The Grand Canyon

After the funeral in Phoenix on July 14, we headed up to Northern Arizona to the small town of Prescott Valley where Ross' parents and brother's family live.  His brother, Craig, was out of the country with his family for the funeral, so we were unable to visit with them, but we did have a nice stay at Ross' parent's home for a couple of nights.



On Monday,  July 16 it was time to head for home.  The boys had soccer tournaments to play in.  We decided to make a pit stop on our way to the Grand Canyon.  I had never officially visited, Ross hadn't been since he was small, and the boys are always pretty willing to check another National Park off of their list.

It was a peaceful and beautiful drive to the canyon - mostly because Quinn and Wyatt rode with Ross' parents.  Ha!  It was just a pretty quiet drive for me, Ross and Elliott.  As we were entering the park, we got hit by a torrential hail storm and I really thought all hopes of seeing the canyon were dashed.  But, the storm cleared up, we saw a few elk on the drive, and it turned into a cool-ish, humid-ish, sweaty-ish morning to view the Canyon.

There wasn't a lot to eat at the visitor center we were at, and Ross led the group on one extra long walk to an overlook that we didn't actually look at, but it was a great time.

On the shuttle bus riding from an overlook to the main visitor center, there was a Latino guy singing, "You got what I need" by Biz Marke.  It was fun to listen to.  As the song approached the chorus, and as we neared the area to unload the bus, a very large and in charge white guy (he may have been wearing a BYU hat?) shouted out, in tune, "Oh baby you!  You got what I need!".  I laughed so hard!  It was one of those moments where I was ready for the whole bus to burst into song, like in a movie.  Alas, no one sang.

After the Grand Canyon, we parted ways with the Howden's and headed to Kanab, Utah to spend the night and then drive home the next morning, arriving in time for soccer practice of course.