Grand Canyon Vacation

During our kids spring break we went to the Grand Canyon for a few days. We went with some friends and had a great time, even though it was very cold throughout the time we spent there.

We started our trip at 5am on the 13th of April as we caravan-ed to Needles, where we had a late breakfast / early lunch and then continued to the Grand Canyon, a total of 10 hours on the road. After checking in and unpacking our cars we went for a short walk to the rim of the canyon at Mather Point, which was only a 1/2 mile walk from our rooms at the Yavapai Lodge.

These first two shots were taken from Mather point.

"Day Two"

Day two started overcast and windy, which made for a cold day. While lunches were prepared the kids ran around the wooded area around our rooms playing (as kids do). I grabbed a couple of pictures of my two kids during this.

Once we got started we took the shuttle to the South Kaibab Trailhead where several of us hike partially down into the canyon. Now to partially hike down the canyon really doesn't do it justice. If I remember correctly the hike to the bottom of the canyon is between 7-8 miles and we only hiked about a mile of it to Oh Ahh point. Now some might say a mile is nothing, but for me that one mile kicked my butt. This first shot was taken as we hiked down into the canyon. The three people you see in this shot are my son and two kids from the family we went with. My son is the speck on the right (LOL).

In the following two shots, where you see all of the people congested together is Oh Ahh Point and where we stopped. The trail does continue downward to the left, which I like to call the Abyss. What a awsome view we had from this vantage point. There's just really no words, at least from me, that can describe how you feel when seeing these views.
This next shot just doesn't do the feel you get when standing where I'm pictured. On this point is nothing but sheer cliffs and I for one hate heights. Can you see the look of terror on my face. I am trying my best to conceal this look of fear.
Once I crawled out of the Abyss, we spent some time along the rim taking a few group shots. In this first shot is my daughter and son. Don't they look happy, they got along great during this trip.

Here's myself, my wonderful wife, daughter, and son.
Here is my son (pictured on the right) with the kids from the family we went with.
"Day Three"

On the third day we all woke up to snow and some icy cold wind. The snow was blowing from all directions making it very pretty, but cold. Once again while lunches were being packed I took some shots of the kids while they played around in the snow. Of course I had to take advantage of this time for some shots with my kids.

Again after we were packed and ready to go we took the shuttle to Hermit's Rest. Even though most of the snow has melted and was gone, it was still very windy and cold, as you can tell from these shots. Here is another shot of me and the family, who look happy but we were very cold.
The next two shots were taken from Hermit's Rest, which had a great view of the canyon.

I loved how her hood looked and had to take a candid of her while she stood on the point of Hermit's Rest. After Hermit's Rest we continued to Mohave Point where it seemed the wind blew harder and colder, as you can tell in this shot of my two kids.
Even though it was colder and windier I was able to get the following two shots of the canyon, which I thought were my best two canyon shots. I loved how the clouds appeared to be falling into the canyon.
After a very cold day we went to the Grand Canyon Village to check out some of the shops and took this group shot along the entrance to the El Tovar Hotel.

"Day Four"

As things would have it our last day in the canyon was the best one for weather. It was mostly sunny and very little wind. We packed up our things and checked out of our rooms. After a bit of souvenir shopping we hit Mather Point for our last view. Here are a couple of shots as we said our goodbys.

One final shot of my son over looking Mather Point.

We had a great time and I want to thank our friends for inviting us to accompany them on their spring break vacation.