Day 1
Dad was sick.
So I got to chill at home and take an extra day to pack. Also, it was nice because I had to take care
of some paperwork for disability…that’s a never ending crap storm.
Day 2
Dad was feeling better so we finally left for our adventure. We left Anaheim about noonish, stopped by
Sam’s Club to get a chicken, a few other items and return some dvds (it took
longer to finish the return that walk through the entire store, taste all the
samples and pay for our items.) Anyway,
we finally got on our way.
We got a 3 day, 2 night free stay at the Grand
Canyon Caverns. Contrary to what the
name implies, we aren’t really near the Grand Canyon. We are, however, in Arizona just off of Hwy
66 between Kingman and Flagstaff…yes, it’s the middle of nowhere. If it weren’t free, I think we may have left
already. The food in the restaurant is
very expensive, slow and really just marginally good tasting (it might have tasted
“good” because we were pretty hungry by the time the food arrived to our
table). We got here so late the first
night that they gave us an additional night.
Arriving about midnight kind of sucks. But, it was worth stopping at Flying J and
eating a late dinner at Denny’s in Kingman before continuing our journey. They had a yummy new pie…I tried to be good,
so I just ate a few bites of my dad’s peanut butter chocolate pie.
Day 3
This day was a complete bust. I think we finally woke up about 11 A.M. and
I felt pretty awful. I had the worst
headache and I even woke up with a sore, swollen throat. Good times.
I took my medication for the headache and went back to my air mattress
(which, btw, is no longer holding air for very long and will be going back to
Costco at the first sign of civilization) for the rest of the day and night. We walked to the restaurant for dinner, then
back to bed I went at about 7:30 P.M.
Day 4
I can’t believe we’re on Day 4 already. It feels like a blink. Of course, we left a day late and I slept an
entire day. I got up pretty early and
took a walk with Bailey Dogg around the grounds. There really isn’t much going on around
here. There are some horses you could
rent for a small fee of $20 per half hour.
Needless to say, I don’t think the horses get ridden much. Today we ventured down to the famous Grand
Canyon Caverns. What a bust! It’s mostly manmade. It’s supposedly the world’s largest dry
cavern. The reason they named it Grand
Canyon Caverns is because they did a smoke test and after two weeks the smoke
finally came out over the Supai Falls area in the Grand Canyon…plus, I think
it’s better for business, if you ask me.
Well the hike around the cavern didn’t quite kill
me. I had to have dad carry the camera
though because I became quite dizzy and had to hold the handrails nearly the
entire time. I didn’t fall over, but
came close a few times =( I survived and walked the whole thing though, so I
was proud of myself. I don’t think I
would call it an improvement, but it was an accomplishment.
After that we took another rest…dad napped while I read
an English book I need for an upcoming exam I’m hoping to pass. Bailey cuddled up to me like always…he’s such
good company.
Worse than the lack of anything cool to do out here
is the fact that there is no Internet and no cell reception whatsoever…for several
miles! Honestly, I haven’t had cell
service since Kingman. Luckily, we went
for a journey to a Keepers of the Wild Animal Park near Valentine and along that leg of the
journey wifi was found and enjoyed.
We were too late to enjoy the Wild Animal Park, so
we headed back towards the Grand Canyon Caverns. I was trying to think about what I should
make for dinner when dad asked me if I wanted to have dinner at the Hualapi
Lodge, we had seen it the night we arrived.
I wasn’t sure if I was up for another crappy, overpriced dinner. To my pleasant surprise…it wasn’t so badly
priced, it was delicious and they offered free wifi! Wahoo!
Btw, it’s pronounced Wall-a-Pie.
I got a dirty look from the waitress when I asked for the “Haul-a-pi”
taco. LOL
I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We had considered
many options: Supai hike from HillTop where you hike down and get a horse ride
up, West Rim of the Grand Canyon to go on the Skywalk which would only cost a
mere arm and leg, the railway tour of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that
includes a full day adventure of railroading, gunfighting, bus tour, lunch and
some other things. Of these options I
liked the railway tour the best, but we didn’t bring the vaccination papers for
Bailey, so he can’t stay at the pet hotel while we are away…thus, we are
choosing to head to Williams to check out the Deer Farm and the South Rim area
ourselves, then through Flagstaff down HWY 17 to Camp Verde to spend a few
nights (also for free…I love these “test drives”) and there is a safari nearby
that I’m dying to check out.
