The Grand Canyon

When we first started planning our trip, the Grand Canyon was one of the big draws for us.  I've never been -- and the kids certainly haven't -- so it seemed like a no-brainer that if we were going to be passing through the area, we might as well stop and see what all the fuss is about.  And guess what?  The fuss is warranted!  Hahaha.  The Grand Canyon is most definitely grand -- both in scope and in sheer visual splendor.

 A lot of the topography totally reminded me of The Badlands in South Dakota which we visited on our last road trip out west in 2016.

I tried to zoom in on the river running through the bottom of the Canyon, but it's still kind of hard to see.

As an added bonus, my dad joined us for our morning in the Canyon.  I knew he had alway wanted to see the Grand Canyon and had never been, so I thought he might be interested in coming with us.  Once our itinerary was finalized and we knew for certain we'd be making a pit stop there, I invited my dad to join us for the fun.

 The "portrait mode" on Grace and Ethan's phones featured prominently in our Grand Canyon experience.  Hahaha.

We met up with my dad after breakfast on Day 4 of our Road Trip and took a shuttle from the visitor center over to the Mather Point shuttle stop and spent a leisurely hour or so walking along the trail, admiring the views, and taking lots and lots of pictures.  This is our 3rd BIG road trip as a family, and I feel like the third time was the charm as far as being able to gauge just how much the kids can handle before meltdowns start ruining the experience.  So, as much as I would have loved to have spent more time checking out the Grand Canyon, we knew that a morning's worth of exploring was just about all our crew could handle.  And as a result, I think we totally nailed it!  Hahaha.  Aside from Alex being irritable and grumpy the first 20 or 30 minutes of our walk {he was hot, he hates walking, it was boring, etc.}, everyone else sailed through the experience with flying colors.  Haha.

 Alex didn't want to be in the picture.

Still not wanting to be in pictures.

{I would title this next section: Picture Time.  In other words, get ready for lots of portrait mode photographs.  Hahaha.  The vast majority of these came from Grace's phone where she so Kindly airdropped me close to a hundred pictures.  You're welcome for editing it down.  😉 }

 This was the start of the turning point for Alex -- possibly because it was the actual turning point for us to head back to the shuttle stop.  Hahahaha.

 Even Papi wanted in on the picture taking action.  Hahaha.

 A behind the scenes action shot for you.  ;)

After finishing our walk along the Rim, we made our way back to the visitor's center to eat lunch and finished off our Pit Stop with the feature IMAX movie, "The Grand Canyon: Hidden Secrets."  {Apparently, this is the most watched IMAX movie of all time.  I don't know how to fact check that, but that's what they told us, so we're sticking with it.}  It was awesome and I thought it was the perfect ending to our visit.  Once the movie was over, it was time to bid Papi adieu and, after letting the kids pick out some last minute souvenirs, it was time to hit the road once again.  Our stay may have been short and sweet, but in my mind, it was practically perfect in every way.  ;)

 Jane and Sophie both experienced a LOT of nose bleeds while we were out in the much more arid west. 

 This was Ethan's favorite sign of the trip.  Hahaha. Those squirrels are dangerous!

Pueblo Cultural Center

Before we made our way to The Grand Canyon on Day 3, we spent the morning in Albuquerque at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.  I found it to be super interesting and quite moving to learn about the Pueblo people and their history and culture.  While there, we were able to wander through the museum and watch a few dance performances before admiring the offerings of some local artists and picking out souvenirs at the gift shop.

One fun fact that I discovered on this leg of our trip is that Alex is apparently a big fan of museums.  And that's not sarcasm!  Hahaha.  I don't know why it surprised me so much, but it certainly tickled my fancy to see him eagerly checking out the exhibits and reading the plaques.  

This was Grace and Isaac's favorite part of the museum -- the interactive play area.  ;)

I loved this beautiful thought:

In most Pueblo languages, there is no word for goodbye.  Because we believe in the cyclical nature of our existence, we know we will meet again, whether in the near future or at a time far off.  As we part with you today, we prefer to say "See you next time," "See you later," or "Until we meet again."

We only spent a couple hours at the Center before getting back on the road, but I'm glad we made the stop and were able to learn about the Pueblos.  It may be uncomfortable and really heart breaking to learn about the history of the people and the horrible injustice they've experienced from the beginning  of our country, but I think that's what makes it so necessary to know.  "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," and I think that's true even if the injustice is in the past.  Or maybe what I'm trying to say is that pretending that bad things never happened in the past -- or simply being ignorant of the truth -- is perhaps the greatest injustice of all.  And those are my deep thoughts for the week.  ;)

Coming up next is the epic grandeur of The Grand Canyon, and -- spoiler alert -- there will be TONS of pictures of our visit.  Stay tuned...