Desert View Drive & Watchtower

Days 2 and 3 at the Grand Canyon included staying at the campground while Grady rewired a few corroded brake light wires.. and just relaxing in general. On day 4 we went back out and into the Park, taking the Burb down the Desert View Drive which is east of Mather Point and follows the rim for 25 miles out to the Desert View Watchtower and East Entrance. Along the way, six developed canyon viewpoints, four picnic areas, and five unmarked pullouts are accessible with private vehicles.

Ok Grant, outta the tree! We're heading back to the Nat'l Park for more exploring! :-)

We enjoyed stopping along the Desert View Drive and looking at all the different vantage and viewpoints.. each had their own unique look and view of the magnificent canyon

 

Rye, Grant, Grace and Laura head up to the Watchtower

 

 

 

The view from the Watchtower is amazing! Reading about Mary Colter and her influence on the Grand Canyon's 85 year old buildings was very interesting. The children enjoyed the Hopi art and the winding staircase.

 

 

The gift shop on the bottom floor was amazing also. Filled with native-made gifts and treasures

 

Very cute Rye! A little over your budget though.. :-)

 

 

We shoulda listened to a full time travelling Mama who recently warned on her blog NOT to let children wander into gift shops (tourist traps!) We fell into the trap and bought the girls these cute native-made dolls...

The boys with their official Grand Canyon walking sticks

Ashley poses with Dutch.. a lady who saw this shot gasped and ran off.. we weren't sure if she were worried about Ashley or the dog.. lol!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every place we stopped, someone else would ask to take the girls' photo. This couple from Italy in particular just fell in love with them. We ended up exchanging information and talking with them for over a half an hour. It was such a blessing to meet them.

 

 

 

We all hiked down a path at Grandview to watch the infamous Grand Canyon sunset.. it was definitely worth the wait!

 

 

Gorgeous!

Goodbye Grand Canyon! We hope to come back for a visit! Maybe to the North Rim and onto lovely Utah......... It will have to wait till next trip!

 

The GRAND Canyon!

 

 

We found a campsite just outside of the park. We had purchased a one year National Park Pass while at the Petrified Forest National Park.. SO, since this was a National Park campground, we only paid $5 per night! Folks without the NPP still only paid $10 per night which is still a steal! We ended up staying here for 4 nights in all...

the site was literally half an acre big! we were so blessed

First morning, heading out to the park we encountered this adorable family of elk

First glimpse of the Canyon was from the visitor center at Mather Point. It was absolutely breathtaking. Mandy decided that 'Grand' Canyon was not a descriptive enough name for the majesty of the place.

 

This photo looks surreal to me.. just like when the first Spanish Explorers peered into the Canyon, led there Native Americans.. the Spaniard looked down, not impressed that the Colorado River was a mere 6 ft across! The enormity of the Canyon is so hard to grasp.. the proportions boggle the mind!

                                       A very kind man offered to snap a family photo.. it was so funny because so many times while visiting the park, we had people taking pictures of us.. asking us if we wore these clothes EVERY day.. it started getting a bit uncomfortable.. we were definitely a spectacle. To be honest, it gets tiring sometimes.. to always explain. Now, don't get me wrong.. we love giving a testimony of Jesus.. but normally people are more interested in what we do, wear etc.. like a reality show or something.. sigh. It was still fun to meet SOOOO many people! The little girls alone attracted a crowd wherever we went. They literally had 15 different people ask and take multiple pictures of them, standing by the Grand Canyon. It was cute.

Can you say, Eeek?!

Double Eek!

My nerves were a bit jangled by the forth day of daring poses!

Laura wanted a 'terrifying' photo of her too! All through our 4 days visit she would ask me to take a 'terrifying' picture of her..

 

We thoroughly took advantage of the park's extensive bus lines which run all throughout the Park, all over the place, whether you want to see the desert rim viewpoints, travel to the Marketplace area, or outside the Park to the hotel area.. I think they have 5 lines in all, running folks all over the place, free of charge to visitors. We took the orange line which took us to a few additional view points of the Canyon. We would hop off and enjoy the scenery for about 15 minutes before another orange bus would come along and pick us up. It was an easy way to get around.

 

 

Taking advantage of one of the bus stops..

 

Then we rode the blue line to the marketplace area, past the Grand Canyon Train Station..

And past the Grand Canyon pack mules which had just returned from a long days excursion

End of day #1 and back to camp to bed down. What a wonderful blessing to finally get to show our kids the wonderful GRAND Canyon!