The Grand Canyon

When Andy told me he had to speak at a conference in Las Vegas, he asked if I wanted to tag along. He suggested we rent a car and drive out to the Grand Canyon. A few days later I was chatting with Austin after school and he said, “I would love to go to the Grand Canyon”.
So of course I started thinking, Senior year, last time our schedules will match up, he had all of his AP exams done except one…. I texted Andy and said, “we should take Austin”.

So we start planning our trip and every now and then Austin would ask “is Blake going?” or “can Blake go?” At that point to add Blake to our trip was going to cost a pretty penny. And I mean pretty.

So we said no.

I think it was the day before we were scheduled to leave when I texted Andy and said “can we please bring Blake?”

Taking kids to the Grand Canyon is something people do all the time but I have to say straight up I am not sure I would have gone with the younger ones. Well Cole maybe but not Eva.

It was big, and beautiful, and a little bit scary.

There were plenty of areas where you could get a great view that had railings for protection

But there were also a ton of places (actually most places) where you could just walk out into the great wild with great big drop-offs. It made my knees feel weird just being watching people out there

Fortunately Austin and Blake had no desire to venture out there

These guys…. I got a couple pictures but my stomach was flipping around like crazy hoping he didn’t fall…

We googled “how many people die at the Grand Canyon each year?” 12 is the average in case you are interested.

We stayed in safe areas

Until we didn’t

We decided to hike on the trails- it started out innocent enough

But then the trail had no protection- we hiked a little bit down into the canyon but the way back up was tough. Austin wants to go back when he can camp down at the bottom. That is at least a two day deal.

I am so happy we got to take the older boys and spend time with them on their own. It really made the trip something special

So glad this guy joined us at the last minute

The Grand Canyon is something that I think should be on everyones bucket list. It was a pretty incredible sight.

But don’t go when it’s prime season- those trails aren’t very wide!!