Day 16: Grand Canyon National Park to Page, Arizona

 We decided while we were in the area of the Grand Canyon that we wanted to take the girls to see Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend and Page, Arizona. It was so interesting going from snow in the high desert back to all red rock again.

Our first stop was the Glen Canyon Dam and Recreation Area. You guessed-the girls did a Junior Ranger badge here.

 

After touring the Glen Canyon Dam and getting their Junior Ranger badges, we walked down to Lake Powell too.
 

After enjoying walking along the lake, we headed into Page, Arizona for supper and to spend the night. There is a delicious restaurant there named after the Dam. We ate in the grill part of the restaurant and the girls loved it because they had individual tablets for every kid to play games while they waited for their supper. Oh, and we found out that we could find Carolina Tarheel basketball on TV even in Arizona!

We were ready for a good night's sleep because tomorrow it would be time to show the girls Horseshoe Bend.

Grand Canyon: Bright Angel Trail

 I mentioned before that we saw an amazing sunrise and spend a beautiful morning walking just a bit of the Bright Angel Trail.

My girls and I along the trail.

I love this picture of her. This is one of the arches in the rock along the trail and I love the scope that seeing Bekah here gives of how big this arch actually is!

Rachel

                                                                            Rebekah

                                                                             Bethany

                   Some of my very favorite family pictures of this trip came from this morning!

The McGuirt Family~ January 2017

Grand Canyon National Park

 After that fantastic sunset, we were so excited to actually get to stay at the Grand Canyon in Yavapai Lodge. Brent and I had been to both the North and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon before this trip but we drove in both days and didn't stay overnight there. So this was a first for all 6 of us!

These two caught a ride on the luggage cart up to our room.

Chocolate doughnuts for a snack-these girls were having a really good day!

The girls really enjoyed the meals in the lodge too. 

We saw a beautiful sunrise the first full morning we were at the Canyon and then we spent the morning hiking a portion of the Bright Angel Trail. We didn't feel like our trip there was complete without spending a little time on the trail.

We, of course, spent a good amount of time at the Visitor's Center in the afternoon especially since the girls wanted to earn their Junior Ranger badges here at the Grand Canyon.

We attended a Junior Ranger program as part of them completing their Junior Ranger badge. Here they are receiving their badges.

In an already full and beautiful day, we were able to see another beautiful sunset here.

Rebekah even got the chance to mash the camera button and take a picture here at the Grand Canyon!

Our side trip to bring the girls to see the Grand Canyon was even more beautiful and fun than we imagined!

Day 15: Tuba City, Arizona to Grand Canyon National Park

We started out a little later in morning to let the roads warm up a bit. We drove all the way to the East Entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park only to find out that it was closed! So we were determined to make it to the Grand Canyon that day so we backtracked and drove an extra hour and a half to the South Entrance, which was thankfully open!

It had snowed the night before at the Grand Canyon so there was fresh snow on the ground. Because of all our detours with the entrance station being closed, we finally pulled into the South Rim of the Grand Canyon just in time to witness the most spectacular sunset!!

Day 14: Moab, Utah to Tuba City, Arizona

 We saw that a snowstorm was headed for Moab so we decided to go a little further south into Arizona to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We knew we didn't want to come all the way out to the Southwest without the girls seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time.

It was a beautiful drive and gave us the closest view we have had yet of Monument Valley! We are coming back to see Monument Valley on the next trip when it is not so cloudy and foggy!

We did encounter a little snow between Mexican Hat, Kayenta and Tuba City but we just kept heading further south with the Grand Canyon as our goal!

We made it to Tuba City, Arizona to sleep and on to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!