Pardon The Interruption

Just got back from a trip to Universal Orlando for Halloween Horror Nights.  Really fun and creepy!

I'll finish up the Grand Canyon posts after I recover.  See you then.

Soon

Grand Canyon 2017 - Day 4

A road trip within our road trip today.  We breakfasted at the hotel at 7:00am then at 8:30 left for Sedona.  It's about a 2 hour drive from Tusayan and instead of going all the way down to I40 then over to Flagstaff, we split off at the Flintstones place and took 180 to Flagstaff.  I'm glad we did, as that drive was much more interesting.

180 took us through peaks, ski areas and forest (not right here obviously)

Red Mountain.  That's its name.  There were a lot of hiking and exploring options along this corridor, including a mile long lava tube.  We'll have to spend more time when we come back.

Approaching Sedona.  The drive down 89A from Flagstaff offers some great views once you get closer.  I was reminded several times of Custer State Park in South Dakota.

Grand Canyon 2017 - Day 3, Part 2: The Plane

After our hike we got back to the hotel at 2:45pm and had just enough time to catch our breath before meeting up with everyone at 3:00pm.  We then drove 1/2 mile over to the Grand Canyon Airport for a flight over and around the Grand Canyon in a Cessna Caravan single engine plane.  This was another idea of Mom's, and it was a great one - definitely a highlight of the trip!  She made the arrangements that morning before we split off for our hike.

We arrived at the airport, checked in for our flight with Grand Canyon Airlines, paid, and had a short wait before our pilot came to walk us out onto the tarmac.  We put on our headphones, had a quick safety lecture, then we were off.  Music and narration was piped in over the headphones, and the pilot periodically cut in with his own observations.

Shirley and Walt in the airport terminal

All aboard

Grand Canyon 2017 - Day 3, Part 1: The Hike

I'm breaking this one up into 2 posts, a.m. and p.m., because I'm terrible at self-editing and have included a lot of photos.

Like this panorama I took later in the day

Grand Canyon 2017 - Day 2

Taken on the road at 75mph (I love my iPhone 7+)

Day 2 started with breakfast at our hotel at 7am, then we hit the road at 8:30.  On the way we gained another hour and reached Flagstaff at 12:30 local time.  We turned North off of I40 at Williams and drove 50 miles to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express again) in Tusuyan, AZ.

Grand Canyon 2017 - Day 1

Hello again!

Todd and I just returned from a road trip to the Grand Canyon with my mom, aunt Shirley, and my aunt's beau Walt.  We had such a great time - seeing the Grand Canyon in photos or on tv doesn't compare with seeing it in person.

The first day we were on the road at 7:30am and drove from Dallas to Albuquerque, NM  We took 2 cars and stopped in Bowie, TX to meet up with the other vehicle.  Mom transferred from Shirley's car to ours and we were on our way.  We stopped around 1:00 for lunch in Amarillo at Red Robin and were back on the road at 2pm.

Windmills near Electra, TX

Maybe don't let your kids play in the playsnakeground at this rest stop near Quanah, TX