Grand Canyon

We spent our Memorial Weekend at the Grand Canyon (well actually we went to St. George for a few days then went to the Grand Canyon for 2 days and back to St. George). The kids got to do some swimming at grandpa and grandmas pool and in all seriousness they probably would have loved to just do that all weekend, but we tore them away and spent Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Canyon. As we were driving there we passed a National Monurment (I totally forget the name, something Springs) since we have the parks pass it was free, so why not. Here are a few pictures from it. It was an old LDS tithing Farm, cool enough.

Here we are at the Grand Canyon Visitors Center. I know you can't really see us, but thats what you get when you ask some stranger to take your picture.

Look at these tired boys during a hike to Bright Angel Point.

Noah

They are very impressed with the views.

Sometimes he is not so serious.

The family.

Kev and his dad. Kev's parents came with us on this trip. The kids loved having grandma and grandpa with them.

The views were amazing and what a perfect model Tanner was.

Isaac and the canyon.

Even with this metal bars and chain link fencing, I was still pretty nervous (by prettynervous, I mean nightmares the night before and horrible visions of my children falling).

The boys.

So here are my thoughts on the Grand Canyon...I'm sure you want to know. It is a 6 hour drive from here to there. The views are certainly breathtaking. There are only a few shorter hikes (under 4 miles), which is where it lacked for me. With young kids we are definetly not hiking "rim to rim" or "rim to river" and back, so for 2 days there was a lot of down time. We could have covered it all in one long day, so for a 6 hour drive 1 day is not worth that drive, so if you decide to go I would recommend bringing some games to play in your cabin. There were some ladies chillin at the visitors center playing themselves some Mexican Train. Also if your kids are older (7 and up) they have mule rides you can do as well. They also have plane tour rides but that was a wee bit out of our budget.

At the North Rim there are not many places to stay. You can stay at the lodge right at the park (which was full, so not and option for us), Kaibab Lodge (this is where we stayed) which is 5 miles from the park, or Jacobs Lake, which is 30 miles from the park.

At the Kaibab Lodge we stayed in a little cabin with 2 double beds and a set of bunk beds. It was older and somewhat rustic (it had a shower and toilet and mice), but it was a nice little place to stay.

Will we go back...probably when the kids are older.