grand canyon

Public Land #1 – Grand Canyon National Park

We visited Grand Canyon National Park over New Years. This is not our first visit to the park. We usually stay in Flagstaff or Williams when we visit just about every year, sometimes more than once a year.

It was the first time we actually stayed the night in the park. We were talking about where we wanted to go over New Years a few weeks before the holiday and John said he wanted to stay IF we could get a room with a canyon view. Lucky us! I went online and there was one room available in the Kachina Lodge! Thankfully we have a flexible schedule during the holiday break.

We spent 2 nights in the Kachina Lodge. This lodge does not have a lobby or restaurant and is only 2 stories with no elevator. There is a sitting room with a view of the canyon. You check in at the El Tovar Hotel. The room was very comfortable and had a great view of the canyon. Do you notice all the people??? It was amazingly quiet with few people walking along the icy walkway. Maybe because it was New Years Eve??

We ate in both the Bright Angel Lodge and the El Tovar Hotel dining rooms for dinner. We enjoyed the view and food at the Bright Angel Lodge better than the El Tovar Hotel. Both lodges were about a 5-10 minute chilly icy slippery walk from our lodge, especially the trip back in the dark.

We brought oatmeal (just add hot water) and fruit for breakfast so we didn’t have to go out early in the cold on New Years Day. There was a coffee maker in the room but no microwave.

Our dinner view at sunset from a window table. Weird lights are a reflection of the chandelier.

We woke up our last morning to new snow. It wasn’t much but this Southern California girl thought it was beautiful! Glistening snow! On the drive out, we saw elk chillin’ under the trees.

John cleaning off the snow! It wasn’t much but enough for us! We even cleared off the windows of the truck next to us.

We drove from Williams, AZ to the Grand Canyon National Park south entrance on 2 different days. It is about 60 miles each way.

Day 1: We took the Desert View Drive east along the canyon. It is about 22 miles from the main Grand Canyon Visitor Center. Once you leave the Visitor Center area, there was minimal traffic.

We saw an elk along the road. There were several idiots out of their cars and standing about 5 feet away from this wild animal trying to get a selfie.

The Desert View Watchtower gives an impressive 360 degree view of the eastern end of the canyon. You can walk up several flights of stairs to the top of the watchtower.

We also stopped at the Tusayan Museum and Ruins. It is believed this area was inhabited about 1200 AD. It was a long hike to the river’s edge so I’m not sure how they managed to survive here without an easy water source. Gee, I wonder if the environment or climate was different?? The Museum took about 15 minutes to go through and the trail around the ruins took us about 20 minutes.