The Grand Canyon: Take Two

Two years ago, I went to The Grand Canyon for my solo Spring Break trip. After visiting, I knew it was a place I wanted to bring the boys, so when we had an opportunity this past August, we took advantage. The Grand Canyon: Take Two (deemed so because it was the second take and because I took my two kids) was such a great trip and I'm only sad that it wasn't longer. 
 

 Our first state line crossing was in Hobbs, New Mexico. We have dear friends who live in Artesia, NM so we thought it silly to not pay them a visit on our way. The black and white pictures of the kids are screen shots from a movie they made during our visit. I got so caught up in just visiting that I thought to take exactly zero pictures of our time in Artesia. So the movie screen shots that the kids got are the best I can offer here. Also, if you're curious about the plot of the movie, I cannot offer any help as I don't actually remember the plot of the movie. Something involving the military and killing a dinosaur.

It was so good to see your faces, Williams crew! Thank you for having us!

Once we left Artesia and got back on the road, we came across this museum. It looked cool so we made a pit stop. Except the indoor museum was closed because of Covid. The outside part of the museum was open for a fee still, but we opted to just look at that part through the fence for free.

Because we were on an adventure, we were all about the pit stops along the way. So when we came across this site where a meteor once hit and left a crater, of course we checked it out. I had seen the sign for this site along the way during my first solo trip to the Grand Canyon, but never stopped. So this was a first for me also.

 

 

 

After visiting the site of the meteor crater for a good couple of hours, we finished out the road trip at our final destination for the night, our glamping site. I had heard about this place that is about 20 minutes from the Grand Canyon and was pretty set on this being where the boys and I would stay once we were finally able to make the trip. And I am so glad we did. These canvas style tents were pretty much amazing. All of the tents have real beds, wood burning stoves for the cold nights (which we didn't need this time of year), and water misters on the outside and inside entrance of the tent to keep it cool during the warm days (which we did need). Not all tents have their own en suite private bathrooms, but some do. There are community bathrooms and showers for anyone to use though. 

 

Initially, because I really don't have a large budget, I had planned on just booking the tent that didn't have it's own bathroom. But because of the timing of our trip being right at the beginning of the non-peak season with school starting soon, and because of some things just starting to reopen from Covid shutdowns, I was able to snag a pretty good deal. So I took advantage and decided we would go all out on our glamping experience. And it was still cheaper than staying at one of the hotels inside the actual Grand Canyon National Park. It was the coolest thing staying in a tent that had it's own bathroom complete with toilet, sink, and shower! Our tent also had a window above the bed for stargazing, and that was also pretty much amazing. I had requested an extra cot in our tent just in case I wanted a space to sleep by myself, but that king size bed was plenty big for the three of us and none of us were sacrificing that insanely comfy bed under the stargazing window for a cot!

 

The lobby was pretty cool too

The outdoor community area was as equally amazing. There was an on-site little restaurant with indoor or outdoor seating, Jenga and cornhole games, and fire pits where they had free nightly s'mores roastings. Seriously, we loved every single thing about this place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

The absolute best part though, was the night sky. This is not my picture (my iPhone camera is not that good), so I had to steal one from the internet. But this is exactly what we saw at night. Besides just the astronomical amount of visible stars, I can't remember ever being able to see the actual Milky Way galaxy before this trip and it left us all in awe. We also saw several shooting stars, which was just as amazing. The point of the trip was obviously the Grand Canyon, but both boys will tell you today that they couldn't get over staying in such a cool tent and getting to see this kind of night sky. It just doesn't compare to what we see at home, which is why I think it stuck with them so much. We can't see the Grand Canyon anywhere but at the Grand Canyon, but anyone can look up at night and see the stars. So in their minds, I think they expected the sky to look the same from everywhere, even though they already knew that light pollution was a thing. This put that knowledge into perspective. And even I didn't really appreciate this sky the first time I was at the Grand Canyon because I was regular tent camping when it was 30° at night. My main focus at night that first trip was just trying to stay warm. I'm so glad I was able to really appreciate it this time around.

