Unplanned Adventures

The Grand Canyon was by far the largest planned visit on our trip - we knew we wanted and needed to see that, so anything afterwards we considered a bonus. We had no plans leaving Williams, other than to make it back to BC in time so that we could do a couple of things before catching our flight to Florida.

The day we left Williams, we had some high expectations of getting as close to Zion National Park as possible. After reviewing our National Geographic Road Atlas, we decided to take a little detour at Sunset Crater National Monument, where there was also a vista point for the Painted Desert. This is part of why we love our Road Atlas! It has been great for finding other nearby points of interest, and has helped us to plan detours when necessary. We do have a GPS, but the Road Atlas is an invaluable tool on this type of road trip.

Sunset Crater was one of those unexpected beauties we stumbled across during our travels. It was visible from the road, but when we turned off the main road and onto the scenic bypass its beauty was more evident. I wish I was able to get some good shots of the Volcano itself, but we never got out of the car as we were still trying to make good time. I was able to get a few photos of the lava fields as we drove by, but they don't quite capture just how impressive they really were. They stretched on for ages, and I wish we had been able to join those exploring them on foot. 

As we continued on, we drove past the entrance to the Painted Desert Vista point and needed to find a turn around point. This is the part of the trip where we realized we were having some brake issues. The trailer brakes weren't working properly, which was putting a lot of strain on the truck brakes. Once Brett was able to stop us, the truck brakes were smoking and stinking - so we let them cool off for a bit before making our way back towards Flagstaff. Brett had noticed some brake fluid on a rear tire, so we stopped at an O'Reilly's Auto parts for a new rear brake Caliper and during that stop made some lunch. 

After leaving Flagstaff for the second time that day we knew we would not make it as close to Zion as we had hoped, but we decided to give it a good try. That afternoon, we drove through the Navajo Reservation, which is the largest land area retained by a U.S tribe. The reservation covers a total 27,425 square miles, occupying parts of northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. The hills were beautiful and the majority of the land was untouched. It was a natural beauty that we enjoyed the entire drive. Many times Halle would exclaim, "Look at that!" from the backseat. I was thrilled that she appreciated the natural beauty almost as much as we did.

Just as you leave the Navajo Reservation, you enter the small but pretty town of Page, Arizona. We made it to the edge of the town where we crossed over Glen Canyon Dam and National Recreation Area. We thought it would be a nice place to stop and see, and it was also getting late, so we decided to turn around the park overnight at the Wal-Mart in town where we had seen many other RV's stopped for the night. It seemed like a nice small, safe town and it meant free camping for the night. Surprisingly, it was one of the best sleeps I'd had in a long time as Nolan also decided to have some nice long stretches of sleep that night.

The next morning after breakfast we stopped at Glen Canyon to take in the sights of the Dam and learn a few things at the visitors centre. Halle earned two more Jr. Ranger badges there for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and for Rainbow Bridge National Monument. 

The Dam itself is a concrete structure, similar to the Hoover Dam and stands 216m, while Hoover is 221m. It was an impressive site to take in and Halle enjoyed learned about the area. We'd love to go back one day and actually hike there, as well as visit Powell Lake in Page.

Arizona has so much beauty to see and between our two visits to that state,  I feel that we have barely scratched the surface. There is so much to see and do there, we will most definitely return for a third trip in the future. 

Have you visited Arizona before, or do you have any tips on some of your favourite places and spaces? Where should we go the next time we're in Arizona. We need some "must see" spots!

A Grand Old Time

We saw a lot of incredible places along our first trip, but I'd have to say that the Grand Canyon was the most breathtaking. The whole experience was fantastic, and Brett and I agree that our first visit was enough to enjoy it, but we'll definitely need to go back again in the future. 

Our morning started early so that we could make our 9:30am train to the Grand Canyon. We were staying at the RV Resort, so it was a short walk over to the train depot from our trailer and it made the travelling easy. I was nervous at first about a train ride that was just over two hours with two young kids, but it ended up much better than I imagined. Nolan napped for at least an hour, and the passing scenery and entertainment on the train kept us distracted for the remainder of the trip.

The Grand Canyon Railway offers a variety of travel options, varying in price, but we opted for the Pulman Car which was the lowest fare option, and an original 1923 Harriman style coach car that they had refurbished. It made for an interesting ride and all four of us really enjoyed ourselves. It was definitely money well spent. 