Day 5
The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is very cool. We hardly saw anything…it’s just too
humongous! We got to go in for free
because Dad has a National Access Pass for being old and/or disabled. Then we went to the Visitor’s center and
Bookstore before checking out the trail near the RV parking. We had planned to go on the free shuttles to
check out other areas, but it is so easy to get caught up while on a walk out
there. We took a bunch of pictures…it’s
great. The views are spectacular, the
air is so easy to breathe and the trail was fairly easy to walk. I’m not entirely sure where we were. We were going to Mather Point, but turned
right instead and went for about a mile in that direction before turning back
and heading over to Mather Point. Everyone we met was very friendly.
After leaving the Grand Canyon and heading back
through SR 64, we took HWY 180. Man, I
wish it wasn’t so late at night. What we
were able to see was beautiful and we are hoping to make it through that route
again one day…but during the day next time.
It took us through a bunch of country before getting to Snow Bowl and
then Flagstaff. We continued on HWY 17,
which took us south to Camp Verde. We
didn’t make it on time for our RV resort reservations. Apparently they really do close shop at 9
PM. I had made arrangements for a free 3
night, 4 day stay if we listened to one of those boring tours about buying some
membership….which, I of course planned to turn down. But a free stay with wifi, restrooms, cable,
electricity, etc. is hard to pass up.
Eh, instead we headed back up HWY 17 a few exits to
the rest stop. There were a bunch of big
rigs here, so Dad thought it was safe enough for us to stay the night. It was good.
I got to use Dad’s down feather blanket to keep warm (we wanted to
conserve our resources and not run the generator all night long). I was in a bit of a bad mood and complained
about we are always late everywhere and if we had just got an earlier start we
would have been able to stay at the RV resort.
I apologized this morning.
Honestly, if we had gotten going earlier we probably would have seen
more of the Grand Canyon and still been late…I had no idea it would take about
3 hours to get here. I guess I should
have mapped that a bit better.
Day 6
We decided to cut our trip a bit short. We are both getting tired and this is our
longest trip yet. Plus, a light came on
the dash (something about DEF Check) and we can’t seem to find a Mercedes
dealership nearby…so we need to make sure we don’t take our sweet time getting
that taken care of. The plan for today
is to head back down to Camp Verde to go to the Out of Africa Safari, then head
up to the Grand Canyon again and stay the night at the Watch Tower. I’m not sure what the Watch Tower is, but my
dad is VERY excited about it. I’m sure
it’s nice and will be well worth the trip.
Then tomorrow we plan to head down to Williams to enjoy the Deer Farm (I
think it’s a petting zoo) and Bearizona, take Interstate 40 to Barstow and head
home from there. It will likely be very
late when I get home tomorrow, but I think it was a good trip over all. I’m a bit sick of all the clutter and really
only was late for the RV resort….so that didn’t bother me too much to be
honest. I would like to cook something
but the counter is covered with boxes of grapefruit and all of the brochures
and magazines we’ve gathered on this trip about Arizona and the Grand Canyon.
I think today will be another good day. It’s already 7:30 A.M. and I’m just about to
get up and get ready. Well, there isn’t
much to get ready…fold up my bed, change my clothes and brush my teeth and
hair. The water is too cold to do much
else and there isn’t a shower here.
Hopefully it won’t take my dad all morning to get ready, especially
since he’s choosing to sleep in a little longer and will have a later start to
the morning than I will. Also, Bailey is
still sleeping. You would think he
hasn’t slept the whole trip the way he is cuddled up in these blankets. Maybe all the driving (and shaking) and
walking around yesterday at the Grand Canyon wore him smooth out. Either way, he’s a happy dog.
Day 6 update:
We made it to the Grand Canyon and got to get in for
free, again. Then we camped at the East
end for only $6 and got a great spot near the restrooms. It was sufficient, but you should know to
bring your own soap when you wash your hands.
After we found our spot we went driving around the park a bit and got to
check out the Watch Tower and a few other pull out areas. Honestly, it was nice but after a while it
all started to look the same. Also, I
wasn’t feeling so well.
