What's going on at the White House: Our Grand Adventure

Well, we had a fantastic weekend! The Canyon was beautiful! And it was a lot of fun to be able to take my sister and kids along (as I said before, Ben and I went there during our honeymoon).

Here’s a day to day rundown of what went on:

Day 1/Friday:

Up early enough to see the sunrise. Everything travel wise seemed to go off without a hitch. We were lucky enough to be able to borrow a travel trailer to stay in, so we got to “camp” on the park grounds. We only forgot 2 things. . . . Rebekah’s shoes (we had her hiking boots, so it’s not like she had to go barefoot) and Jene’’s hat. The drive actually wasn’t as bad as I would have thought. We got to the Canyon around 3 pm. After unhitching the trailer, we set out to hike along some of the rim (more specifically known as Mather Point. We ended up hiking between ½ and 1 mile, before deciding we had better get back to camp and make dinner. We had hamburgers and chips with s’mores for dessert. Then bed because we were planning on an early start the next morning.

Day2/Saturday:

After a poor night’s sleep… we were up and moving shortly after sunrise. We started at Yavapai Point and went all the way to the Bright Angel Trailhead, stopping in at various little points and shops along the way. After having lunch in the parking lot and getting ice cream from the “Fountain”, we decided to drive down Desert View Drive, and we went all the way to Desert View. There was a cool watch tower out there, and of course, beautiful views. We stopped at just about all the lookout points on the way (roughly 25 miles of road). We also stopped at the Tusayan Ruins and Museum. (That definitely was not as exciting as we thought it would be… It was pretty much just some rocks on the ground.) By the time we got back to camp we were all tired and a little sunburned (me most of all, go figure) and ready for a nice BIG steak. I think that was the best night’s rest of the whole trip.

Day 3/Sunday:

We got a later start on our third day. We didn’t actually get to the rim until about 8:30am. Actually, we did… we tried to get out really early to see the sunrise over the canyon, but we were too late. (We were actually all still in our pajamas and we just jumped in the truck) So after just a little bit, we decided to go back to camp and get some breakfast and get ready for the day. We started at Verkamp’s Visitor Center and took the tram out to Trailview Overlook. From there we hiked a few miles before Jene’ got on the tram to go out to Hermit’s Rest, and Me, Ben, and the kids took another tram back to the Visitor’s center. (We decided to skip the trams because it was a PAIN to get the stroller in and out at each stop… and the kids were starting to get irritable. . . Jene’ continued on because she wanted to see the rest of the stops. I was ok with that because I had already seen it J) While Jene’ was out seeing more of the Canyon, the rest of our party went and found a nice shady spot in the grass and rested. We met up again for a late lunch (1:30-2pm) After lunch we backtracked to a spot I had found earlier so I could try to get some panorama photos. From there we went back to the truck, and made a pit stop by the grocery store for ice cream, aloe lotion, and souvenirs. This was definitely our earliest night to eat and hit the sack. Good thing too, we needed to be rested up for the trip home.

Day 4/Monday:

I had an alarm set for 5 am, so I could be up in time to go get some shots of the sun cresting over the canyon. And I almost ignored it, I was SOOOOO tired. But I didn’t, and I am VERY glad about that. Jene’ and I set out 8 minutes after 5. After getting marginally lost, and killing a bunny crossing the road, and freaking out that I got up so early for nothing (I really was afraid that by the time I got to where I was going and got set up, the sunrise would be over). . . I finally decided to park on the side of the road right close to the rim. So. . . . here I was the ONLY vehicle parked on the side of the road, and it was beautiful and quiet. . . until a 15 passenger van of Asian tourists got out right by us (Jene’ learned the word for camera = telephoto…. Because the people kept getting in the way of my camera, and kept telling each other that there was a camera there) Then came a BUNCH of German-ish (sounding) people. . . But, all in all I stood my ground, which is easy to do when you have a camera on a tripod and a remote, and I got all the pictures I wanted. And as we went back to where I was parked, that lonely road I parked on was packed! (And there happened to be 17 new-er Mustangs that belonged to a tour group- CRAZY!!!) After getting back to camp and eating a fairly quick breakfast, we headed out.

The drive home was a lot slower than the drive out. . . mainly because of holiday traffic, I think. . . but there were several times when traffic was pretty much backed up as far as you could see. But as you can see, we made it here all in one piece and of sane minds!! J Pretty much as soon as we got in the door, Ben had a message with some news that might change the course of our life forever (in a good way, we think). . . so instead of being “Home Sweet Home” and taking time to relax, Ben went into a frenzy trying to figure out his next adventure. . . but THAT, my friends, is a story for another day.