Las Vegas to The Grand Canyon

When I last wrote a blog, we were getting ready to go and see Donny & Marie.  Well that never happened.  Our show got cancelled twice in a row… bummer!  So on the Thursday night we ended up going to see the Jubilee show.  It was pretty good and it was cool to see a traditional Las Vegas show.

We didn’t do quite as well at the poker table as we did in Reno; but we still had a good time.  I think I did more walking in the week in Vegas than the total trip up to this point.  It seems like every parking garage was about a mile or so (well it felt like a mile) to the casino.

When we decided to finally leave the craziness, noise, traffic, etc.  we headed to the Red Rock Canyon for a driving tour.  What a beautiful place this turned out to be.

We got as far as Kingman, AZ on Friday night; and decided on another hotel.  Sometimes when you’re trying to make some ground, it’s just easier to stay at a hotel. 

While there, we chatted with Mike’s cousin on Facebook; and decided that since we were only 3 hours to Phoenix, that we would go and visit for the weekend.

We ended up only getting to visit Pati and her boys.  Teresa got really sick on Saturday and her brothers were out of town.  We still had a great visit with Pati and her boys, and were glad that we made the detour to visit.

We left Monday morning, and decided to drive one of our favourite “scenic” roads.  We’ve been on many of “America’s prettiest roads” and this one still remains one of the prettiest that we’ve been on.

It’s the Apache Trail through the Superstition Mountains, just east of Phoenix.  We’ve already done the trail twice, both times with the truck.  And let me tell you that it was MUCH easier driving with the Escape.  The sharp tight turns and narrow road didn’t seem near as tight or curvy with just our little SUV.  I still miss our big, noisy, smelly, gas guzzling truck; but on this trip so far, I haven’t missed it at all.

You wind your way along a dirt road, with mountains to your right and Canyon Lake, Apache Lake and eventually Roosevelt Lake all on the left.  Saguaros, prickly pear cactus, and ocotilla’s intermingled with mountains, makes for this place to be absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.

Our original plan was to make it to Sedona for the night, but we got as far as Camp Verde.  Another hotel for the night.  The next morning, we drove into Sedona, and I think it’s gotta be America’s prettiest town. 

Beautiful red rock mountains surrounding the entire area.  We finally also got our first sight of “hoodoos” and “spires”.  A couple of hours later, we arrived at the South rim of the Grand Canyon, just as the skies opened up!

Whoever said it never rains in Arizona is wrong as far as we’re concerned.  We haven’t had much rain on this trip, none since Yellowstone, and it’s rained here on Friday, a bit on Saturday, and lots of rain today.

We just barely got the tent set up and the skies opened up again.  And while it poured, we took advantage and had our first afternoon nap since leaving home 4 weeks ago. 

It was still raining when we got up; and ended up at the Grand Canyon Café for dinner; and that’s where this post is coming to you from.

We did stop and take a peak at the Canyon itself; and there were tons of clouds making it difficult to see very much.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the rain will clear tomorrow. 

Please click here to take a look at our pictures.