We had another first on this trip. We didn't take the hiking back pack so both kids were walking the whole time. They wore their backpacks with the leash so we could keep them from the edge when it was too close but we didn't want to carry them. I was nervous especially since Liam hasn't ever done a national park without the pack but he did awesome!
The boys were so excited that they didn't go back to sleep. We have a rule though that they don't get toys in the car until after the sun comes up cause before sunrise is too early to listen to fighting over a toy. So after homemade muffins for breakfast (yummy) they got to play and read books. Daniel was impressing us by finding all the letters he knows in the books and the names of all the winnie the pooh characters by finding the first letter of the name.
We got two maps when we got to the park and gave one to each of the boys. Liam immediately opened his and headed in the right direction. Daniel was surprisingly a little more reluctant to walk. It took him a while to be impressed by the canyon and a while to stop asking to take a rest every few feet. Once he got a stick to carry all was right with the world.
This was the view that greeted us. It certainly lives up to its name.
Liam was so excited when he first saw it and Dan kept asking to see more. Then the boys sat and studied their maps to see where we should go next.
You really only have a few options at the Grand Canyon. One- you hike around the rim of the canyon or Two- you hike down into the canyon. With 2 little boys we opted to hike the rim. So this turned into more of a trek on nice paved walk ways with amazing views. Not bad for hiking.
Our second stop where you are out over the canyon was near Yavapai Point on the Rim Trail. You are looking almost a mile down and it is quite scary to see birds flying below you. The boys both loved this stop because their were lots of birds to see and they were looking down into the canyon. We also had a view of the Colorado River.
We walked for about 3 miles along the Rim Trail which turned into the Trail of Time. The boys were great and we got lots of pictures. One thing we noticed while we were walking is that the view never changes. When you're somewhere this big then you have to go really far to look at something different. This was one of the reasons the Grand Canyon ranks third on my national park list. It is beautiful though and the scale of it takes my breath away.
After going three miles, we didn't want to walk back. So we got on the shuttle and rode towards Hermits Rest. We got out a couple times but for the most part we just rode the bus back to the village and to our car.
We went back to where we started for lunch :) Not a bad view for lunch. I have to say though pictures don't do this place justice. Its more beautiful and amazing than it looks but perspective is off. You can stand on the edge and look across and see 10 miles across but it doesn't look 10 miles across. It doesn't seem to be a mile down but it is. I can't imagine hiking down into it but I'm sure the view would be amazing
Something else you should know about the Grand Canyon. The squirrels are very domesticated. People are always feeding them so they will come sit next to you while you eat. I mean on your lap. We told the boys they could bite so anytime one came close they would scream and Mike would chase it away. They weren't fun lunch companions. Luckily some other people started feeding them so they stayed away from us.
We got some great pictures of the boys at the end of the day!
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The boys fought sleep on the way home for a little bit but Liam was out first and it was hard to wake him up. Dan fought and fought but eventually crashed.
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