THE GRAND CANYON

Our first stop was the National Geographic Grand Canyon Visitor's Center.  Here we were able to grab some food, learn about the canyon and buy our tickets into the park.  We weren't sure we would be able to find parking for the van inside the park so for our first trip in we took the bus to the Grand Canyon Visitor's Center.  From there we jumped on another bus to Yaki Point where we made it just in time to catch the sunset.  Not a bad way to end the day!

Despite what others said, it was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.  My oldest DS was absolutely in awe that we were standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon.  You have those moments in life that standout more than others and that moment was one of them. I can feel that moment in my heart. That moment right there was one where I dearly wished that my DH could have been with us.

From there we headed back to the van on the bus and decided to move up to the visitor's center inside of the park to camp for the night.  This was the best decision ever because at night once everyone leaves the park the camper parking area has very few campers in it because most people move their campers to actual RV campsites.  We had no need for such nonsense so we joined the other couple of rebels and called it a night.  The next morning we could here a few more coming in and within a very short time the rv parking lot was packed.  All we had to do was eat our breakfast in the van and jump out ready to go exploring some more.

We rode up and down the south rim exploring all of the different points. We hiked the Trail of Time, had a few meals and cooled off with ice cream at the Grand Canyon Village, visited the Hopi House, took in the amazing view from the Lookout Studio, Desert View Watch Tower, Yavapai Observation Station, Powell Point, Mather Point, hiked below the rim on the Bright Angel Trail and visited Hermit's Rest.  We took in the sunset on the second day from several points as we raced on and off the bus.

So far everyone that we had encountered on our journey has been so nice.  I realized very quickly at the Grand Canyon that far more of the employees and tourists were from other countries.  We met a few Americans as they were the ones always asking about the go pro on a stick where all of the Europeans had their own. LOL! The Europeans had fantastic colorful camera sticks unlike my black utilitarian one.  Let me tell you a selfie stick is an absolute must on a trip like this.  I was so thankful that I never had to ask anyone to take our photo.  I did have people ask me to take theirs which I was happy to do and they always wanted to take one of us in return so I definitely let them but it was nice not to NEED it.  One one bus ride I was sitting next to a  European family so of course I had no idea what they were saying until the words "Chicken McNugget" I started laughing so the family thought I understood their language and tried to speak to me.  I replied back that I didn't understand except for Chicken McNugget the universal language of kids.  We all had a good laugh!

We ran into one old American nasty threesome on one of the buses.  During peak hours of the day the bus would be so crowded that it was literally impossible to squeeze another human on board.  This type of environment does not bring out the best in people.

All in all the Grand Canyon was spectacular!  Below you will find photos from our visit.