The mornings came early, but waking up like this with my two favorite people and this view from our tent made those early mornings quite pleasant.

Our Grand Canyon dedicated day was fun, hot, and long. Much longer than I had anticipated. When I had gone on my solo trip, my hiking day was an all day thing because I did a 13 mile round-trip hike. The boys and I were not doing that long of a hike this trip, so I figured it to be a half-day at best. But of course, this is the life of Cassi Chaney where things never go as planned! I had packed plenty of snacks for our hike, but since I had no way of keeping bottled water cold in our tent (we had a toilet but not a fridge or cooler), I brought empty water bottles. I knew from my first visit that there was plenty of water filling stations around with spring water from the actual canyon, so we could fill up our bottles there. Except because of Covid and the fear of everyone touching the stupid water spouts or whatever, the majority of the filling stations were disabled. Seriously, who thought that was a good idea? People need access to water when they are hiking in the Grand Canyon in AUGUST! Ugh. So we spent a ton of time searching for somewhere to get some dang water. An hour later, we finally had water and could start our hike. 

I wanted the boys to experience both the rim trail, and a trail that went down into the canyon, so that's what we did. Our hike along the rim of the canyon was 2.5 miles to the trailhead of where we would hike down into the canyon. It wasn't a long distance, but because it was 100° outside, we had to take a lot of breaks. We also decided we should eat a real lunch before we started our big hike going down. We arrived at the Grand Canyon around 10am, but between the initial water search, all of the water breaks hiking around the rim, and the lunch break, I think it was around 3pm before we actually made it to our trailhead at the Bright Angel Trail.

This was the same trail that I hiked on my first visit, so I was familiar with it and there were several resting stops along the way, depending on how far down you hiked. The fist stop was at 1.5 miles in, and the second stop was at 3 miles in. I was playing it by ear deciding how far in we would go, but once we didn't actually get started on that part of our hike until mid/late afternoon, I knew we shouldn't go further than the 1.5 mile stop if we wanted to get out by dark. As I knew to expect, the hike going down was a breeze. We all felt like professionals making great time getting to our rest stop. We all felt so proud and accomplished. And then the hike going up and out of the canyon came and we almost died. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but whatever. It was still long. But also, it was amazing. It was actually kind of nice that we had to break so much for water because it forced us to stop and look around us and actually see the beauty that we were surrounded by. Which was really kind of the whole point of being at the Grand Canyon. And that feeling of accomplishment we had felt reaching our rest stop was amplified by about 1000x when we made it back out.

Now enjoy a fairly lengthy scroll without a narrative and just a bunch of pictures from our hike, both around the rim and inside the canyon..

 

We made it back to the top of our trailhead around 6:30pm, thankfully before dark. But we were all in need of a real meal again, so before we started our last 2.5 miles back around the rim to our car, we stopped to eat a real dinner. We had tried to eat lunch at the restaurant inside the El Tovar hotel, but had just missed the lunch hour when we got there. So we had dinner there instead. I hope none of the hotel guests enjoying their meal minded us worn out, dirty, smelly hikers coming in to get some food. And adult beverages for one of us.

The only down side of our extended dinner break was that it got dark while we were eating. Which meant a hike in the dark for the last 2.5 miles back to the car. Thankfully, it was just a hike around the main rim trail, and not inside the canyon, but it was still a little bit nerve wracking hiking in complete darkness. I'm so glad Korben made sure we brought a flashlight. Boy Scouts really are always prepared. Logan had gotten us free entry at the entrance of the park when we first arrived (something about some program they have for 4th graders), so both of my kids were helpful to have around this trip! :)

And because my kids are better humans than me, they had the right frame of mind during our hike back to the car. I admit that by the time we were starting that last leg of the hike, I was pretty much done and just ready to be out and back at our tent. When we made a few stops to rest along the way, the boys looked up at the night sky that they had fallen in love with and took advantage of appreciating it. I wanted to appreciate it from our tent, so I pushed the boys to keep moving. Which is kind of funny considering how I dreaded going back to my tent during the cold nights of my first trip! Hindsight though, I really wish I had a better attitude at that point with the boys. I don't know why, I just really didn't like being there in the dark, but I should have changed my perspective. But all in all, both the planned and unplanned parts of the trip made for an unforgettable experience.      

