California Coast!

Heading from the Grand Canyon to the California Coast was a fun drive. The first few hundred miles were just dry and barren desert. We stayed in a Walmart parking lot near the San Bernadino Valley and headed out toward the coast the following day.

I see palm trees!

We headed to 101..

and enjoyed the lovely scenery

We decided to take Highway 1 for a more 'scenic route'.. it ended up being quite windy and steep but after the 65 miles of white knuckles on dad's part, we all agreed that the view and drive were worth it!

Even Brighty, first time out of the Grand Canyon, enjoyed the view

We had many chances to stop and whale watch.. that was probably the children's favorite part of this leg of the journey.

 

We finally reached the Monterey area.. passed Salinas and found a nice RV Park. It had been a few days so it was nice to fill the water tank, empty the septic and recharge our batteries! literally :-) The place had a nice duck pond, playground and even free laundry and shower services. Pretty good for $30 per night!

We found this great produce stand and stocked up on inexpensive locally grown grapes, watermelon, strawberries, and much much, much more! All for under $30! Much of the things we found were considered past date and therefore only .50 per lb! Mmm!

What a great find! Now if I only I hadn't sold my Vita-Mix at the garage sale in BZ>>>>>> :-)

 

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!