Family Road Trip from Tucson to The Grand Canyon
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| Bass Pro Shops - Phoenix, Arizona |
After a fairly early start, well as early as we could get two teenagers moving without a death wish! We made our way to Phoenix Arizona. With the most exiting of all stops for our two keen fisherman. What an experience a Bass Pro store is!
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| Bass Pro Shops - Welcome Fishermen, Hunters and Other Liars - Phoenix, Arizona |
This store is unfathomably large! We do come from a small regional center so maybe it's extra amazing for us, but still it is huge. There is a separate gift shop inside the shop, a fish tank, and elevator, a gun library and more taxidermy animals than I have ever seen before.
For those not interested, like the other teen, there is also a Raising Cane's just across the carpark. Just incase you have not quite eaten your body weight in fried chicken yet. Just be careful, this country is not designed to walk. You have to walk in the driving lanes or in the garden to get there. We found this in almost all large shopping areas. It is clearly designed to drive from one store to another even though you can see it across the parking lot.
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| Dewey-Humbolt Town, Arizona |
The copilot spotted a faster and less driven road, so we stumbled upon this cute little town. We hadn't heard of Dewey-Humbolt Town but drove past it on the main road (AZ-69) and thought it was worth a quick stop. Unfortunately most of the shops were closed but it was a neat little place to stretch you legs and have a look around. Sadly this change in direction meant we missed out on visiting Flagstaff, which I had been looking forward to. I didn't realize until much too late, and with a long drive day I did not want to double back. Another case of next time!
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| Almost at the Grand Canyon, Arizona |
You wouldn't think that there was anything there, looking at the last photo. But we were nearly at the The Grand Canyon. The roads look (and feel!) like they just go on straight for miles and miles. I didn't take a photo which was a pity but we stopped at a roadside stall selling buffalo jerky. Two of our crew love jerky and couldn't resist trying it.
Tip: Only buy what you can eat! We had to leave the rest behind with family in Texas as we were not able to bring it to Europe or take it home to NZ.
And finally we made it! All the way to The Grand Canyon! Well Tusayan, where we were staying the night. We quickly checked into the motel and headed straight for an evening look around to see what we could find for dinner.
Big E Steakhouse looked good but was closed, as were most of the other restaurants. We didn't want to have McDonald's so went with the restaurant in the motel. It was a little average. The service was fine the location was very convenient and it was warm. The warmth was great as it was freezing cold outside. To be expected really at altitude in winter! The meal and one drink each, a beer, hot chocolate and two sodas) came to NZ$215.02 (US$124.71 / €116.11). Not terrible for a restaurant meal but expensive for the quality of the food.
Motel was good, spacious room and parking, with a balcony that overlooked an inside garden/restaurant area which was closed. The bed was not very comfortable but the price was good considering the location at NZ$191.12 (US$110.85 / €103.20) for one night. This is one of the few places we only spent one night. Not ideal but so much to see and so little time!
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| Early Morning, The Grand Canyon, Arizona |
First thing the next morning we were packed and ready to go exploring. A quick breakfast stop at McDonald's which was alarmingly expensive, maybe due to the location? Three breakfast combos and I ordered an apple pie and a hot chocolate from the cheaper snack menu. This cost NZ$75.75 (US$43.94 / €40.91). A similar breakfast in NZ would be a little over half the price.
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It was very cold (December) so if you are coming during winter time remember some extra warm clothes! There was thankfully a coffee shop so we could get a nice warm drink to warm our hands and insides. We learned that New Zealanders say caramel latte a little different to Americans, and even then there seems to be two very different ways Americans say it too...we got what we wanted in the end!
The perk of coming in winter is the peacefulness. It was very quiet with plenty of parking and you are allowed to self drive all over the place. No waiting for shuttles for us! We did not have appropriate winter hiking gear with us so stuck to the wider easily accessible trails.
After spending time at the South Rim we headed east following the canyon round, taking many more stops and even seeing some wildlife. More on that in the next Post!
Total Cost of Road Trip from Tucson to The Grand Canyon
The rental car is 1 day of a 14 day car rental. The activity cost is the America the Beautiful Pass we bought to enter The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Bryce National Park. I could split it in 3 but I guess that is splitting hairs at this point.
I hope this information was helpful, more soon!