On the Road: Parts IV and V

What trip to Flagstaff would be complete without a short detour to Grand Canyon National Park? The scale of the place is simply overwhelming, whether you're talking about the canyon itself or the Grand Canyon Village of the South Rim, which includes a visitor center, grocery store, car repair garage, bank and ATM, post office, railroad station, kennels, campgrounds, lodges, mule stables, library, clinic, day care facility, laundry, gift shop, bookstore, and more I'm sure. Sheesh! Needless to say, there were quite a few people around. Even so, it's a beautiful place. Perhaps the North Rim is a little less lively?

(My) anxiety about someone tumbling off of the edge prevented me from taking many photos here, but we did take a few. We managed to head down below the rim on a short hike before my nerves got the better of me, and I had everyone head back up!

A. and Superboy off in the distance, dangerously close to the edge (in my opinion!).

The Boy at a somewhat more comfortable distance from the rim. Still, I made him promise not to move a muscle while I was taking this photograph.


This one was taken at Walnut Canyon National Monument, where I also took few pictures due to a preoccupation with the sheer drops inches from our feet. A good portion of the path here was closed due to a giant boulder that crashed down last December; they're still working on stabilizing and repairing the trail. Worrying about more boulders crashing down on my little ones did not help me either, but this was a gorgeous place. Virtually everywhere you looked along the inside walls of the canyon, you could see tidy little dwellings tucked under the overhangs. Here is Superboy peeking out from inside one of them.


Lastly, we thought we might check out Meteor Crater near Winslow, but just couldn't bring ourselves to pay the $17.00 per adult admission price. It seems you can't even explore the crater itself except on limited guided 1/3 mile-walks just inside the rim. I can't help but wonder if this would have cost extra! I don't remember what the kids would have cost, and I notice the website doesn't make the admission prices obvious--if they are posted there at all! I couldn't find them, can you? Ah, well.