After we watched the sunset (I tried to get some
pictures of it, but I don’t think it really took very well), we went back to
the campground and someone had taken our spot.
Since we already paid for it and claimed it with our ticket, Dad
politely asked him to leave. Turns out
we made a new friend. His name is Amir
and his daughter, Barrebekah, are here travelling around on vacation from
Israel. Amir retired from Intel and
wanted to bring his daughter on a nice trip to spend time with her because she
just finished her mandatory 2 years in the Israeli military where she was in
Intelligence. Pretty cool, huh? Dad got Amir’s email address and I hope they
will be communicating. It would be nice
for Dad to use his email more effectively to communicate with people and not
just use it to sign up for stuff with businesses (and he wonders why he gets so
much junk mail…lol!) I’m sure once he
gets used to it that he and Amir will get along well and my dad can ask him all
kinds of questions about Israel and Judaism.
Amir invited us to go visit them in Jerusalem one day…that would be
fantastic! I didn’t get to meet Barrebekah
because she stayed with their RV when they moved to an open spot. But Amir said she’s 22 and has to cut their
vacation short because she has an audition for dancing in Austria on the 14th. I hope she gets it…Amir is very excited for
her.
That night we slept very well. There were no hookups, but it didn’t seem to
matter much. I slept like a dead log…and
I’m sure I sawed that log all night long too!
Day 7:
We drove the rest of the South Rim, except for the
Tusayan Museum and Ruins, the Yaki Trail and the Hermits Trail. We will leave that for the next time we
return. We also found out that the Mule
rides there are VERY expensive. I think
I need to begin playing the lottery because that will be the only way I will
ever pay for it. It’s over $100 for a 3
hour mule ride around the hiking trails at the top of the rim (which you can do
by foot for free) or $975 for two people to take a 3-day mule ride camping trip
to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. No
thanks!
After we finished cruising the park and resting (we
stopped at a market on the west side of the park…I got some more souvenirs and
some food from the grocery store to make lunch with) we headed out for
home. Do you think we made it?
We took SR 64 back down towards Williams and went to
Bearizona. I thought the Deer Farm might
be kind of lame (I think it’s like the petting zoo in Oak Glenn…nice when
you’re a kid but I’m not paying to feed deer at this age, it’s just not as
charming or interesting any longer).
Bearizona was AMAZING!!! I want
to go back. I want to buy a
membership. I want to move closer to
hang out there. I’m not going to do any
of that…well, if I’m back in the area I will certainly go back.
For a mere $20 a person you get to go to Fort
Bearizona Walk Through Park which includes a raptor show (it’s the best one
I’ve seen, though very short) and you get to walk around and see the habitat
areas for the animals, like cubs, beavers, bob cats, etc. After that we drove through the Bearizona
habitat areas…each area of sectioned off for each group of animals and you get
a GPS system that once you get into the area it tells you about the
animals. We saw lots of Black Bears,
Alaskan Timber Wolves, Bison, White Buffalo, Mountain Goats, Mules, etc. We have a lot of pictures to share of this
great park. It took about 2-3 hours, but
I could have stayed all day!
After Bearizona, we decided it may be a possibility
that we won’t make it home on this day.
And…we didn’t. We stopped in Ask
Fork to fuel up before heading down to Kingman for more fuel and dinner at
Denny’s. I started driving when I felt
well on this trip. So when we left
Denny’s and my dad was too tired, I drove a bit (I really didn’t want to spent
the night in their parking lot…there was a waitress at Denny’s that kept
eyeball’n me and I don’t want to walk through a parking lot in my pajamas,
through the Truck Stop quickie mart and Denny’s just to use the restroom in the
middle of the night. So I drove on.
I was doing pretty well. The traffic was minimal, the sun had already
gone down and dad was asleep…that meant that I got to listen to my Zune a
bit. He doesn’t like Matisyahu or
anything I like to listen to really. He
says he doesn’t understand when they are saying and so he doesn’t like it. Old people!
Oh well. Near the border it began
to get a bit windy and that was getting harder to drive in. So, we opted to check out this CRA campground
in Needles. Good thing we did. It’s literally on the Colorado River and I
was getting tired and the wind was making driving more challenging than
necessary. I’d say we were parked and
asleep by 11:15 PM last night.
