Spring Break Road Trip

We were able to go visit Grandma and Grandpa in Arizona over Spring Break.  But Ryan decided that even though the flights are cheap and the lodging is free, the rental car ends up costing a lot.  So he thought we should drive.  And on the way take a few detours.  We don't need a full week in Arizona, as fun as it is in the sun.  So we decided it was time we all saw the Grand Canyon.  None of us had ever been there before.  On the way we would be driving close to the other national parks in southern Utah so I planned a route that let us see Escalante and Bryce Canyon too.  

Our kids are great road-trippers.  It's easy these days.  When I was young I didn't have portable DVD players or smart phones to play.  I packed some other activities too and some food and we were set.  We headed south and ended up in Scipio to stay for the night.  The next day we saw Escalante and Bryce Canyon and stayed in Bryce Canyon that night.

Looking out the window at the scenery, Dylan saw a cow and asked, "is that a wild cow?"  Ryan laughed and laughed and said, "there's no such thing as wild cows."  The cows were roaming in a big open area, so I don't blame Dylan for asking.  It became our joke for the rest of the drive.  We would see a cow, or any wildlife and someone would point and say, "wild cow!"  There were also many, many road signs for cows and other wildlife that Kaden and Ryan would point out.  You gotta have fun somehow :)

Escalante National Park

I looked at some hiking ideas and got a recommendation from my aunt for a hike in Escalante.  Something about zebra striped slot such and such.  But I think it was six miles total and Kaden would never have lasted that long.  And there weren't many restaurants around there and everyone was getting hungry so it wasn't the best time to set off on a 2+ hour hike.  We started on it and the scenery wasn't super impressive.  The pictures on the Internet do show some cool things probably at the end of it, but we didn't get there.  I was disappointed that we weren't able to see all that much just driving through.  I guess you have to join a guided tour to really see anything, similar to Antelope Canyon.  Something about the land being owned by Native Americans so they can take you through but you can't just go alone.  Don't get me wrong, the colors and the mountains were really pretty.  There just wasn't a lot to see.

This was a little pull-off spot from the mail road.

This was the trail.  Not much compared to our mountain forest trails.  I'm sure it would've gotten better though.  The kids had fun running around after being in the car for two days.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce is breathtaking.  The snow added an interesting contrast.  Every time I've seen pictures of these rock formations, I picture blistering heat.  So it was weird to be chilly.  Bryce charges to enter, but like 80% of the park was closed for the winter still.  And there was NO hiking allowed because of the snow still.  It's not like we would've hiked far, but I was hoping to walk around on the trails a bit.  That was a bit of a let-down.  Note to self- Spring is not the best time to go to southern Utah.  My kids near the edges of these canyons nearly gave me a heart attack.  Mostly Sadie.  She seemed to have no fear, but she also has no knowledge of how snow can pile on a ledge and look sturdy but just crumble off.  I was anxious the whole time.

The kids were anxious to get to our hotel for the night.  It was a fun Inn.  Log cabin look, big with a cool gift shop with all sorts of rocks, magnets, and crystals.  The pool was right next to the gym which was cool.  Kylee, Sadie and Kaden wanted to swim.  Dylan decided to come to the gym with me.  I was able to keep an eye on the kids while I worked out and Ryan rested (or watched basketball, or both).

 The kids picked out souvenirs from the hotel store, but not this amethyst! $2600

 The drive through southern Utah was awesome.  These arches on the road were so cool!

Lake Powell

We drove past Lake Powell so we stopped at Wahweap lookout, the dam bridge, and tried horseshoe bend but you have to park and take a shuttle and we didn't think it was worth it for that one.

The Grand Canyon North Rim

We finally made it to the Grand Canyon on Day 3.  You know, pictures don't do it justice.  It's really awesome.  It would be fun to do some hiking down into it. (Can you tell I'm a huge hiking fan??)  There are many, many places to along the Grand Canyon, but they are not much different one from another as far as I could tell.  We stopped at the first stop with the lookout tower (You can see us girls in the top window in the picture).  Then drove further to the main visiting area and took a shuttle to another lookout spot.  The shuttles back were kind of a pain and really crowded so we ended up walking the paved trail a mile back.  Besides Kaden wanting to be held all the time, it was fun.  There were elk right next to the trail.  And views of the canyon along the way.

 Dylan playing with his magnets.

Arizona

The Grand Canyon wasn't necessarily cold, but it wasn't warm either.  We left there and headed further south.  We stopped for food in Flagstaff and it was still such a chill in the air! Lol.  I was wondering if we would ever find warmth.  But we did.  The Gilbert area was beautiful.  We chilled, swam, golfed, rode the golf cart, walked, went to a movie, swam some more.  We planned this trip a little late (we don't usually go for Spring Break because the house is filled with Jeff and his family, but they chose to go somewhere else this year.)  And Grandma had already made plans to spend the week in California with Sara.  So we totally missed her, unfortunately.  But we got to hang out with Grandpa and enjoy the sun.  I even did an 18 mile training run, which was awesome because it was still really cold back home!  I also went to the gym and swam laps in the pool.  I took Kylee for a run once too.  It's so nice down there.

 Sunsplash is fun.  Some of the slides are not open in the spring, but the kids sure had a blast on the ones that were!  Especially Kaden.  He could only go on the three slower ones with his life jacket, but he went over and over and over... We took turns being in charge of him.  Kylee and Dylan hung out with him a bit too (it's a REALLY small area, not hard to keep an eye on them).  But near the end everyone was a bit burned out from running up the ramp and stairs, so Kaden took off on his own.  Afterwards we played a few arcade games, which the kids loved.  And then stopped at Rubio's, which we ALL loved.

Looking for things to do on one of our last days, I found this park online.  It was fun to walk around and play and throw the football around, even if the train and rides were closed.

Ryan and Grandpa went golfing so I took the kids to a movie.  And then for ice cream after.  This ice cream sandwich place was in the mall by the theater so we went there.  I'm all about trying new foods in new places.

 Another new food.

 Little traveling buddy.

Kanab

I had originally wanted to drive home through Vegas and see a few more sites.  But I guess it's faster through Kanab.  So we did that instead.  Back through the same desolate desert we went.  But the mountains are still cool.  And we liked Kanab! Ryan and Sadie wanted to watch the Utah State game in the hotel so I took the rest of the kids to explore and hike a little.

The next day we made the long drive from Kanab to home.  It was a great trip!