After an enjoyable ride, we were in for a real treat. The train dropped us off at the south rim of the Grand Canyon and the first thing we did was walk up to just stand in awe of the natural wonder. Halle's first reaction was that it was the most beautiful "picture" she had ever seen, and Brett had to explain that it was not a painting at all.

After taking in our first view, we found a comfortable spot nearby to sit and enjoy our lunch that we had brought. Afterwards we wandered around a little and looked into Halle receiving her Jr. Ranger badge. After picking up her booklet, we learned part of earning her badge meant sitting through a Jr. Ranger talk. We had just missed one close by, and the man at the store told me that the next one would be at the Geology Museum and pointed it out on a map. Upon first glance it looked like it was just over a kilometre away, so we began our hike making frequent stops to take in the view or look for something in Halle's Jr. Ranger booklet. 

As we walked Halle started to complain about being tired and hungry and I started to wonder when we were going to reach the museum. It must be just around the corner, right? We had left the store at 1:15 and the talk was at 2 - surely we would arrive in time? We were distracted by the rocks that lined the path on the hike. Large rocks were displayed in chronological order, beginning with the oldest known rock in the canyon and descending in age until we reached the museum. It would have been more interesting if we weren't rushing by the end of the walk.

When we finally reached the museum, I stopped with Halle to finish the last couple of pages in her booklet while Brett went to track down the geology ranger talk. We were shocked to find out it was 2:25 and the talk was just ending... and also that we were roughly 5km from our starting point. 

Thankfully Brett was able to track down the Ranger and Halle asked him a few questions about the rocks, and he signed off on Halle's badge and she took her oath... then we had to run for the shuttle that would bring us back to our train that was departing at 3:30. Just as we made it to the shuttle the doors closed and the driver told us "sorry, full" and drove off. In a panic we started searching for an alternate way to get back to the train depot. It was now 2:50 and the train started boarding at 3:15 - there was no way we would be able to hike it back in time. I started to cry, imagining we would miss our train and not be able to get back to our RV until the following afternoon - which would mean paying for a hotel room overnight, paying for another return fare for all of us and paying for another day at the RV park... not to mention leaving the dogs alone in the RV for far too long. 

Our heroes arrived in cycling gear, and when Brett spotted them he knew they must have a vehicle parked in the nearby lot. He explained our plight and asked if they could kindly give us a ride back to the train depot. I could not have been more thankful to these kind strangers who loaded us into their rental car and drove us back to the train depot (it only took about 5 minutes to drive there). 

Once we boarded we sat on the train, thankful that we had avoided the worst case scenario. The ride home was much more subdued for us after a long hike. Nolan took a shorter nap, and Halle fell asleep for the last half hour of the ride. 

When we arrived back at the resort we took the dogs out for a nice walk, and then had a late dinner at a restaurant in Williams. We decided to enjoy a nice dinner out before we took off for Utah in the morning. That drive brought a whole new set of adventures and nail biting moments... I'll have to share those in another post later this week. 

From California to Arizona

It's been a while. As usual life got in the way and we were busy enjoying life together as a family on the end of our first road trip. Once we returned back to BC we were also enjoying seeing some great friends and catching up as best as we can! I'll have to share a post with some of those photos once I'm all caught up on this first trip. I'll do my best this next two weeks, but we'll be in Orlando and Las Vegas enjoying more sun and fun!

Leaving San Diego this time was much easier than our previous visit. Instead of boarding a plane and heading back to cold BC for Brett to go back to work, we loaded up the trailer and headed off towards the desert.

It was an interesting drive as we headed east on the 8. San Diego slowly melted away, transitioning into the rocky desolate desert. As we hit an area east of Jacumba, it appeared as if someone had just haphazardly thrown a bunch of rocks into huge piles. It was all that we could see for miles and miles. It was the complete opposite of the sights that we had taken in, in the Pacific Northwest.

As we continued further east we watched the temperature climb and the rocks were replaced with sand. Instead of the oil fields we had seen further north, we were greeted by more friendly wind farms and solar fields, a much more welcome sight for us.

When we finally arrived in El Centro to load up on groceries and other needs, the temperature soared to 37C. We spent about an hour and a half there bouncing around between stores before we hit the road again. Our goal was to make it to Ehrenberg, Arizona for the night. As we made our way through Brawley, California we had to drive pass a sugar beet processing facility. The smell that wafted from the plant assaulted all of our noses and we had to breathe through our mouths for miles down the road. I hope it’s something I never have to smell again for the rest of my life.

