{"id":3366,"date":"2014-09-01T10:16:20","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T15:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=3366"},"modified":"2014-11-24T22:24:12","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T03:24:12","slug":"grand-canyon-first-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/09\/grand-canyon-first-impressions.html","title":{"rendered":"Grand Canyon: First Impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Our<\/a>

Our first views of the Grand Canyon at the Desert View overlook were breathtaking.<\/p><\/div>\n

The day we stopped at Mesa Verde National Park<\/a> and the Four Corners Monument<\/a>, we had to eventually make it to the Grand Canyon campground<\/a>. It’s only about 5-6 hours worth of driving from Durango, but we made several stops. So we were hard pressed to get to the campsite with enough time to pitch our tents before dark.<\/p>\n

The drive itself on U.S. 160 west through the northern parts of the Navajo Nation wasn’t that interesting for a while. We’d hit a small town about every 20 miles.<\/p>\n

\"Just<\/a>

Just west of the Four Corners Monument on US 160.<\/p><\/div>\n

But with time the scenery began to improve, slowly but surely.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0048\"<\/a>

That’s Black Mesa towards the left of the photo. http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_Mesa_(Apache-Navajo_Counties,_Arizona)<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSC_0066\"<\/a>

We briefly had to travel from north to south\u00a0on U.S. 89 smack-dab through the Painted Desert. It’s very beautiful and reminded us of Badlands National Park in western South Dakota<\/a>. These rocks were more vivid.<\/p><\/div>\n

Once we turned westward on Arizona Route 64, we saw the stop for the Little Colorado River gorge scenic overlook<\/a>. This was also a fee-based area operated by the Navajo Nation, like the Four Corners Monument. This time it was only $5 per vehicle.<\/p>\n

The views are worth it. It was pretty windy when we were there, I remember.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0075\"<\/a>

This is the Little Colorado River Gorge. This is a mere fraction of the depth of the Grand Canyon, but for someone who hadn’t seen anything like this, it was still amazing.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSC_0084\"<\/a>

There was just a trickle of the Little Colorado River. It’s flowing westward (the water is heading away from you in this view) towards the main Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSC_0079\"<\/a>

The boys got a kick out of this sign.<\/p><\/div>\n

Just a few minutes later, we arrive at the Grand Canyon east gate. The woman who checked our Military National Park Pass said “You can get your first view of the canyon just around the corner!” so we stopped at the Desert View overlook.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>

We are very appreciative of our military National Park pass. Complimentary admission to all the national parks through the end of 2015!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Enjoying<\/a>

Enjoying our first views of the canyon at the Desert View overlook. It was mostly overcast on our arrival day, so we looked forward to seeing the vibrant colors later in our visit.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day we stopped at Mesa Verde National Park and the Four Corners Monument, we had to eventually make it to the Grand Canyon campground. It’s only about 5-6 hours worth of driving from Durango, but we made several stops. So we were hard pressed to get to the campsite with enough time to pitch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[523,544,541,522,545,542,543,537,546],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-Si","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3567,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/01\/june-july-vacation-summary.html","url_meta":{"origin":3366,"position":0},"title":"June\/July 2014 Vacation Summary","date":"01 January 15","format":false,"excerpt":"Our June\/July 2014 summer vacation to the American southwest was fun and filled with National Park goodness. We are grateful for\u00a0the National Park Service's \"Military Annual Pass\" program which saved us nearly $80 in entrance fees on this trip. Here's the summary of everything we did: Drive to Durango Durango\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"arizona\"","img":{"alt_text":"IMG_9830","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_9830-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3388,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/09\/grand-canyon-hermit-trail-hermits-rest.html","url_meta":{"origin":3366,"position":1},"title":"Grand Canyon: The Hermit Trail & Hermit’s Rest","date":"01 September 14","format":false,"excerpt":"We had made it clear to the boys that we would be hiking at least part of our two days at the Grand Canyon. I saw a list of family-friendly activities in the park summer guide. We chose the Junior Ranger Family Adventure Program, in which families can descend down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"grand canyon\"","img":{"alt_text":"Hermit's Rest is on the far western end of the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_9685-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3474,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/12\/grand-canyon-junior-ranger.html","url_meta":{"origin":3366,"position":2},"title":"Grand Canyon: Our Junior Ranger","date":"31 December 14","format":false,"excerpt":"Timmy earned his first National Park Service Junior Ranger badge while we were at the Grand Canyon. He was required to complete several age-appropriate activities in a workbook (which includes things like taking observations, coloring pictures, answering questions, and writing a poem about the park), attend an age-appropriate Ranger-led program,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"grand canyon\"","img":{"alt_text":"Timmy performed all the tasks to earn Junior Ranger. He then had to pledge to respect nature and the environment before earning his Junior Ranger badge.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/DSC_0277-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3281,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/07\/a-grand-canyon-preview.html","url_meta":{"origin":3366,"position":3},"title":"A Grand Canyon Preview","date":"29 July 14","format":false,"excerpt":"I \u00a0have several posts to write about our trip out west in June, but between my full time work and making sure the kids are squared away this summer, I've been quite slow. Feel free to browse these Grand Canyon photo albums and at the end of this post I'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"arizona\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/IMG_9772-1-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3377,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2014\/09\/grand-canyon-elk.html","url_meta":{"origin":3366,"position":4},"title":"Grand Canyon: Mather Campground Elk!","date":"01 September 14","format":false,"excerpt":"We arrived at our campsite with plenty of time to set up camp. We enjoyed a relaxing evening with a camp stove dinner (I can't remember what, probably burgers and hot dogs). We had to walk 1-2 campsites over to reach the restroom building. On one of our walks to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"elk\"","img":{"alt_text":"DSC_0113","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/DSC_0113-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3552,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/01\/utah-canyonlands-np.html","url_meta":{"origin":3366,"position":5},"title":"Utah Discoveries 5: Canyonlands National Park","date":"01 January 15","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a few miles up the road from Arches National Park is a turnoff that takes you about 25 miles to the northern entrance of Canyonlands National Park\u00a0(the Island in the Sky District). This park offers a completely different look at Utah's wilderness, with the Green and Colorado Rivers traversing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"canyonlands national park\"","img":{"alt_text":"Canyonlands National Park is incredibly underrated. Much of the park is accessible only via hiking, biking, rafting\/kayaking, or 4-wheel drive.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0716-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3426,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366\/revisions\/3426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}