Great American Road Trip.
Somehow, my wife and I managed to get our collective stuff together, and are taking a bit over a week off together to go to the Grand Canyon*. We're going to load up our two girls and go do a bit of camping, and a LOT of sight-seeing.
You are here requested to provide suggestions of Things To Do and Places To See, there and in the vicinity. Tips and advice are solicited!
We do plan, BTW, on touring the observatory and we might as well go to Meteor Crater.
We've not really done anything like this. If I have my way, my kids won't be able to bear spending another second in my proximity for a month after this! It's going to be great.
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*Thanks to my house sitters! Wouldn't be possible without you.
posted by Matt G @ 11:22 AM
14 Comments:
The Meteor Crater is off I-40 on your way to the Grand Canyon. I thought it was pretty cool, but my wife thought it was a bit much to pay to see a big hole in the ground. Meteor Crater .
You might also check out the Petrified Forest . The Hoover Dam is a bit of a drive but might be worthwhile if you have time.
And don't forget to check the forecast. Northern AZ gets very cold this time of year.
Have fun.
Grand Canyon Skywalk
Read "Down the River" or "The Monkey Wrench Gang", both by Ed Abbey. Read 'em aloud after supper each night. Great eye, and as close to a libertarian environmentalist as anyone can get.
I'm not sure when you're going, but if you go in the fall watch out for rutting rams. The Bighorn Sheep aren't afraid of people. As a kid, a ram came running up the path on the side of the canyon and almost hooked my arm.
David is correct about the weather. If you will be off paved roads be prepared for bad, bad, mud. Think tire chains.
If you're will to do a little more driving, I can recommend taking US 89 north to where it branches, and then "Alt 89" to Marble Canyon. This takes you past beautiful scenery along the Painted Desert and Echo Cliffs. Where Hwy 89 branches to the north it goes straight to the beginning of Marble Canyon, and you cross the (new) Navaho Bridge, right next to the old one.
There's a nice rest-stop there, and you can walk out on the old bridge and look straight down at the river.
It's also fun to see the brown water of the Paria not mixing with the blue of the Colorado, and heading down to the old ford just to the east of the bridge is fun...big cap-rocks apparently teetering on the softer stone when they've fallen from the cliffs above and been eroded away underneath.
Heck, if you've got the time and motel/gas money keep going on Alt 89 up to the North Rim.
And as long as you've gone that far, southern Utah has Zion, Bryce, and Capital Reef all in easy driving...and heck, just keep going and take Utah 12 into Escalante...12 north of Escalante up to Torrey is the MOST SPECTACULAR road you'll ever drive. My wife and I have done that on our motorcycle trips many times, and never ever get bored. Be sure to stop and walk up Calf Creek Canyon to the falls.
Okay, that's maybe a bit much, but you'll NEVER regret that as a side trip, or maybe one of its own.
Thanks! More! More!
Vermilion Cliffs, north of the Grand Canyon. Bryce Canyon. The Painted Desert.
If you're going north of all that, go up into Wyoming and Colorado. Get off the highways. Find the small towns and the two lane roads.
I used National Geographic trip planning software, and had it with me on a laptop. It was a great tool to see what was available. You could pick a route, and then ask what there was to do and see 25, 50, or 100 miles on either side of that route. It allowed me to pick my major destinations and then find the places that became the highlight memories of the trip.
http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Planner-Deluxe-Jewel/dp/B00003IE8G
The ever-indulgent wife and I drove from KC to Phoenix for NRA last year. I used to live in Yuma, AZ so we hit it for a couple of days first.
Pictures from that trip are here - http://www.svandyke.com/3181/main_gallery.php
Relevant for you because we stopped a Meteor Crater.
Oh - your kids might like the Big Texan in Amarillo, TX - http://www.bigtexan.com/
I recommend taking older highways versus interstates. I travel from DFW to Alamogordo, New Mexico several times a year. We always take HWY 180 rather than Interstate 20. This gives you a town to stop in every 40 minutes or so if the need arises. It also breaks the monotony of extended periods of driving.
The weather there can turn quickly. Was there in 1973, and had a rainstorm the likes of which I'd never seen move through. Have only seen a handful since that were anywhere close.
Unlike the later ones in Oregon and Minnesota, that one only lasted 10-20 minutes.
Hopefully your girls are old enough to appreciate the beauty of the canyon. It really is quite impressive, and makes you realize (at least a little bit) just how small and insignificant we humans really are.
Canyon De Chelly isn't that long of a side trip, and it's worth at least a half-day trip.
If you get the chance and it isn't snowing then I would recommend Jerome, Az, old mining town on the side of a mountain turned into tourist community. Also Montezumas well and then cliff dwellings there. Also just below Jerome is a hill top pueblo museum that it pretty facinating. Have fun, I'm totally jealouse!
You can catch the widest possible view of the Grand Canyon from Indian Watchtower which is at the eastern end of the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
If you're also looking for places to camp I found www.CampingRoadTrip.com to be a good resource for locating campgrounds.
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