Follow The Journey - Grand Canyon, Arizona

Fri 14th Aug

Oh my... WE LOVED Grand Canyon! Words can't describe it. I think it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip (second to K&R's wedding of course!). The funny thing was, when I first told Mr M that I wanted to go to GC which is like a 5hr drive South East of Vegas, he was like what the? what is there to see? pieces of rock?! But like always, I put on my sad soppy look & looked very pitiful saying 'it's always been my childhood dream to see the Canyon you know... ' And of course immediately, Mr M was happy to take me there! LOL! Anyway, you should've seen the look on his face when we first walked to the lookout.. He was the first to say 'wow, this kills Great Wall of China that's for sure! wow.. this is so worth the 5hrs drive.. wow this & wow that... ' non stop! It was so funny to see Mr M change a 180'!

You can never soak through the Grandeur of the canyon ... really.. you just can't. I truly felt so small gazing through God's marvelous creation. It was like one canyon after another everywhere you look. We totally felt His Majesty, Power & Glory on top of the cliff over looking the canyon & the Colorado river running through it. It's absolutely incredible & so far it's my 2nd most favourite natural wonders of the world (after the ice glaciers in NZ).

Tips for going to the Grand Canyon:

1) Bring a Jacket! - When we first got to Vegas which is in the State of Nevada, it was soooo boiling hot like a whopping 43'C. So I was expecting Grand Canyon which is in the State of Arizona to also be very hot. But I was wrong. It was at least 10'C lower. At night, it was at least 15'C and this was SUMMER here. Luckily, I had already done my research and knew it would be cool at night so I brought along my jacket.

2) Don't stay at the Grand Canyon itself b/c accommodation is damn expensive. It's at least USD $200 at minimum for like a lodge (for that price, I rather stay at a 5 star hotel!). Stay at either Flagstaff or Williams which was where we stayed and absolutely loved the outback Western country town. We paid around USD$80 incl of Tax for our room which is like a pub like hotel/bed and breakfast style but w/o the breakfast. It was the cheapest we could find but turned out to be pretty good. Pretty nice & clean and very centrally located too.

3) Pump gas at Kingsman which is on the way to GC b/c once u get to GC, it's much more expensive! Oh & don't leave your tank like a quarter to go b/c you will need to drive very far before the next gas station (it's kind've like the drive from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock)

4) You must eat at Cafe Route 66 at Williams. It was the BEST American Ribs we've tried in the States & trust me we sampled enough to make that recommendation! We thought, this place can't go wrong esp since we were literally in the heart of the outback Wild Wild West..

5) When one say Grand Canyon, normally they mean the South Rim which is the most popular out of the lot. There's also North Rim (which is harder to get to & less tourists) and Skywalk which is another 3hrs drive away from South Rim on Pierce Ferry Road. We were going to go to Skywalk cos I knew how beautiful that part of the Canyon looked, but the road signs was so appallingly put up that we missed two turns & ended up some where else. By the time we found the correct road, it was nearly 3pm & I had wanted to go to Premium outlets to shop before they closed at 9pm. So Shopping it was! (Yes I know Skywalk's view would've been a once in a lifetime experience, but c'mon I had to bring souvenirs back home with me here like Coach bags LOL.. Besides you can't take photos on the skywalk :)

6) If you do end up going to South Rim, make sure you drive all the way to the Desert View. The view & the little lighthouse/castle is truly worth going to!

7) If you do plan to get to go to the skywalk, make sure your car insurance is pretty premium b/c there are a lot of rocky small roads that you will need to travel on to get there & the rocks flicks all over your car chipping the paint (but thank goodness we were ok).

Anyway, here are the pics!

The very impressive Hoover Dam which you will have to go through to get to Grand Canyon South Rim. HD is about half hour out of Vegas


My Dream came true.. I'm one happy girl!


Desert View Stop - the window view from the souvenir shop
Imagine waking it up to it every single morning.. ahh.. I can only dream!


Inside the castle - What's left of the remains of American Indian drawings & chairs made from nature..



On the way back to our hotel we visited a nearby Lake in Williams. Mr M decided to catch some freshwater trout! ok I lied.. it was someone's catch :)


What a glorious sunset...(taken from our rental car)


Grand Canyon Hotel - where we stayed


Just like the wild wild west.. Cowboys & their guns
(this was a common Summer night's play free for all the tourists located in the heart of town where real bullets are fired up in the air by the actors)


It's off to dinner at Cafe 66. The best American grill in the country! excuse the pun :)


oh looking at the meal still makes me salivate.. everything was good on those plates.. the softest but yet hikory smoked ribs, sweetest corn, softest bun! While Mr M had the Friday night's special that is.. drum roll... ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT fish & chips.. their batter was really good too! Made from their local beer that the cafe brews in house! It was fantastic! The live band was like the icing on the cake to a perfect final night at Grand Canyon :)


Sat 15th Aug
On our way back to Vegas...
We took a small road as a detour to the Skywalk (and boy did we regret it.. we were the only ppl in the middle of no where driving on the dirt road and I tell you, we created so much dust at the back that it looked like a fire was happening from afar (no kid!)





The View of Lake Mead from the end of Pierce Ferry Road


On our way back to Vegas - just about to go through Hoover Dam again.
Driving on the wrong side of the road just seems so... wrong!
Luckily Mr M only went on the wrong side of the road once throughout the whole time. Mrs M over here had to scream in hysterics so that Mr M could quickly reverse in time before the on coming car hits us! LOL!