My family had the best (near) week at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim! I’ve talked about our camping before (we do it a lot), but usually our trips include a lot of my large extended family. This was the first time just the 5 of us embarked on an adventure of our own. I thought it would be fun to plan something big and educational. I think the Grand Canyon provided that.
I made the decision to to visit the North Rim rather than the more popular South Rim, because, well…it’s less popular. The North Rim has about 1/4 the annual visitors as the South side and it’s a lot more rural/rustic. We were lucky that I planned ahead and got reservations in the absolutely beautiful North Rim Campground. The campground made it so that we were only a few hundred feet from the edge of the Grand Canyon. It was very cool!
I took LOTS of pictures and had a really great time planning a fun camping menu. I actually had quite a few fun food ideas that I will share with you soon, so check back.
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I took 282 pictures on the 4 days we were gone. Crazy tourist! So I’ve broken them down into a few themes so I can share them with you. These pictures above are some of my favorites of the North Rim in general. The top one (biggest) was taken from Bright Angel Point, the highest elevation on the North Rim (8100+ feet if I remember right). The bottom middle shot was taken from my camping chair at our campground…space 33.
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Speaking of high points…Bob took every chance he could to scare the ever living bejeezus out of me. He would go right out to the very edge of the canyon, with several hundred feet below and yell “take my picture!” I wanted to vomit he wanted to look down. Crazy person. The top right photo above was atop the 10 foot “knoll” on Bright Angel Point. You could not of paid me a million dollars to go up there. I was happy with both feet firmly planted on the trail, thank you very much.
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These are my favorite shots of all three boys. As shocking as it seems, I got several pictures with all three of them actually smiling and (sort of) cooperating. I think they had a really good time. At all National Parks they have what’s called a Junior Ranger Program. We were given an activity book and they completed tasks based on their age. It helped the boys learn about the Grand Canyon, the environment and the nature around them. It was fun to sit at our picnic table and talk about all that they were seeing and hearing around them. Then we helped them complete the book and the next day we returned it to the Visitor Center where they were sworn in as Junior Rangers. It was very fun and they are very proud of their badges!
Here are some of my random favorites out of the 282 pictures I took:
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L-R clockwise: Bright Angel Trail, me and the boys on the Transept Trail, me and the boys on the Coconino Overlook (North Kaibab Trail), boys being sworn in as Jr. Rangers, Anthony at sunset, looking through some rocks.
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L-R Clockwise: Anthony on Bright Angel Point, Bob & Anthony on Bright Angel Trail, Fave of Gabriel, looking up a mossy tree, me and Bob (awww), a mule deer that visited the campground.
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And then, on our last night at the canyon, I finally got to see the spectacular Grand Canyon Sunset. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
Bob and I talked a lot during the 12 hour drive home and we’ve decided two things:
- We are going to plan more National Park trips. It was amazing and beautiful. Such a great learning opportunity for our children to learn to appreciate the Country that so many of us take for granted. There are 58 National Parks in the US and we plan on taking the boys to as many as we can before they are too old and don’t want to go with us anymore.
- Bob and I are going to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, stay the night, and hike back out. It was absolutely the most awe inspiring place I had ever been. And since I’m turning over a new “healthy” leaf and trying to live my life rather than just sit it out…I think hiking the canyon is a great thing to add to my “bucket list.”
Being the good blogger that I am, I took pictures of some of our fun camping meals. I’ll be back later this week with how-to’s so you can use them on your next camping trip, too.
Even though I went completely out of my mind while you were off gallivanting around the Grand Canyon, I’m glad you had such a great time!!
Rhea,
Thank you so much for sharing your story (so far) about your Grand Canyon trip with the family! It sounds absolutely like one I need to add to my “Bucket List”. I am looking forward to your “Camping Menu” and the recipes! I loved the photos and am looking forward to seeing more! Have an AWESOME day!
Kim
Looks like so much fun!!!!!!!! We have been loving the Junior Ranger programs too….my 5 year old is SO proud of her badges and she loves to come home and pretend to make the 3 year old a junior ranger too. When you’re ready to plan more trips, check out the Annual Pass for the parks…we got ours a month ago and have already gotten our money’s worth out of it!
I did not know there was an annual pass…thanks for that info!!
Here’s the link to it: http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm It’s $80/year (but there’s also a senior pass for 62 and over that’s only $10 for a lifetime pass! Can’t wait for that one!!!). It gets your car in when there’s a per vehicle fee, or you plus 3 adults (kids under 16 free) when there’s a per person fee. They have a list of every park that will accept them, but it’s a LONG list.
Rhea those pics are amazing!!! I love the last one the best!
Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures, and the terror-inspiring pictures of Bob living life on the edge, too! How did you keep the boys from copying him???
I held on to their arms with a death grip!
Haha! Oh, I see. You look all calm and relaxed in the pictures but you were really ready to spring into action at a moments notice. Gotcha.
I was TERRIFIED! LOL
How AMAZING! Look at that view. Looks like you guys had a great time. I would be exhausted lol
Kas
Looks like you had a great vacation! I’d love to visit the Grand Canyon, maybe one of these years!
Beautiful pictures and it looks like you had an absolutely amazing time!!! I also love that you totally rocked that new theme on the blog LOL. You are fearless chica.
Why, thank you Kathleen!!! I lurve my theme.