Day 8:
Man it was hot last night. It was 86 degrees when we went to sleep at
11:15 PM. Fortunately, they have full
hookups and we got to stay for free. So
I got to charge this laptop battery, my phone and hopefully I will get my
camera charged too before we head back out.
The a/c ran all night. It’s here
next to my bed, so I’m in charge. I
actually kept getting cold, so I would bump it up. Apparently Dad set it at 68 degrees and by
the time we woke up I had set it to 74.
It just felt so cold…but in a good way where you get to put your sheets
and blankets to good use but can get some good rest in. I love it.
Well, I do prefer to have the windows open for cool fresh air, but that
just wasn’t an option here last night.
Bailey and I went for a walk and got to see the
river this morning. It’s nice, but not
very glamorous. I think I would come
back. Desi told me to put my feet in…I
fully intended to, but I went 1/3 of the way down the ramp and got dizzy. So I came back to the top before I got stuck.
Now I’m ready but Bailey and Dad are knocked out
cold. Spending this time to recharge
everything, copy over the pictures (we have over 1,000 to go through now
between our two cameras) and get this caught up before heading home.
I almost feel torn.
I am ready to go home…but I also want to ask Dad if he would like to
cruise on over to Calico. I haven’t been
there since I was in High School. I
remember it’s an old ghost town and I liked it.
I always remember the old schoolhouse when driving by on the way to
Vegas…but I never stop. If we don’t go
today, I think I will ask if we can make sure we stop next time.
And then, home.
I think I will get home, unload, shower and pass out for the rest of the
evening! Home sweet home. Shoot, I hope Mom doesn’t want me to cook
tonight…I just don’t think it’s going to happen.
OVERALL:
This was a very good trip. We had some ups and downs, some positives and
negatives. But overall it was nice,
relaxing and I got to spend some time with my dad.
I
would recommend:
·
Fueling up in Kingman, AZ (HWY 40/ RT66)
both coming and going because it’s cheaper than CA by far!
·
Going to the Out of the Wild Animal Park
and Rehab near Valentine, AZ (RT66)
·
Having dinner at the Hualapi Lodge in
Peach Springs, AZ (RT66)
·
Spending a night or two in the Grand
Canyon Caverns, if you have your own restroom in the RV and your own food
(RT66)
·
Driving through Seligman, AZ (RT66)…it’s
a very small little town and I wish we had stopped
·
South Rim of the Grand Canyon National
Park to check out the view, hiking (I will do this when I feel better), take
pictures and even camp overnight
·
Bearizona in Williams, AZ (HWY 40)
·
Go with people you enjoy and take lots
of pictures!
I
would not recommend:
·
Eating at the restaurant or using the
restrooms at the Grand Canyon Caverns…or even paying to see the cavern (it’s
awful…the only saving grace was that I could breathe really well down there!)
·
Going to the West Rim of the Grand
Canyon; while it’s nice to support the Native Americans (Havasupai and
Hualapai) it’s too darn expensive…so that Sky Walk is out as it would have cost
about $100 just to go to the Sky Walk for $15 and you can’t even take your
camera or bring any water with you
·
Expectations of using your cell phone,
especially if you have TMobile (I have had little to no…mostly no…reception the
entire trip and TMobile could care less)
Future trip: We have several trips in the planning
stages.
·
We were unable to make it to Death
Valley and feel its going to be too hot this summer, so the Death Valley trip
is on hold until Spring 2013.
·
We also have planned a trip up PCH. I think this may be our next trip, but we
have yet to plan to the route home from Sacramento…perhaps that will be the
plan (to have no plan on the way home).
·
Another trip we began to consider is HWY
40 to Oklahoma, down to Louisiana and Texas and then home by way of HWY 10…I’m
hoping we do this one in a few months, or at least this summer some time.
·
Of course, to return to the Grand
Canyon. It’s too magnificent to get it
all done in one, two or even three trips.
So next time we return, we plan to finish the South Rim areas that we
missed this trip and then head over to the North Rim (also a National Park, so we
get to have the same benefits with the Golden Age Access Pass).
