Saturday, May 13, 2017. My birthday! We were on the road by 6:30am and ready for a week full of adventures! We had made a pit stop at a super busy Starbucks (our mistake for thinking the drive thru wouldn’t take that long!) and that set us back about 30 minutes. That was pretty annoying but we couldn’t do much except keep on goin’.

We arrived at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park around 3:30pm. I think? Honestly, Arizona’s time really confused me the whole time we were there. It would jump back and forth so much due to the state not following Daylight Savings but then some of the reservations did follow it. I never knew what time it was while we were there. But it really didn’t matter. Moving on.

As soon as we passed the “Grand Canyon National Park” sign and started waiting in line to pay for entrance, I started getting super anxious. A good anxious though! This was the first stop of our trip and I had been waiting so long to finally be here after planning for months! I was super excited to see this beauty with my own eyes for the first time. We got in, found parking and started walking towards the visitor’s center. That’s always my first stop because I need to collect my patch!

We only had a few hours to hang around here so after getting my patch, we were on to explore! We spent our time here walking along the Rim Trail. Luckily, pets are allowed on this trail because we had Sadie with us. I can’t travel without my little travelin’ pup! I know that she doesn’t care to be at these places because she’d rather be home napping. I just love having her with me all the time! PS- She still found the time to nap at the Grand Canyon…

We stopped at just about every point we could to sit and take it all in. Being that Lyle doesn’t particularly care for heights (or edges with no railings), I was super proud of him for facing some fears and sitting near the edge. At least, as close to the edge as he could handle!

We made our way to the Yavapai Point and Geology Museum which had some really cool models of the North and South Rim as well as the entire canyon! There were some pretty awesome views as well! Honestly, where are there not awesome views of the Grand Canyon? It’s all pretty amazing.

We ended up catching sunset at Yavapai Point and it was so incredible! Watching the light dance in and out of the canyon as the sun was setting was definitely a sight to see!

As the sun was going away, it started getting super cold! (DUH). Not sure why we weren’t prepared for this but I was only in shorts & a flannel (my basic uniform) and Lyle was in shorts and a tee. Needless to say, we were freezing! So, we rushed back to the car as quickly as we could and headed towards Page, Arizona for the night.

 

Of course, I wish we could have spent more time here. Since our schedule got pushed back in the morning, we ended up here later than planned. But that’s okay! I still had an amazing time and I’m so happy we were even there! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks for upcoming blogposts from the rest of our trip. Remember, this was only the beginning! Thanks for reading!