Elk that came by for a visit after dinner

We all had a hard time when it was time to check out and head back home. But I promised the boys we would make it an adventure for as long as possible until we actually made it back home.

I had stopped at this "corner in Winslow Arizona" during my first trip, and decided to show this place to the boys (fans of The Eagles who know the song will know the reference). We listened to "Take it Easy" before we stopped so they would understand, but they weren't too impressed.

We opted to leave the main interstate and drive down the historic Route 66 as much as we could along the way, which brought us to the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. This did impress the boys. It's the motel that was the inspiration for the Cozy Cone Motel in the movie "Cars." It really was pretty neat. 

Had to get a picture with the petrified wood!

In Gallup, New Mexico, we once again got on Route 66 and made a pit stop to see the historic El Rancho Hotel. It was once the luxury hotel of the Southwest and many old Hollywood stars stayed in this hotel when they would film in the area. Each room is named after a star who has stayed at the hotel and the lobby is filled with pictures of the same actors and actresses. I didn't recognize very many of the names, but there were a few that were fun to see.

The elevator at the El Rancho Hotel is an old-time caged style elevator, which was pretty neat. Of course we had to try it out.

Our next stop was Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to make it all the way back to Texas at this point, so I decided we would spend the night. I found this really cool hotel called The Nativo Lodge and was able to book it for just $60. It's this really unique artistic hotel and just seemed to fit the whole New Mexico theme. Every room is different and has a different artistic theme to it. It also has a pool that is both indoor and outdoor. I was excited to stay here.

 

We made it to the hotel, went to go check in, and then was told by the front desk that because of Covid, they could only book to 50% capacity and they had already reached that limit so we could not actually stay there and they were very sorry that we were somehow allowed to book online when there wasn't a room available. Really, they were very nice about it and upgraded us to a room at their sister hotel, Hotel Albuquerque for the same $60 price that we had paid for the room at Nativo Lodge. And Hotel Albuquerque was very nice, it just didn't have the same unique vibe to it that I was looking forward to at Nativo. Nonetheless, we got a room and the boys still got to go swimming, which was all they really cared about. So all was well.

After check out, we really needed to get back on the road, but because we were still on an adventure, we made one more stop while in Albuquerque: the zoo. Logan loves penguins but the Abilene zoo doesn't have a penguin exhibit. The Albuquerque Zoo does. So of course we went. And of course because of stupid Covid, the penguin exhibit was closed since it's indoors. Epic fail. But it was still fun for the boys and it did have some different animals that the Abilene Zoo doesn't have. 

 Being at this zoo was the fist time we had encountered any issues with other people concerning Covid. We had worn our masks at the entrance but since we were more than 6 feet away from other people, and because it was still 100° outside, we pulled them down for a bit. And then got turned in to security for it. Security told us we were not allowed to pull our masks down while inside the zoo. Except the zoo was also selling ice cream which meant you had to pull your mask down to eat the ice cream. And right after we got reprimanded, we sure did walk by about a dozen people who had their masks pulled down eating their ice cream. I guess Covid skips over the people who spend extra money at the zoo. But I digress. Anyway, I was a rebel, and still told the boys it was fine to pull their masks down while they were outside and away from other people. I'm all for following the rules until the rules become absurd. And I'm just not sorry about that.   

My own little monkey

Even though we didn't get to see the penguins, Logan still wanted a penguin souvenir, so we stopped by the gift shop. Which was indoors just like the penguin exhibit, except again, Covid passes over places where extra money is spent, so obviously it was allowed to be open. But again, I digress.

That was our last stop before we made it home. It was a trip full of the unexpected and bumps in the road, but it was also a trip full of fun, laughter, quality time, adventure, and amazing memories with my two most favorite guys in the whole world. I hope they will remember it for years to come. 

 🌙⭐⭐