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| Grand Canyon |
Accommodation:
Best Western Plus, Henderson - This is a fairly new, functional restaurant on Boulder Highway in Henderson. We selected it because we wanted something close to the REI in Henderson, where we were to pick up our camping equipment.
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| Bright Angel Lodge |
Phantom Ranch Campground, Grand Canyon - The campground is a bit less than 1/2 a mile from the river, on a turnoff between the black and silver bridges. The camp sites are arranged along the stream which was nice to have the white noise of the stream to keep things quiet in the evenings. It was also about 5 minutes away from the canteen. The camp sites don't have shower facilities, but do have a reasonably clean toilet block to use. For those who don't like tents, there are also bunk beds in dorm rooms that do have showers as well as private cabins that can be rented.
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| Phantom Ranch |
New York New York, Vegas - We were able to book rooms here at a reasonable price -- the rooms were nice and the location convenient on the strip.
Activities:
We arrived on time at the airport in Vegas and met up with John and JoAnna who were waiting for us at baggage claim. Keith and Kate were supposed to meet us about an hour later, but weather issues caused them to miss a connection so they had to spend the night in Detroit and fly out the next morning. So, the four of us headed to National Rent a Car to pick up the minivan John had arranged. We quickly checked into the hotel and then went out to grab a quick bite to eat since John and JoAnna had not had dinner. We drove around Henderson looking for something to eat, eventually stumbling upon BW3 in one of the strip malls. It was a quick feeding, then back to the hotel for bed.
Since Keith and Kate's flight did not land until 10:30am or so Saturday morning, we were able to sleep in a little bit, eating the free breakfast at the hotel. Unfortunately, since we arrived just before the end of breakfast there were slim pickings at the buffet. We then headed to the airport and did about 10 laps before Keith and Kate surfaced. We quickly headed back to Henderson to pick up our rented camping gear at the REI. Keith A had arranged tents, sleeping bags, pads, and sleeping bag covers for us. We had brought two huge duffel bags to put it all in so that the donkeys could walk it down the canyon for us. We all did a bit more shopping there: we bought new head torches and some more power bars in case the food was terrible. By then it was lunch time, so we headed over to the Whole Foods across the road for a quick lunch before starting the 5 hour drive to the Canyon.
We arrived at Bright Angel Lodge in the evening and immediately found a parking space right in front of the main lodge. Our cabins were immediately adjacent to the lodge, so we never moved the car again. After unloading all our stuff, and dropping the duffel bags for the donkeys, we all met at the Bright Angel Restaurant for dinner. It was an early night since we were to get up fairly early the next morning for the hike down.
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| Dinner at Bright Angel Lodge |
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| Start of the Hike - South Kaibab Trail |
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| Gang at Ooh Aah Point! |
The evening before we found out that a couple of bunks had opened up, so John and Jo snagged those and did not have to camp. After checking in, we all headed to the camp site to set up the tents. We tried to do it without reading directions - it was Kate who saved us from that reckless abandon and set us on the straight and narrow.
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| Campsite at Phantom Ranch |
Breakfast was served at 5:30am so we could get an early start on the trail. We woke up at 4:45am to dress and pack up the tents. After breakfast, we dropped off the duffel bags and headed to the Bright Angel Trail for the hike up. The hike was gorgeous with stunning views of the canyon along the way. We stopped a few times for bathroom/rest breaks. The last 2-3 miles of the trail had snow and ice so it was a bit slower going once we hit that section, trying our best not to slide all the way back down to the bottom! Our guess was that it would take us 6:30 hours to the top, and we did it in 6:25 - nailed it!
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| End of Hike - Bright Angel Trail |
After breakfast Tuesday morning back at the Bright Angel Restaurant, we loaded up the van and headed out. We stopped at a few of the sites on the way, including the Yavapai Observation Center and the official South Rim Visitors Center. We considered visiting the Skywalk, but came to the realization that it was about 2 hours away - no way!
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| Vegas Baby! |
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| Keith and Shawna at Grand Canyon |
Buffalo Wild Wings, Henderson - We first thought the place was closed it was so quiet. Typical chain restaurant fare, we just had a couple of beers while John and JoAnna had some appetizers.
Bright Angel Restaurant - We ate dinner and breakfast here before the hike. For dinner, we shared spaghetti with meatballs and fish tacos and for breakfast we had eggs and oatmeal. The restaurant is casual with decent food.
Phantom Ranch Canteen - We had beers, dinner, and breakfast here. While the beer selection was not exactly robust, they did have Budweiser and Tecate. Dinner was a hikers stew (we were worried this would turn into hikers revenge but it turned out to be quite good), complete with corn bread, salad, and chocolate cake. Breakfast was pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs, with copious amounts of coffee.
El Tovar, Grand Canyon - We ate dinner here after the hike to celebrate. The restaurant is really nice with a rustic decor. We started with the crab cakes and spinach salad and then shared one of the meat entrees for our main course.
Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas - Supposedly known to be one of the best Thai restaurants in the world, this place is located in a 'strip' mall off the beaten path. And by strip, we also mean that the other establishments in this area cater to stripping. While the location is not great, the food was phenomenal!! We ordered dishes that we had not had in other Thai places and totally enjoyed it.
For more photos of this trip:
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