Road Trip - Days 1 & 2

On Monday, October 12th, me & the boys loaded up and hit the road, headed for the Grand Canyon and beyond. Of course, being pregnant and the sole adult, I didn't plan on making it to the South Rim all in one day! The map shows our total route: over 2300 miles and well over the estimated 36 hours. The stars are places we stayed the night (G & F are also A & B), dots represent substantial rest stops. It was as I'd hoped, ambitious but doable, with just a few moments here and there of insanity in the back seat.

The first day we were excited to get out of Idaho and didn't plan a real break until Salt Lake City: Temple Square.

The boys loved all the displays inside the Visitor's Center, and running around the temple grounds.

A kindly temple "host" showed the big boys how to get impressions on paper of the carvings on the temple doors.

We only had a little bit left to travel that day, crashing at the oh-so hospitable home of Mark's Uncle Len in American Fork, Utah. Had to make a quick stop (10 minutes before closing) at his local Radio Shack for a new car-charger for the portable DVD player, the only near disaster of the day. (Having the original adapter break and the battery run out on the first day of our trip was pretty nerve-wracking until I found out how easily & cheaply the problem was remedied.)

Day two we got a good start and headed through some of the beautiful, unique countryside of southern Utah. Stopped in Kanab for lunch but didn't have a good stretch of the legs until we reached the dam at Glen Canyon.

Then on to some desolate highway until we reached the East Entrance of the Grand Canyon and walked out to the Desert View Watchtower.

Our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon itself:

It had been a long couple of days, the sun was setting, Sharee & her kids were waiting and we still had 20 miles of highway until we reached them at our motel check-in point, so I just couldn't bring myself to drag the boys up (and back down) the inside of the Watchtower. Nevertheless, the majesty of these first views re-energized us for our next couple of days here at the truly Grand Canyon.