This past Christmas, Eric surprised us with tickets for a trip to the Grand Canyon and this past weekend, we went! It was the first time seeing it for all four of us.
It is quite a drive to get there! It took over 6 hours, most of which is spent driving through the desert on Interstate 40 (aka the road that replaced Route 66 through at least Arizona and eastern California). Fortunately, our family is pretty good at traveling and we survived the drive to and back without electronic devices.
We drove to Williams, Arizona, which defines itself as being both the gateway to the Grand Canyon and the last town to be bypassed by I-40. We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel.
This was one of the first signs that we weren't in California anymore!
The kids were delighted by this pile of snow we found hiding on the north side of a building near the hotel. It was in the 70s during the day, but dropped into the low 30s at night, so the snow wasn't super surprising.
The old railroad engine
We saw one of the trains arrive from the day's trip. It got us excited for our adventure.
We walked about a block over to Williams's old town area to check it out and grab dinner.
They really play up the whole Route 66 thing in Williams. There were Route 66 signs everywhere and it seemed that nearly a third of the restaurants and businesses had some reference to it in their names.
We had dinner at a cute Route 66 diner (that had the slowest service ever!).
I wasn't joking about the Route 66 references!
The next morning, before our train ride to the Grand Canyon, we watched an old west show.
Waiting to board the train.
At that point, Carter was totally stressing out because he knew that there was going to be a train robbery along our journey and he'd been traumatized by our train ride in Utah when he was four. He did not want to go on the train, even with my reminders that the train robbery was pretend.
His attitude improved after boarding the train.
The train ride isn't super picturesque, but you see a variety of terrain. We rode the pullman car, which was not as fancy as most of the other cars, but was definitely more fun, especially since you could open the windows and stick your head out!
It took over two hours to reach the Grand Canyon from Williams.
When we left the train, we hopped onto a tour bus that Eric had pre-booked. Most of the southern part of the park can only be accessed by park busses and shuttles or by foot or bike (no private vehicles), so the bus was the best bet for our short visit (the shuttle involved lines and quite a bit of wait time). The bus took us to three look out points and then to a late lunch.
Wowie Zowie! What an amazing view! I had heard it before and the people are right: Pictures don't do it justice.
Carter, my cautious child, was very nervous about getting too close to the edge.
Looking across to the main south rim visitors center area.
At our second stop. Seriously, it doesn't look real in the pictures!
Ashlynn's panoramic photo:
After three stops we headed back for a buffet-style lunch.
And then we walked to find some final views of the canyon before our afternoon train.
Ashlynn's selfie
We took the 4 o'clock train to Williams.
Train surfing
The conductor announced that train robbers were forcing the train to stop and Carter's level of concern began to rise.
Oh! There are the train robbers!
Word got to us that they were on the train, and Carter lost it.
And he hid.
We stopped.
The robbers reached our car. There were more cellphones up than hands. It is 2015!
Ashlynn laughed when they harassed her. Since she didn't have any money they said they wanted to take her gold hair.
They were nice to Carter, when he peeked, but he was still upset.
He was happy a few minutes later when the Sheriff arrived.
Back at the station
The following day we drove home.
It was a fun and quick trip! And now we can say we saw the Grand Canyon!
If you haven't been to the Grand Canyon and live in Southern California, you totally need to go!
