Debs Best Road Trip – Week 2

This road trip is full of “firsts” and will check off various bucket list items… some I’ve had for years, others just got added to the list while planning! 

• First marathon
• First time taking my RV for a multi week road trip
• First time in New Mexico
• First time visiting the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.
• First time Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona 

If you haven’t yet, I invite you to read about my first adventures –  Debs Best Road Trip – Week 1 – before continuing!  

Day 7 – We arrived at the Grand Canyon after dark – so seeing the actual canyon was just going to have to wait until tomorrow!

Day 8 – Grand Canyon Bucket List 

It had been a full week since the marathon and I really had to get a short run in.  I headed out, fully expecting to get a few solid miles in, but wasn’t 5 minutes in when we found interesting visitors at the campground.  These two where just meandering thru the campsites.  I am not sure what my dog was thinking… he stared at them, but didn’t bark.  I think he was confused!

This sidetracked my running for a bit, so I basically walked a mile with the dog. but since we didn’t have to be at our first adventure until 11:30, I dropped the dog off and went for a decent run. Then off we went to take our helicopter ride…. or so we thought.

Turns out, they were not flying due to low clouds so after watching the safety video and waiting for about 20 minutes, they rescheduled us for late afternoon.  They warned us that we were going to have to rush back from our Hummer Tour and suggested that we try to get that scheduled for an earlier time. Good thing we went and checked, because the people at the Hummer Tour told us there was no way we would get back in time – so back to the airport to reschedule the helicopter tour we went!

Being the easy-going, flexible types, we just decided to have lunch and see the canyon before returning to our tour.  Finally… shortly before 1PM, I checked off “seeing the Grand Canyon”… and what a beautiful site it is. The gallery below is of the pictures I took both then and during our amazing tour with Trey at Buck Wild Hummer Tours.

As we started the tour, there were three of us and one seat in the back row and two in the very front row behind the driver.  As we were discussing who would sit alone in the back, the tour guide offered shotgun! Of course, I took him up on that.  Great way of getting more information from him – not sure if he was sick of my questions by the end!

Day 9 – Helicopter Checked Off List

The low hanging clouds of the previous day were a blessing in disguise as Tuesday we were blessed with perfect weather to fly over the Grand Canyon. 

For anyone who hasn’t done one of these tours let me explain how they coordinate it.  When you check in, each person is asked to step on a scale. They assign you seats based on weight to balance the aircraft.  They do not guarantee that you will be sitting together (so much so that they tried to put a mother/daughter we were talking to on two different flights!).

You can also pay additional money to sit in the front seat next to the pilot, so imagine my surprise when I was assigned shotgun!!!! The experience was amazing. I don’t like flying, and now I can say helicopters are no better than airplanes…. I still don’t like flying. 

The experience was exhilarating… and the views… well the pictures and video do not do it justice. Riding a helicopter – checked off the bucket list!

Once we were done, we had to rush back and hit the road.  Since Desert View has RV parking, we made one last Grand Canyon stop to see the amazing Desert View Watchtower built in 1932.  After some lunch in the parking lot, we headed off for a couple hour drive north to Lake Powell. 

As we left the Grand Canyon, I felt like I had reached the climax of my trip… I finished the “real” bucket list items – those things I had thought about for years.  Now we were headed to some things I just thought would be cool as I figured out a route to Vegas then home. 

I am not going to write too much about how wrong I was BUT the most beautiful and awe-inspiring moments were yet to come. The beauty of the landscape as we drove into our campsite at Lake Powell is hard to describe with words.  After setting up, I searched for high ground to watch the sunset… I don’t know word to describe this beauty, so I will just share the pictures and not even try.

Day 10 – Floating the Colorado River

Our next adventure started in a school bus… driving thru a two mile downhill tunnel to the base of the Glen Canyon Dam.  There we were “issued” hardhats to descend down a long ramp to board our rafts for the day (we did take off the hardhats – didn’t have to float with them!). 

We had the best guide on the river — at one point he pulled out a guitar and played for us right there on the water, which is not something I expected to happen on a float trip. We stopped along the way at the old American Placer Corporation office, dated 1911 according to the sign, and got to actually get off the rafts at a few points. Found some petroglyphs and a lizard along the banks too. Three and a half hours on the water, and I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole time.

Day 11 – Horseshoe Bend from Above, Antelope Point, and an Extra Night

We went up to Horseshoe Bend to see it from above — the same stretch of river we’d floated down the day before, just from a completely different angle.

From there we made our way around to Antelope Point and took in all the color.

We liked Lake Powell and Glen Canyon so much that we decided to stay an extra night. We’d originally planned to head to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon next, but with cold, possibly snowy weather in the forecast, we extended our stay here instead and took the tour of Glen Canyon Dam, where they walk you through the turbines and the whole electrical operation.

After the dam tour, we hit the road for Vegas, and that night we just walked the Strip.

Day 14 – Packing Up, Heading to Bryce

Maurine flew home yesterday, and Deliss and I squeezed one more night out of Vegas, hitting the Strip again just the two of us. Now we’re packing up the RV and pointing north toward Bryce Canyon. We’ll only have a few hours there today, but if it’s anything like what everyone says, it might just rival the Grand Canyon. More soon!

Update: Week 3 is here! Read about one more night in Vegas, sunset at Bryce Canyon, an accidental wine country day in Palisade, and the long drive home — Debs Best Road Trip – Week 3.