Our journey out West began early the morning of Tuesday May 24. Our flight from Birmingham to Phoenix left at 7:15ish so we arrived at the Birmingham airport around 6:30. (Only having to get there 45 minutes before the flight is definitely a benefit of a smaller airport!). Sarah had stayed the night with us Monday night so she would not have to leave Decatur super early.
Our flight went well but the 3 hour time difference through our stomachs off. When we were getting off the plane one of our fellow passengers stated, "I'm hungry for lunch but I think it is only breakfast time here." Sarah and I couldn't agree more! My brother-in-law Michael picked us up from the airport and then headed to work. We spent the day with my mother-in-law Julie getting things ready for our trip and doing important things like eating at In N Out. Our most interesting event of the day was renting a mini-van for the trip. It was much more complicated than we imagined and became quite humorous.
Wednesday
We packed the mini-van which we affectionately came to call The Silver Bullet.
It is important to note that Michael was the only one both physically able and allowed by Enterprise to drive The Silver Bullet.
We started our 7 hour journey with Flagstaff as our lunch break. Notice the mountain that you can see as you approach Flagstaff. This is Mount Humphrey's, the tallest point in Arizona. Yes that is snow. Yes there is snow in Arizona. In fact, Michael had been to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon the week before he went with us. His first trip was full of snow! Thankfully that was not the case for our trip!
Once we ate our Wendy's lunch we knew the Grand Canyon was our next stop. 90% of people choose to go to the South Rim. We chose to take the road less traveled and go to the North Rim.
The views on the way to the North Rim are beautiful! You don't see anything like this in Alabama!
We even got to see a motorcycle group when we stopped for Michael to buy his girlfriend a birthday gift from the Indian ladies.
Once we finally reached the North Rim it was time for my first in person view of the Grand Canyon. It truly is beautiful and almost doesn't seem real. It really shows how great and mighty our God is!
After taking in our first views of the Grand Canyon, it was time to get settled in our cabin. The North Rim only has one non-camping place to stay... The Grand Canyon Lodge. These cabins you are advised to book 6 months- 1 year in advance. 2-3 weeks before our trip I started planning our trip. I thought we were going to have to go to the South Rim (much to JP's disappointment, and he wasn't even going!) because there were still campsites available. But then, I discovered that there was one night at the Lodge on the North Rim. Not only that, but the cabin was the exact size that we needed. You better believe I booked that cabin fast! However, there was no where to stay the second night. But, the next day I looked and a campsite had become available for the second night.
Now it is important to note that Michael is a photographer. Not just a casual I like to take pictures photographer, but a hard core, this is my job photographer. He works for one of the top wedding photographer in Phoenix, but his passion is landscapes/nature. So being at the Grand Canyon there are tons of beautiful places to take pictures... especially at sunset. Michael had one specific point he wanted to go to for sunset. Only problem, sunset was 15 minutes away and we were 20 miles away on a curvy, 35mph road. The silver bullet delivered and we arrived just in time. Michael sprinted to the spot and said he arrived with only 1 minute to spare.
FYI his shot is way better than mine. 100 times better for sure.
Overall it was a great first day at the Grand Canyon. That night we made sure to get plenty of rest to prepare us for the next day... the day of our Grand Canyon hike.
No comments:
Post a Comment