Another GRAND day - sunrise, pines, a duck and a watchtower! Day 3 of our Grand vacation...

We woke up this morning on the first day of 2020 and drove in to see the sunset again. It was amazing!! The clouds in the sky helped create some spectacular colors.

After breakfast we drove along the south rim in the other direction and headed down the 25 mile stretch of Desert View Drive. It has about 6-7 viewpoints along the way and we stopped at all of them. It was still cold and was nice to get out for a few minutes and then get back in the car.

Our first stop was at Duck on a Rock....can you see it?

We then continued on...

While in the park, we learned about the Ponderosa Pines. They are all over and are a really neat pine tree. The cracks are an adaptation they have to protect them from fires...

Continuing along Desert Drive...

Our final stop on Desert Drive was at the watchtower. You could climb up to the top and the views were beautiful.

Inside the watchtower were all sorts of Native American wall paintings and artifacts.

After getting to the end of the road, we continued out the east entrance to the park and drove another 30 minutes to Cameron Trading Post. I had heard about this place on tripadvisor and wanted to  try it out for lunch. They didn't disappoint!!

The landscape changed and the snow went away the closer we got to  Cameron.

The wide open road was too tempting for Don and on the return trip back to the park, we had to stop and take advantage of the wide openness.....and have a little fun!

We then entered the park again from the east entrance and headed back to the hotel.

And had to stop at a few of the viewpoints that we missed on the way out.

The last 30 minutes were the same scenery we had seen at least 5 times already and the girls took advantage of that to have an early "preschool nap time...." in the car. :)

We got back to the hotel and regrouped, then headed to dinner in Tusayan. We found a nice place at another hotel and then played some cards and called it a night!

Tomorrow we would check out of our hotel and journey to Page, Arizona!

Stay tuned for an amazing day of slot canyons, another dam and some great exploring in a new town with warmer weather! It's Seldom A Dull Moment with the Rahns!!

Some snow, lots of cold and a very GRAND CANYON!! - Day 2 of our Grand Vacation

Happy New Year!!

Day 2 was a great day! We woke up very early to finally get our first view of the Grand Canyon. We wanted to make it for sunrise. We were so lucky with the timing of this trip. A couple of days before we left they got lots of snow and most of the roads were closed for over a day. The day we left was when the roads opened up. Our day today was cold, beautiful and bright blue sky the whole time.

So we made it for sunrise and found a parking spot close to the rim. Our hotel is about a 15 minute drive into the park.

Here's our COLD just before the sun rose over the canyon picture!

I had seen pictures of the contrast with the snow and the warmer lower levels, and it truly is amazing. I am so glad that we got to experience it for our first time in the winter and that there was still snow.

After our very cold sunrise, we headed to the El Tovar Lodge for breakfast. This is a beautiful national park lodge that is right on the rim. Some of the rooms have views of the Grand Canyon.

The breakfast was amazing and just what we needed.

The view out of one of the restaurant windows.

Decorations in the lobby of the hotel.

After breakfast we began our first adventure in the park. We headed down Hermit's Road. In the summer this part of the park is closed to cars and is only accessible by shuttle bus. There are about 9 different viewpoint stops along the road and we took advantage of almost all of them...

Join us as we drive down Hermit's Road:

Near the end of the road, Don had turned around to admire the snow and there were 3 elk bedded down in the snow resting. They were beautiful and we probably got too close...

We made it to the end... Hermit's Rest - the stop at the end of Hermit's Road. Such a neat place...very quiet and a little oasis. We encountered people on this drive, and very few. There were no big crowds.

Inside Hermit's Rest:

More views from the quiet space around Hermit's Rest:

We drove back and headed to the official visitor center for the Grand Canyon.

We explored the area around the visitor center for a bit - Mather Point was VERY crowded, as were most of the immediate areas around that space.

I love the contrast between the snow and the rest of the canyon!!

 We ate lunch at another lodge in the park. It's pretty neat - there are about 5-7 different national park lodges  right here on the south rim. They are all different levels and have all different kinds of amenities. I tried to find one for us, and due to it being October when we planned this trip, they were all booked.

After our adventure inside the park, we decided to head back to the hotel and rest for a bit. Our family started a travel ritual about 15 years ago with our first trip to Disney World...we return to our hotel in the afternoon and have "preschool nap time." This was very important on our first trip to Disney so that the girls could power through the summer evening hours. Preschool nap time has continued on EVERY vacation that we have taken since. It is a chance to recharge and rest before venturing out again for the evening.

On our way out we found the park sign and got our traditional (and nontraditional) family pictures.

We got back to the hotel around 3:00 and had a nice afternoon hanging out by the fireplace in the lobby reading and relaxing...some of us truly engaged in preschool nap time and some of us just rested. :)

After recharging, we all showered and got dressed for our New Year's Eve dinner back at the El Tovar Lodge. It was a great dinner and we were able to enjoy the atmosphere of the hotel again.

The Grand Canyon area doesn't have much night life at all and there were no New Year's Eve celebrations anywhere. We made our own fun with some fun that I brought from home. :) Don, Carleigh and Katie were great sports about this and we all rang in the new year in our room playing cards, trying to stay awake and wearing our "glasses!"

Happy New Year to everyone! 2020 is off to a great start for the Rahns. 

Stay tuned for another day in the Grand Canyon.  

We are planning on waking up for sunrise again and then drive the Desert View drive and leave the park on the east side to explore and find a fun lunch spot. I'm sure there will be another preschool nap time and then there are NO plans for dinner...we'll see what Tusayan has to offer!