Brake Lights & Bug Bites

We made it to the Grand Canyon! I was talking with a friend and she asked, “Haven’t you already been to the Grand Canyon?” Well, not exactly, but we’ve talked about it often! This was our third attempt and we did it! The boys and I stopped at the North Rim on our way to Page, but we spent the past week at the South Rim. We have heard that the North Rim and South Rim are so different and it’s true. The North Rim is a much smaller and quieter area and the view is very different at each location.

We stayed inside the park, at Trailer Village Campground. There are not many national park campgrounds that accommodate 45′ rigs so it was a treat to be so close to everything and have full hookup! The campground is quiet, wooded and close to the visitor center and general store. We woke up most mornings to elk right outside our camper! It was so incredible. In the mornings, Tate would run to the window saying, “Elk! Elk!” We would sit and watch 8-10 saunter through the campground stopping to eat grass or lick water from the spigots. It was just about magical!

When planning our fall route, we were trying to chase 70 degrees. I had all the campgrounds planned out, ending our time in Arizona because Arizona is warm, right? As we were leaving Page, I glanced at the weather in the Grand Canyon and saw 30 degrees the first few days and the low teens at night! 😳 Wait a minute! We were going to be in Arizona, a warm state! Elevation matters! There is always something to learn along our journey! We arrived at the Grand Canyon in snow and had to leave our faucets dripping at night so pipes wouldn’t freeze, but the camper did an amazing job keeping us warm and cozy! The cold also meant no crowds! We’ve heard that the Grand Canyon is so crowded, but at times we felt like we had the place to ourselves! Trails were not packed, restaurants and gift shops weren’t busy, and the viewpoints only had a few people. It truly ended up being a wonderful visit!

We stayed a week which gave us the perfect balance of downtime and activity. We visited the mule stables and watched the train arrive at the station. We stopped at every gift shop and museum. We took the national park bus down to the westernmost point of the park and explored the Watchtower at the easternmost point. Each stop provided a different perspective of the colossal canyon.

The boys and I spent time hiking the rim trail, a relatively flat trail that follows the south rim. It was breathtaking. There were moments that the trail was so close to the edge, I was sure someone was just going to fall right into the abyss! We all survived!

Our favorite part of the trip was the hike down into the canyon on South Kaibab trail. Now, it’s 7.5 miles down to Phantom Ranch, the historic inn at the bottom of the canyon. We only did 2 of the 7.5 miles, but someday would love to go back and do the whole thing! There are signs everywhere saying, “Going down is optional, but coming back up is mandatory!” The way down was fun and beautiful, and the way up was hard! But totally worth it! We encouraged one another. We watched the sunset! We were passed by mules coming up out of the canyon. We stopped for snack breaks and listened as Tate sang with joy! Ken was our unbelievable pack mule that carried Tate back up to the top!

After the Grand Canyon, we had a short drive to a campground in Flagstaff. The campground was brand new with beautiful views of Mt. Humphreys. It had a gorgeous clubhouse where we could do school, read by the fire, or play games. A fun fact about Flagstaff….an average of 120 trains pass through Flagstaff a day. That means 120 train whistles at the crossing close to our campground! That’s a lot of whistles! It’s actually the #1 complaint for the campground. But we loved it! No matter what we were doing, when Tate heard a train whistle, he stopped dead in his tracks, made a surprised face and ran to the window where he could see the train off in the distance. It was such a joyful moment over and over and over again! And the sound machines at night blocked out the train whistles enough for everyone to sleep soundly.

We were in Flagstaff for Thanksgiving so we celebrated the day as a family with the parade, an afternoon hike, football and a Thanksgiving dinner. It was a really nice low-key day. The Friday after was not quite so low-key. Remember when I said Arizona gets cold? Flagstaff got really cold! One of our sewer hoses froze overnight creating a backup and ultimately causing a small flood in the boys bedroom. If you know our story, we have a history with floods. Thankfully, the back bedroom has a rubber floor so cleanup was fairly easy. The next few nights looked just as cold so we decided to pack up a few days early and head two hours south to Cottonwood where the forecast was about 30 degrees warmer.

We finished out our fall journey in Cottonwood, Arizona. We explored the nearby National Park Monuments: Montezuma’s Castle, Montezuma’s Well, and Tuzigoot. We have connected with two other full-time families and the kids have been playing together nonstop. The adults enjoyed sitting around the campfire sharing stories and experiences while the kids played games and laughed much too late! We are putting the camper in storage here in Arizona and flying to Ohio for Christmas and New Years. We can’t wait to spend time with family and friends. And we will be back on the road in January! Thanks for following along with our travels! We love sharing our journey with you! Merry Christmas!