Grand Canyon

Day 8: We pulled out of Albuquerque at 6:30 am and set off 400 more miles to Grand Canyon. The Biscamp's drive 500, 300, and now 400 miles straight through and were super troopers. We stopped for a quick lunch and Junior Ranger badge at Petrified Forest National Park, the kept pushing through.

We pulled into Grand Canyon and a roasting 98 degrees at 3:30 pm, unhitched, and set off on our bikes for the Grand Canyon Visitor Center.

This day was Chris and Melissa's 18th Wedding Anniversary, so Curtis and I planned a very special meal of surf and turf with roasted sweet peppers, avocado, and cilantro, and we topped it off with a delicious Cabernet from the Egert's!

We made it!!!!!!!!!!

Day 9: Aaaaah! Rest day! We were so excited that Stan and Mary were arriving this day!!!!! We slept in and relaxed all day. By relaxing I mean not driving the truck anywhere. What I love so much about Grand Canyon is the incredible biking/walking trails the park has created. Every lookout/Visitor Center/Village/Trailhead with exception of Desert View is two miles or less from Mather Campground, so we rode and rode and rode!  We really know how to pick our dates....total sarcasm there....because our entire stent in Grand Canyon was under an "Excessive Heat Warning". This means the afternoon temps from 11-6pm topped 105 on most days; however, 6pm to 9am was absolutely beautiful. The nighttime temps dropped to below 60 degrees. This is all fine and dandy when you're in a camper and hooked up to electricity for some Air Conditioning reprieval, but Mather Campground had no hook-ups, so we spent noon-5pm trying not to roast like a turkey on Thanksgiving. The first day was very hard on Miss Cookie in the heat, so we started drenching towels, tshirt, hats, anything we could find in the water spicket to keep cool. We spent the rest of the week soaked throughout the afternoons. 

At 3:00pm, the Schettler's couldn't stand the heat any longer, so we set off for the Visitor Center and some Dippin' Dot's at Market Plaza. We just sat down to enjoy our chilly treat when low and behold, Grandma, Grandpa, and Heidi pull up in the White Toyota Sienna after a 600 mile drive from El Paso. Yay!!!!!  Mary and Stan had not visited the GrandCanyon since the early 90s and were so excited to visit the National Park with their Grandsons. We had booked their pet friendly room at Yavapai Lodge several months before and promised them 3 days of amazing food and fun times with the boys......well......they went to check in and discovered the Pet Friendly Rooms on the Westside had NO Air Conditioning. Ugh!!!!! The excessive heat was almost unbeatable for us, and we live outside. There's no way that giant Miss Heidi as well as Grandma and Grandpa in their 70s could handle the heatwave with no reprieve of AC. So they canceled their 3 days at the Yavapai and only stayed one night.  We decided to make the best of their one night in Grand Canyon, so Curtis grilled amazing burgers and we rode our bikes to Mather Point for a view of Grand Canyon at sunset.  

It was so beautiful, but we knew Mary and Stan were super exhausted from their 11 hour travel day. After sunset, they made it back to the car and drove to the lodge while we rode the bike trails back in the dark....very thankful for our bike lights, looked at the beautiful stars and fell asleep.

Day 10: Melissa and I were up early for a sunrise 6am run down to the rim and back. 

 When we arrived, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Stan were there to say goodbye and drive their 600 miles back to El Paso. We were so sad that their amazing trip to Grand Canyon had to be cut so short. They picked up Miss Cookie and brought her with them so she didn't have to travel the remaining 5000 miles and set off for ELP. We were devestated that they had to leave so soon, but would be seeing them in two months mid-August. We definitely missed them the rest of the stay.

We tried to make the best of our hot afternoon by riding bikes up to the Geology Museum, but by day 3 of the soaring heat, our Free "Lance"ers were low on batteries and we looked like cooked turkeys. 

 Chris and Curtis drove to Trailer Village to see if there were any openings for the night with hookups, and low and behold...there was one opening!!!!! Yay!!! The Biscamp's jumped on it and moved their Bis-Camper to the site with Full Hookups, so we dined in the AC! We finished the evening with an exhilarating game of "Up and Down the River" aka "Oh Hell" in the AC of the Biscamper and went back to the Casita 2.0 to crash because the next day we were hiking 3 miles of the Bright Angel Trail.

Day 11: Up and atom at 5:00am, we set off on the Bright Angel Trail to try to beat the heat.

What an amazing experience!

 We hiked 1.5 miles down into the canyon, hit the restroom and hiked the 1.5 miles back out.

 For anyone wanting to hike Bright Angel Trail, please bring water and food. We saw many, many people with incorrect shoes and no water going down while we were going back out. The boys stayed back at the camper and slept, and we were back right when they started waking up. Curtis and I decided next time we come we're doing Rim-to-Rim with the boys!

Once we got back to the Casita 2.0, we showered, packed up, hitched up, and set off for Page, AZ and Lake Powell! Good bye, Grand Canyon! Until next time!