On the Holiday Road 2013: Grand Canyon to Vegas

July 11, 2013—Day 6

We were up at around 4:00 am to head out for the sunrise. We drove to the visitor center at Mather Point (I think) and didn’t see one other car. We also had no idea how far it was to the rim from the visitor center. And, it was dark. My niece got a nosebleed. We decided to drive to the next lookout point, which was, I believe, Yavapai Point (or something like that). Still no cars to be seen. I volunteered to see how far the rim was from the parking lot. Armed with the tiniest flashlight ever, I cautiously started down a path. Something small, white-ish, and furry darted in front of me. I stood stone still, afraid that furry thing’s larger, ferocious mother might pounce on me. I thought about my dad’s sighting of a “panther.” Hmmm, was this really worth it?

After a few seconds, I sucked it up and walked a little way to find that we were at the EDGE! I went back to find the rest of my party, and we made our way to a seating area on the rim. We could see a faint orange glow in the distance, but for the most part, we were socked in with clouds and weren’t expecting too much. A few other people trickled in. It was cold and windy. But, we were loving it.

On the Holiday Road 2013: Santa Fe to Grand Canyon

Wednesday, July 10—Day 5

While we spent tons of time in the van, I think this was my favorite day of the trip. We drove through such changing terrains, all of it gorgeous. We also hit three national parks!

We left the Buffalo Thunder Resort early and grabbed breakfast at Arby’s (also our dinner choice the night before…it was the ONLY fast food we could find around the hotel, and we didn’t really want smoke-filled food from the casino snack bar or large meals in the casino restaurants. Voila: an Arby’s Junior!). We made a quick stop to snap some photos of Camel Rock, then we were off to Arizona.

Smooth

The Grand Canyon Trumps Las Vegas

My final Conchordcation of 2009 was to Las Vegas, with a day trip to the Grand Canyon.

What can I say about Vegas? I think everyone should see it once. There was always something going on. I had a terrific time. But, I’m not much of a partier, I’m a pretty conservative dresser, so this really wasn’t my scene.

At least I got to fly for this little excursion. While I love a good road trip, I about killed myself trying not to fall asleep on the way home from Hannibal, MO. It was nice to leave the flying/driving to others this time.