Grand Canyon Weekend Vacation

We woke up Friday morning early around 3:30AM!  Our flight departed Love Field in Dallas at 6:20AM and landed in El Paso.  Jeff had found a flight that we could stay on and from El Paso, it would go Phoenix, AZ.  After we landed, the pilot stated it would be a full flight and he needed to see a few people.  I knew he was calling non-rev customers.  He starts calling names and I'm hoping with my fingers crossed he doesn't call any of us!  Yet, all of a sudden, he calls Jakob!!  Jakob was really excited and said, "They called my name!" Jeff went up and shortly after we all got off the plane since obviously we could not fly without Jakob!  They have all of the non-rev people in a list on the computer and we were the top group.  They had exactly three seats available and we needed four for all of us.  The attendant then realizes again that Jeff is an employee and mentions he could ride fourth in a flight attendant seat.  It was super nice of them to let Jeff fly on that seat so we all could get there on that flight!  I knew the plane would be really full getting back on it since we were one of the last ones to get on board.  I saw two seats in separate rows but together and grab them.  Jakob did well on the plane and played his game a little.  I could tell near the end he was ready to get off the plane.  I'm sure it was a little different not sitting directly next to either Jeff or me, but overall I think he did fine and didn't appear to annoy the other two people next to him!  I was glad I grabbed those two seats since once we sat down other people were still debating where to sit.

We landed in Phoenix, AZ at 7:20AM (their time) and took the shuttle to get our car.  Shortly after arriving at the Rental Car Center, we had our car and were on our way toward the Grand Canyon.  We stopped on the way to get snacks and then eat lunch as we drove to the Grand Canyon.  It is about three-four hours from the Phoneix area to the Grand Canyon.

Once we arrived at the Grand Canyon, we purchased a few waters and began admiring the beauty of it all!  We started walking east around the edge and took many pictures along the way!  We walked and walked until we came to the end of one side and then took the bus back to the visitor center.  The Grand Canyon had three different color paths and we had finished the green path.  After we returned to the visitor center, we took the bus on the blue path.  We found a gift shop once we got off the bus before walking east again.  Jakob and Roland both bought hats and shirts.  I found a scrapbook and a pink hat with a shirt.  Jeff found a few t-shirts.

We stayed in Williams, AZ on Friday.  It is about an hour south of the Grand Canyon.  After leaving the Grand Canyon, we had a few snacks in the car but decided we would eat at the Pizza Hut in Williams near our hotel.  We did not realize until Saturday that it was really two hours behind CST, so by the time we got to Pizza Hut it was really 9:00PM to us!  I laugh because Jakob was exhausted and was pretty much asleep after eating a few pieces of pizza!

We woke up Saturday morning and had breakfast at our hotel.  It was a really nice continental breakfast including cereal, muffins, waffles, fruit, juice, and milk.  After breakfast, we finished packing up and checked out of the hotel.  We headed south to Phoenix to meet Jeff's uncle for lunch.  We arrived at his house around 11:00AM and had a nice lunch together.  After lunch, we had intentions of going to a Sea Life place that I thought would be like the Dallas World Aquarium.  However, it was a small attraction inside Arizona Mills.  The mall was designed the same as Grapevine Mills and the tourist attraction for Sea Life was not worth the $20/person price!  I was quite disappointed and we walked around the mall and then went to check into our hotel near the airport.

We relaxed at the hotel for a little while before heading out for dinner.  It was really hot in Phoenix.  The temperature for the weekend was 105.  Even though they do not have humidity, it was still really hot in Phoenix!  I was pretty worn out from the overall day at the Grand Canyon.  After watching some television, we went out for dinner.  We found an Applebees and then comically we went to a nearby Costco for ice cream!

Once we finished we went back to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  We had an early morning flight to catch out of Phoenix to Houston.  Our flight left the next morning at 7:00AM.  We were able to easily non-rev the flight with plenty of seats available. We landed in Houston at 11:35AM CST.  We were able to eat lunch at the airport before our connecting flight to Dallas.  Our next flight left Houston shortly after 12:30PM.  The flight from Houston to Dallas was really short and Jakob slept most of that flight!  I told him before getting on the plane he was taking a nap!  He was exhausted and at the point where he was hyper-silly!  I wish I could have gotten a picture of him because once he fell asleep, he was OUT!  He even slept through the entire landing and did not wake up until our plane stopped at the gate.

Overall, it was a really fun weekend and great experience.  Here are a few of many pictures I took from the trip!