The next breathtaking site we encountered was the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area near Glamis, California. The rolling sand stretched for miles, and even from the truck I was able to get some decent photos of them.

From there it was roller coaster road through empty desert and practically empty towns. It was a long day of driving, but worth it once we arrived at the RV Resort in Ehrenberg. We stayed at Arizona Oasis RV Park, and that was exactly what it seemed like after a long day in the truck. Our lovely site backed directly onto the Colorado River, with plenty of grass for the kids to play on!

After a quick bite to eat, we bathed the kids and then headed down to the river for the bonfire that the park has every Tuesday. Unfortunately we missed most of the people, but we lucked out by meeting our neighbours Kevin and Susie.

We spent about an hour or so talking to them, and I wish we could've stayed longer. They were so like minded, and had retired to life in their RV, which they started only shortly before we began our adventure. Even funnier, we had all been in the same RV Park the week prior in Castaic. 

Meeting them was one of those things I loved about what we are doing. Relaxing, enjoying life out in the open, meeting and connecting with new people and having new experiences. As we said good bye to them the following morning, we all agreed that hopefully in the summer our paths would cross once again. 

Leaving Ehrenberg, we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We stopped in Lake Havasu to buy some groceries and eat lunch and then kept on driving directly to Williams. We picked Williams because of it's easy access to the Grand Canyon - especially the resort that we picked. We decided to stay at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and RV Resort. The place was lovely, and most importantly I was impressed with the quality of their washer and dryers. We had run into some horrible one's along our travels, and for the first time I felt that our clothes were coming out truly clean. 

After a morning of some domestic duties, we took the kids out for some fun - starting with the playground on the resort. Nolan is becoming a huge fan of everything to do with playgrounds - especially after seeing how much fun his big sister has. 

After tiring the kids out, we decided to take a wander of the small town of Williams. It didn't take us long to make the rounds to all of the stores, and then with a hungry little girl we decided to settle onto the patio at Historic Brewing Company, and we were so glad that we did! The food was excellent (I could have eaten ALL of Halle's Mac n' Cheese), but the beer was even better! 

We had a wonderful first full day in Williams, but tried to call it an early night. The next day we were off for an adventure at the Grand Canyon. I'll save one post just for our day at the Grand Canyon - the most impressive thing I have ever seen in my life! I can't wait to share it!

Wednesday Wanderings: A Layover in Phoenix

I still need to put together a post on our adventures in Arizona, but for now I decided to put together a Wednesday Wanderings post about our first trip to the state. Back in 2012, when we first took Halle to Disney we stopped in Phoenix for one night on our way to Orlando. It was only a short day trip, but we enjoyed our time there and we're glad we made it back to the Grand Canyon State. 

Halle made the relatively short flight easy on us, and we arrived in Phoenix in time to enjoy lunch at the food trucks that they had every Friday. 

Halle was always a great little flier - I hope her brother will be the same on his first flight to Florida

Halle happily napped in her stroller while Brett and I enjoyed a variety of tasty food at the food trucks

With food taken care of, we decided to stroll the practically empty streets of the city. Seeing as we were in the desert, it was incredibly hot and people seemed to not be out in the afternoon heat.

Our next stop was at the Diamondbacks Stadium. We headed inside to the restaurant to cool off and get some drinks, and had a view of the field. The team was warming up for a game later that evening, so we enjoyed some cool drinks, while Halle banged on the windows and screamed at the baseball players.

After cooling off completely, we headed back out into the desert heat. After another short walk, we decided to stop for a quick dinner. We figured we'd make it early and have an early night, since we were going to be up early the next day to fly to Orlando. 

We opted to eat at Cooperstown, the restaurant owned by Alice Cooper. We ended up eating with everyone who was headed to that evenings baseball game, so it was a pretty packed house. 

The rest of the evening was spent inside of the hotel room. Halle was cranky and Brett ended up with a headache, so it was a very early night. We woke up in time to see the sunrise over the mountains before we rushed off to catch out flight.

We didn't get much time in the desert on this trip. Most of the time was spent driving through the hottest points, but we still loved Arizona. I know this wasn't our last trip to the state.