Grand Canyon

Can you believe I'm actually sharing pictures and writing about a trip right after it's happened, and not weeks later?! I almost can't believe it myself...but it's here! My trip to the Grand Canyon with my family. (Picture heavy, by the way!)

My aunt Jacque, cousins Brett and Alex, Brett's friend Robert, my brother Connor, my mom Shannon, my sister Suzanne, and her boyfriends cousin Jake headed to the Grand Canyon on Saturday for a quick day trip. (Vince was busy with a bike photo shoot for work to go. Lame!) My aunt and her posse were in town visiting and this was a good way to spend some time.

Connor, Brett, Robert, and Jake, all teenage boys, came in the car with me.

On the way out of town, we stopped at a gas station to get some snacks and they all loaded up on Mountain Dew and Monsters. I reminded them that we'd be in a car for an hour and a half and they all said their bladders could handle it, so I laughed and said 'Ok' as I put the car into drive.

Within 20 minutes a couple of the guys asked when the next bathroom was and I just laughed! We quickly stopped at a gas station. They didn't get new drinks, but they did continue drinking the ones they had, thinking they could make it to the Grand Canyon. I didn't think they'd be able to, though.

Sure enough, 20 minutes later they had to go. I'm pretty sure one of the boys was going to cry, it seemed like he had to go so bad! It was too funny. So we stopped again. Turns out everyone was hungry anyways so we stopped at McDonalds, where I had to sit and eat nothing while smelling delicious fries! Luckily I ate right before we left so I wasn't hungry. The guys all got giant sodas, so when we hit the road again, I figured they'd have to go to the bathroom soon, despite the fact that we were like 7 miles away.

And when we got to the Canyon? THEY HAD TO PEE. So bad, in fact, they couldn't wait to get to the bathroom so they just went behind a building in some bushes! I seriously thought I was going to die from inner laughter. (I didn't want to make them feel bad by laughing!)

Before we got to the canyon, we pulled into the visitors center, not knowing where to go. We assumed we could see the canyon from there, but we actually couldn't, or so we thought. After looking at the sign in the picture, I feel like we could have...

Instead of paying attention to the sign, we just walked towards the visitor's center.

After going into a pretty huge building and seeing that a boat was the only thing in there, we decided to skedaddle and find our destination.

The whole gang, minus me! It was kind of chilly, if you couldn't tell.

We eventually found our way to the giant hole in the ground and it was beautiful!

A couple of people in our group hadn't seen it before and they loved it. It was strange for me to be there and not hike, which is what I've always done when I've gone there, but it was fun to walk around the shops and hangout with my family. The guys definitely got a kick out of the binocular/telescope things at the 'Lookout Studio'.

Alex was so cute; he would be happy going to the edge and looking down over the wall, but when I wanted to take a picture with his back towards the canyon, he was so not having it! He was to scared. I understand though, when I took a picture with Suz with my back towards the canyon, I was scared myself!

Despite being surrounded by cactus, I went ahead and bought a little one to bring home to Vince as a souvenir. I wanted to bring him something Grand Canyon related, but most of the stuff they had was outrageously expensive or something that would just be junk that we don't need in our small home. I think it's cute though!

After walking around for a bit more, we headed back up the mountain to Flagstaff, passing some mules and seeing the snowy mountain from afar.

Once in town, the girls and Alex went and ate dinner at Cafe Ole. It was, of course, delicious!

Then we went swimming...er, hung out in the jacuzzi, before I went home.

Overall, it was a super fun trip! It was SO funny to be in a car full of teenage boys and listen to all the sex/drinking/gaming talk that they had to say. I forgot how competitive teenage boys are and how silly they can be!