Christmas Trip 2014- The Grand Canyon

The day after Christmas, we loaded up and headed out on a little road trip.  Our destination:  Gilbert, Arizona.  Matt's parents came with us and we headed first to the Grand Canyon.  There were some sketchy roads, due to snow, but when we switched over to I70, the roads were clear.  We arrived in the Grand Canyon too late to see much.  We headed to dinner and then to our hotel to swim and burn off some energy before bed.

 About an hour and a half before we reached the Grand Canyon, there were these rocks and rock huts just off the side of the road.  We hopped out of the car to explore and stretch our legs a bit.

 Our first view of the Grand Canyon was spectacular!  None of us had ever been there before.  We love visiting new places.

 Family photo at the Grand Canyon.  It was around 9:30 am and it was FREEZING.  We were shocked at how many people were there.  It was packed.  I can't imagine what it is like when the weather is nice.  Did you know that there is a forest on top of the grand canyon?  I didn't.  It felt like we drove through the forest area forever before we reached the spots where we could see the canyon.  There was snow on the ground and everything.

 Amazing.  So beautiful in such a unique way.

 We went to the visitor's center to warm up a bit.  Ellie would not keep her hat on.

 We drove to a bunch of overlooks and took a lot of photos.  We then hiked down to Ooh Aah Point.  Matt and Zack and John went a bit farther while Matt's mom and I waited with the younger kids.

 The boys hiking.

 Seriously, I think Matt took 200 photos that day.  Maybe more.

 We stayed long enough to catch the sun setting.  Gorgeous.  The sky was just as impressive as the canyon.  It was so fun to see and to experience as a family.

I love this photo.  As soon as we took a few sunset photos, we were off to our next destination:  Gilbert, Arizona, to visit Matt's sister and her family.  We arrived late that night to Myles and Mikel awaiting our arrival in their driveway, despite the cold and the late hour.  What a welcome!!  More on that part of our trip another time.