Our recent trip to Arizona was a total God thing. Have you ever felt like God just sent you somewhere? You might feel some tugs of fear or indecision before you leave that try to hold you back, but once you get there you feel like God just needed you right there in that place…and you being there is important for reasons that you maybe you don’t even fully understand yet? That was this Arizona trip for me.
Can I give you a little background first? Around the new year I randomly decided we needed a trip. I can’t remember when exactly, but it was probably when we had COVID and were smack dab in the middle of quarantine…but that’s neither here nor there, lol.
Fast forward a few weeks later, I had an interesting experience at my annual dermatologist exam (get your skin checked, friends!) and ended up having a melanoma removed from my back. Praise Jesus, my wonderful doctor caught it early, but man it was a crazy couple of months and a trip just didn’t seem like the next right move…or did it?
One day in particular, I remember telling my husband, “I don’t know if we should go on this trip, I think maybe we should just hunker down at home after everything that’s happened lately.” That’s when I realized it. It wasn’t God giving me a nudge not to go, it was the enemy. It was fear I was feeling (not based on any sort of fact) and usually when I experience fear or anxiety the devil is trying to keep me from something miraculous that’s right on the other side of that fear.
There was something that God wanted me to do and friends, when God wants us to do something the devil will try every trick in the book to stop us. I knew as soon as those words to my husband were out of my mouth we had to go.
*Cue historic winter storm and temperatures that will cause mass power outages and flight cancellations…
Did you hear about the winter storm in Texas? Yes, I’m sure you did. The whole state had one and we’re a big state. The night before we left it snowed like I’ve never seen it snow here and the temperatures dropped to the single digits. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:00 a.m.
At 4:00 a.m. it was still on time and bleary-eyed, I asked my husband, “Are we seriously doing this?”. The news had been screaming at us for a few days to stay home and we were going to drive our babies to the airport on possibly treacherous roads for a vacation?
Well, we did. And I’m so glad…
p.s. the roads were fine (ish)
We left a frigid Fort Worth and landed in sunny, 60 degree Phoenix before noon. I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful for air travel. Does anyone call it air travel anymore? Well. my side part and I do.
Even if you’re planning on spending most of your time in Northern Arizona it’s recommended that you fly into Phoenix instead of Flagstaff, because of the cost difference, so that’s what we did. It’s completely worth the few hour trip to the canyon, we loved the road trip up north!
The scenery was beautiful and it changed so quickly from desert to mountains, from warm and sunny to snow on the ground…the drive was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.
First Stop: Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon was our first destination so we wrapped up the road trip in the small town of Tusayan. This cozy little town sits just on the edge of the south entrance to Grand Canyon National Park and unless you plan on hiking day in and day out in the canyon I think it’s the perfect place to stay. If you’d like to stay inside the actual park there are several hotels in Grand Canyon Village and from what I’ve researched it’s a great experience, but a little more expensive and they have less restaurant options.
Tusayan
After dropping our things at the hotel, our first stop was dinner. There are quite a few restaurants in town – mostly local establishments, but we settled on Plaza Bonita and it was delicious! I love kicking a family vacation off with a big dinner – it reminds me of my own childhood vacations with my parents. Isabelle got a Shirley Temple for the first time and I had some incredible Tacos Al Pastor! The prices are a little steeper than your typical Mexican restaurant, but the tourist uncharge is made up for in their portions – we all got a ton of food.
After dinner we headed to the Canyon to watch the sunset. If you start researching travel tips for the Grand Canyon you’ll find lots of recommendations to catch either the sunrise or the sunset. The canyon is breathtaking (I’ll get to that in a sec) any time of day, but there was definitely something magical about seeing it change in the golden sunset.
Sunrise is supposed to be even more spectacular, but remember when I said 4:00 a.m.? Yeah…we’d been up a while by that point so I didn’t see us waking up early the next morning.
We parked at the Visitor’s Center (in Northern Arizona you’re on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon) and made the short walk to Mather Point. I don’t have the words to describe the moment when we turned the corner and finally saw it. I’m tearing up now just thinking about…
I had no words. Truly breathtaking…God breathed, incredible creation. I definitely had to wipe away a tear or two.
Before we left for our trip we got a few, “Be careful, people die there,” comments from well meaning friends so if that thought has crossed your mind too, Mather Point is a perfectly safe spot to view the Grand Canyon. Most of the area is lined with rails (most– so seriously pay attention to your little ones) and it’s a ‘deep’ viewing point so you don’t have stand right on the edge if you don’t want to.
I was so overwhelmed emotionally (I’m serious y’all, it just got me) and I definitely have a fear of heights so it took me a few minutes before I got my ‘canyon legs’. Sitting down helped, lol. After that, I was able to walk to the railing and look out over God’s handiwork. The same God that made this made you, friend. And he did both purposely – you were created for even more of an important reason than the gargantuan Grand Canyon, I hope you know that.
When we woke up in our little hotel room the next morning, after an interesting night of sleep with our three year old (product recs in the next post;)) there was puffy, beautiful snow on the ground!
As Texans, we really enjoyed watching the Arizonans efficiently clear the roads, sidewalks and jog in it all before 8:00 a.m.🤣
That morning at Grand Canyon was even more magical than the night before. From the Narnia-esq drive from the park’s entrance to the visitor center, to the bright blue Arizona sky – we felt so lucky to be there.
It was such a unique experience to see the canyon covered in snow, I know it’s a day I’ll never forget and hopefully neither will the kids. They were dying to play in it (Texas kids😉) so we let them until their clothes started getting wet. Then we went back to Mather Point and down to Yavapai Point, but before we made it the railing ran out and with so much snow on the walkway we decided to turn back.
We definitely plan on going back someday when the kids are older, we can hike and take the Grand Canyon Railway to the bottom, but for now this short, winter visit was perfect.
Before we left the park, we visited the Yavapai Museum of Geology which is just down the road from the main visitor’s center. It’s a very old, very cool building that juts out over the edge of the canyon and provides a great lookout point (behind glass). All of the exhibits are currently closed because COVID restrictions, but the view was definitely worth a visit and if you’re visiting in the summer, it would be a nice AC break.
It was an amazing visit to Grand Canyon National Park. It certainly blew us away and reserved a special place in our hearts. I’m so glad I didn’t let fear or complacency hold us back from a family adventure God intended for us.
My next post, Part 2, will include all the details from our second stop – Sedona!
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