My Favorite National Park: Grand Canyon
I know I haven’t been to a lot of National Parks in the US, but my favorite is still the Grand Canyon National Park. Before this trip, I’d only been there once when I went with Maggie in November 2015. So, when Johey and Jacob had a day off we figured “Hey, let’s plan a trip to the GCNP!” and we did! After going to Big Bear on Labor Day weekend (and it being super busy), we figured we should plan ahead for the Grand Canyon since it was also a holiday weekend and I’m glad we did. While we weren’t able to stay at the lodge inside the park (and there were a lot of people there), it was definitely a good time and we felt safe. The park is so big that we were never crowded, we wore our masks all the time (of course), and the park had plenty of social distancing rules in place.
The first thing we did, Jacob and I, was go run the Marine Corps Marathon 10k virtual race. We had both signed up for it and we figured what better place to get it done than at the Grand Canyon? We left Johey and Evan sleeping and drove to the park, started at the Bright Angel Trail, went down to the 3 mile house, and turned around. We tried to move fast but it took us forever and the whole time I kept thinking about Johey and Evan stranded in the hotel because we had the vehicle. When we finished, we headed straight to the hotel and, after we showered and ate, it was time for the four of us to go enjoy the Grand Canyon National Park together!
We did a lot of sightseeing, lots of walking, some hiking on the Rim Trail, and we were able to take the shuttle bus around the park as well. We took a lot of pictures - have I mentioned I love this park?! We had a great time! When it got dark, we figured it was time to go back to our hotel so we parked the car and had dinner across the street at a steakhouse - Johey’s treat!
The next day we went back to the park for more sightseeing and hiking, and this time we went to the South Kaibab trail. I had never been there before, so that was fun. We hiked down to the Ooh Aah Point and back. It was beautiful!
Eventually, after lots of souvenirs purchased, it was time to leave the park for good and get on the road back to Johey’s. There was no traffic so we made it back before midnight. Because it was so late, Jacob and I decided to stay the night and go home the next day which was a good idea because we were exhausted and it wouldn’t have been safe to drive 2+ more hours to get home.
I feel like I never have enough time at this park, but this time I definitely got to see a lot more than I did five years ago. I loved every minute of it and I cannot wait to go back… Soon!