but we were all so tired we slept in. We arrived at the Grand Canyon around 10am and it worked out really well. All the people that had come for sunrise were leaving or checking out of their hotels, so we found a great parking spot right next to the visitor's center. We started at the visitor center to get our stamps in our National Parks passport book and then made our way to Mather point.
Our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon! Michael and I flew into the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas for our first anniversary, but neither of us had seen this side of the Grand Canyon or seen it from the rim. It really is amazing to see.
Unfortunately, the shuttles were not running because of Covid so our options for hiking with small children were pretty limited. We decided to hike the Trail of Time, which starts at Yavapai Geology Museum. The path from Mather point to Yavapai Geology Museum is a little under a mile. We stopped multiple times to enjoy the gorgeous views. We were enjoying this view when another visitor offered to take our picture.
I love love this picture of my littles!!
Michael was a little too comfortable on the edge!
We hiked the Trail of Time to Grand Canyon Village to eat lunch at Fred Harvey Burger at the Bright Angel Lodge. It was the restaurants first day being open since Covid began a year ago. We really enjoyed our lunch and sat for a little longer than normal to rest our legs. We attempted to hike the first switchback on the Bright Angel trail to see the inside of the canyon, but decided it wasn't the best idea. One side of the trail was icy and there are not railings. It made us too nervous with small children to continue. It will definitely be on our list for next time!
We hiked the Trail of Time back to Mather point and took our time stopping at the various viewpoints.
We made it back to the Visitor's center! All in all it was about a 5 mile walk, which was a big stretch for the little ones! Caitie walked almost the whole way and the boys did really great with no complaining!
We had planned to go to the Desert View Watchtower and watch the sunset, but unfortunately it was still closed. If it wasn't covid, it would have been so fun to grab an ice cream and watch the sunset from the watchtower.
We still had amazing views of the Grand Canyon from the lookout area at the watchtower. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it also provides great views of the Colorado river. The boys thought it sounded so fun to raft the Colorado river inside the Grand Canyon. It's definitely on our list for next time!
We stopped for a picture with the National Park sign on our way out. We actually woke up Caitie for this picture. She had fallen asleep in about 3 minutes in the car :)
We ended up staying in the Grand Canyon from 10am-6pm and it was the perfect amount of time for our family and the ages of our kids. I definitely think the two big boys could have done more hiking, but it was a good amount for the younger two.
Patrick had been really interested in the planning of our trip from the beginning. One of our options had been to stay in Williams, Arizona and take the train to the Grand Canyon. Williams, Arizona was one of the small towns that was the inspiration for the movie Cars. It was on our way back to Flagstaff, so we decided to drive through it and look around. Patrick really loved seeing all of the inspiration from the movie. It was also fun to compare it to Carsland in Disneyland.
We arrived back in Flagstaff around dinner time and tried a few places to eat, but all were over an hour wait. We ended up back at our hotel for dinner and it was a nice relaxed meal. We were all so tired from our full day of exploring.
Grand Canyon was definitely a bucket list item for our family and I am so happy we decided to go. I think the children will remember this trip for a long time.
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