50 States Before They Graduate: Grand Canyon, Arizona

On our path to the Grand Canyon, we came across an overlook of Lake Powell. It was just beautiful. The littles and I played with the rocks up top, while my husband climbed a little lower and left our mark. The littles all wanted to climb down, but it looked a little steep to me, so Daddy had all the fun.

After that brief pit stop, we headed on to the Grand Canyon. The directions took us through Utah and back into Arizona to enter at the North Rim. Check the National Park Service site to make sure you enter from the side that offers what you want and is open when you’re visiting. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we took our time on the trails. Because some of the trails were narrow and all of the drop offs steep, we were very careful as we walked around with our littles. My husband held two of our littles hands, I held my oldest’s hand, and wore my youngest in the ergo. Considering their excitement and young ages, we didn’t expect them to be conscious of their own safety. We opted to hold their hands to prevent any accidents. When we needed both hands to take photos, we’d have them hold onto us. They got used to these restrictions within a few minutes and we all had a great time!

But, you shouldn’t always stick to the trail, right? We did a little climbing near the trail and got even more excellent views of the canyon. The canyon was simply breathtaking.  My husband and I had been to the Grand Canyon before with friends and were so excited to share it with our littles. We weren’t disappointed and neither were they. It was simply a great time spent exploring God’s amazing creation. As an added layer of fun, we’d been reading Brighty of the Grand Canyon on our trip, so the littles had fun seeing Bright Angel Point.

We hope to return one day when our crew is much older for more of the fun the canyon offers, like river trips, mule trips, or backpacking. But, we’re so glad we went now too, so they could be impressed by the size when they’re so small: “It’s awesome! It’s so huge! You can’t even see the Colorado River!” (thanks CC! 😉 )

Want to see more of our travels? Check out the Travel tab up top for all 50 States Before They Graduate posts.