Today is the first of the big stops that I have been so excited to experience with my daughter. It's Grand Canyon day! Although, I have been once before, there's something so exciting about experiencing these moments with your child(ren). Of course, sometimes the good things in life can take a little extra work. There's the ideal minimal driving plan, which would have had us drive north and then veer to the east, which would have made our drive to Utah afterwards pretty streamlined. Unfortunately, only the south rim was open. It was a little unclear if this was due to Navajo nation's lockdown or due to a fire that might have been occurring. Traveler tip: look up the park's website before getting in the car and heading to your destination. I ended up pulled over in a parking lot, on the phone with a friend, looking at the map and GPS, trying to figure it out.
A few delays later and we were on our way. It was main roads for part of the trip and then a little rougher roads on the way, but not too bad. I was grateful for the passing lane that they alternate for each side of the road. Once we got there, I found parking was pretty self explanatory. We parked in the visitors center parking lot and walked to the viewing areas. It really is a spectacular site. There are many people wearing masks outside. Follow rules based on updated guidance and your particular situation.
Once we were ready to leave and head north, I plugged in my trusty Waze app for directions to get out. I was thrilled it wasn't going to take as long to get out as I initially thought. I stopped at a couple of designated viewing spots along the way out of the park while I let my daughter relax and attempt to nap. Once she saw it, she was good with the just a couple of peeks. I guess the Meteor Crater maybe desensitized her to the magnificence of a big hole in the ground. Just as I was internally celebrating over thinking we would get to Salt Lake City early enough to grab dinner there and relax for the night, even with seeing some of the other cool canyons on our way up, that's when I came face to face with the road closure sign. NOOOOO! This meant back tracking to the south rim entrance and going around.
Slightly frustrated as we added significantly more time to the drive and I saw dinner at a restaurant plans disappearing right before our planning eyes, I apparently missed a speed limit sign indicating how quickly the speed limit dropped. Since it varies so much, it's difficult to use cruise control and with the higher speed limits on the highways, it's also easy to be unaware of how quickly one is accelerating, as indicated by the park ranger I passed who immediately turned on his lights. I checked waze for my speed versus the speed limit and knew my best bet was to pull over and wait for him in an area that was safe for him to get out of his car. As he approached the car and explained why he pulled me over, I apologized and was polite. Let me just say there are some women who always get out of tickets. Historically, I have not been one of them. Maybe it's having friends in law enforcement that has provided a higher level of respect and approach getting pulled over. Today, I was incredibly blessed that he let me off with a warning and a lecture that I respectfully listened to.
He explained the reason for speed limits being lower in some areas than one might think based on the surroundings had to do with the likelihood of the presence of wildlife. Since the park had been closed for several months and they were just starting to open it back up, the wildlife had become accustomed to there not being people in the park and had been freely wandering in areas that had vehicles back in the roadways. I share all of this because it made us more alert for spotting said wildlife and less than five minutes later, we happened upon a gang of elk just off the roadway that we were able to admire. And less than a minute after that, my daughter spotted another one and an area where another car had safely pulled off to admire the elk from a recommended distance. I pulled over to do the same and captured this picture while we watched in amazement over something as simple as her eating and then safely crossing the street. It really is awesome to be present and enjoy such simple things.
One long detour later (a few hours) we drove past the area that we were just thirty minutes from when we had to turn around. I reminded myself repeatedly that we wouldn't have had the chance to see the elk so closely had we not taken the detour and been there at exactly that moment. We made a stop at the trading post I remembered as being really cool from my previous visit and discovered that under new ownership, they had done a lot of decluttering. That part made me a bit sad as the clutter was part of the charm with so much to see. We had lots of driving and hit the area today with zero cell phone reception, which made me realize the CDs I had as backup for music were mostly from my daughter's young elementary years, with the exception to one Garth Brooks CD, which we listened to on repeat. All things considered, that's not so bad. It certainly was a lot of driving with beautiful scenery, but nowhere to pull over and have a break for quite some time.
We kept up with the map and our list of sites when we finally came up on Horseshoe Bend right around dinner time. I had seen pictures online, but thought there was no way that was the view for the average person. I was wrong. It really is that amazing in person. We parked in the designated parking lot, with a small fee of $5 per person; not bad considering some of the other admission prices and it was a short, but once again windy walk to the viewing area. On our walk, we passed a group of people who asked if we saw the coyote on our way down. Say what?! Are we in danger? The coyote was at quite a distance and too far off for me to identify, but as part of the trip story, I had to include the picture I took below, along with the beautiful rock formations on the way to the viewing area. I love this part of the country!
Since it was dinner time and we clearly weren't going to make it to Salt Lake to eat dinner there, we used the trusty find me gluten free app to determine our options closeby or if we would be eating the sandwiches, yogurt, etc we had in the cooler in the back. I found a local place and figured my best bet was to call before getting our hopes up. These limited menus are challenging enough for the person without dietary restrictions and a bit more challenging for those of us with food restrictions. In the local area for Page, Arizona, we definitely had limited options, but found possibility with Dam Bar and Grille. The bar tender I spoke with informed me that while they normally have more options like gluten free pasta and gluten free buns, due to shortages from suppliers, they couldn't provide those, but could wrap the burgers in lettuce and could offer broccoli for the side item as the fries were cross contaminated. Although disappointed at the lack of selection, I was grateful for his knowledge and forthrightness as many restaurant employees and owners don't understand the issue with cross contamination. Although we opted for no broccoli, I think they wanted to over compensate for the lack of options and doubled up the broccoli. To set the stage, we still had several hours of sitting and driving, so this isn't the best time time to eat an abundance of cruciferous vegetables, knowing it will likely produce a massive buildup of belly bloat and misery (travel tip for ya). Unfortunately for Dam Grille, we had the best burger a few nights ago, so the bar for yummy burgers was also set high. Overall, we probably would have been just as satisfied with making sandwiches as we were with the burgers on the go (cheddar and burger for her, mushroom and Swiss for me). If you have the ability to dine in and or they have the full menu, I would give them another try, but we didn't have the best of experiences given the limitations.
I did have to pull over and snap one more pic of this beautiful scenery, including the dam, for naming the nearby plaza. It's simply breathtaking!
As we were dealing with the loss of sunlight today, we knew we wouldn't likely make it to the southern Utah parks that have been on my bucket list since 1998. Until our next trip out west, here are some of the breath taking views I was able to "settle on" admiring as we crossed the border. How beautiful is this? God's work truly is wonderful!
And of course once we hit the major interstate again, after that whole deer in the middle of the curvy mountain road scare that made me slam on the brakes and wake my poor sleeping daughter as I screamed, I decided to stop in one last well lit travel station to fill up the tank and that station was in a little town called Beaver, Utah. The over sized wood carved statues were too cute not to snag a picture.
We ended the day with 711 miles and staying in a hotel just a few minutes up the road from where my first place of my own was. Back in 1998, that first rental condo was in Midvale, Utah. I should take my daughter by there in the morning. Good night all!
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