So the morning of Friday 14^th November arrived a bit quicker than we’d hoped. It felt like we’d only just arrived at the house in Tubac and now we had to be off again. The idea of packing up again was really not all that appealing. In truth it was only the terrible thought of NOT seeing the Grand Canyon on this trip that spurred us on.

We had to literally drag the kids out of the house. William has been sat staring at the hummingbird feeder for hours at a time – there is not a breed of hummingbird he doesn’t know or immediately recognize and his knowledge of all things hummingbird related is really quite impressive!!

We squeezed as much as we could into the boot of the BMW 3 series that Motorwerks had lent us with the kids balanced precariously on piles of bedding in the back. Back up to Tucson, queuing through Border control. (Tubac is just north of the border town of Nogales so every time you head north out of town you have to go through border control clutching your passport to prove you are not an illegal immigrant!!).

We got to the Cruise America depot and were introduced to our new RV. All seemed pretty straightforward. It was much wider than Frankie, which gave a sense of much more space. There was a table and chairs for the kids to sit round or on the sofa while we were driving which was great.

Our initial thoughts were that this van was better configured than Frankie. Sadly in Frankie the kids have to sit in the only 2 forward facing seats where the seatbelts are, so they can’t sit at the table or even more importantly sit ‘apart’ from each other which leads to a lot of fighting and therefore a lot of idle threats and shouting from us!!

A huge double bedroom at the back felt like complete luxury until it came to kids bedtime… We drove 6 straight hours pausing only to do the world’s quickest supermarket shop and arrived at the canyon campsite at 10pm. The kids were bundled into pyjamas and shoved up onto the double bed above the cab and we hoped they’d immediately fall asleep. Nooooo!! William hated it and after an hour of negotiation he and I ended up in the double room at the back and John and Charlie on the bed above the cab!!

The oh so sensitive and effective carbon monoxide alarm woke us all up twice in the space of 20 minutes for no apparent reason at midnight!! Then best of all we were all awake at 6am, freezing and exhausted as despite the very effective black out curtains at all the windows (which Cruise America proudly show off on their online video tour) the 3 roof lights in the van have no blind at all. So we were all wide-awake when the sun came up!!

Aside from having close to no actual equipment in the van – we brought our own dustpan and brush, saucepans and cutlery etc. – I hadn’t realised how ‘used’ to Frankie we all were. No toaster, no grill so no marmite and toast for breakfast. By 8am we were all swearing about how much we hated the hire van and how much we missed Frankie.

The temperature was truly unbelievable given how warm it had been in Moab not all that far from here just 5 days ago, let alone how balmy Tubac was. So when we woke to snow we were very glad we’d purchased those woolly hats a few weeks back!!  So we got our hats, scarves and gloves on as well as at least 4 layers and headed off for our first sight of the Grand Canyon.

I have to be honest here and say that the 3 days of breaking down and being towed across state, followed by the hassle and cost of hiring a crappy RV, then driving 400 odd miles back the way we’d already been towed 2 days previously had left us all more than a little despondent about the ‘Grand Canyon’. I mean honestly, as Charlie said “We’ve seen loads of canyons recently – what’s so ‘grand’ about this one?!”

Well once we’d hauled ourselves out of bed and into the cold, visited the Visitor Centre and wandered out to Mather’s Point for our first glimpse we knew. I cried. Now I accept I am over emotional and prone to cry at anything. But truly it is unbelievable. It doesn’t feel real. Looks like a huge painting. And that was just one tiny perspective of a tiny amount of the 270 odd mile long canyon. Crazy!!

Mind blowing facts about the Canyon… It is 1 mile deep, 18 miles wide, 277 miles long and the 5 million people a year that visit each year obviously agree it is rather ‘Grand’. It covers an area of 1,217,403 acres and can be seen from space! It is home to 75 types of mammals, 50 kinds of reptiles & amphibians, 25 species of fish and more than 300 types of birds the most exciting of which being the California condors that are thriving here. Spotted a lot of wildlife here that we had already ticked off but did hear a ‘first’. Riding the shuttle buses around the park we suddenly stopped due to a load of cars parked on the verges on both sides of the road. This seems to happen a lot in all the parks we’ve visited. People get very over excited at a glimpse of some wild animal and abandon their cars so they can get out to take pictures! The bus driver radioed through to the control room to inform them that we’d be delayed and blamed it on an ‘Elk Jam’. Love it!

We wandered along the rim of the canyon cursing the fact that we hadn’t arrived in summer and were able to truly explore it at our leisure perhaps by raft along the mighty Colorado River. Or maybe by hiking down to the canyon floor to camp there overnight. Although this of course would have necessitated the purchase of a tent as Frankie would not have made it down there.

Now I know we are all a little over sensitive to heights but we were absolutely gob smacked by the number of people wandering off the paths to perch themselves on the smallest of rocks for a photo opp. Stepping over fences to sit, legs swinging over the canyon walls. What is wrong with these people!! It got to the stage where we couldn’t even look!!

We went to a ranger led programme and learnt all about how the canyon was formed. Incredibly it is only 500 odd million years younger than earth itself!! We attended a ranger programme and learnt all about how it was formed. DUDE – deposition, uplift, deep cut & erosion. So now you know!! Then we visited the Yavapai Geology museum and met a fascinating Ranger there that told us all sorts of brilliant stories about the canyon. We had thought to do the Bright Angel Trail the next day thinking it was ‘the’ hiking trail. But he assured us that the South Kaibab Trail took you down into the canyon offering far more of an experience. So that was what we decided on!!

Sunday morning we filled our camelbaks and headed off down this most treacherous and narrow of trails. Signs everywhere warned of dehydration and imminent death. We decided these were perhaps more aimed for summer hikers. We did however, heed the signs that pointed out ‘going down is optional, going up is essential’. In truth it put us off descending as far as we would have liked and were capable of. We got as far as Cedar Point where we saw mules and their passengers having a breather on the way back up. Honestly do not know how anyone would even consider taking on these tiny narrow trails on top of a horse/ mule. It must be terrifying.

Charlie has earnt himself the nickname Billy Elliot when we are out walking. In his own personal ‘parkour’ like workout he insists on jumping, spinning and launching himself off anything and everything on the trails. Obviously this is fine on flat paths but not so great on 5’ wide trails with a mile drop on either side. He actually scared himself a couple of times with his pirouettes!! William however, is so transfixed by anything with wings that he spends a lot of time looking up instead of down at the path. So I wouldn’t say it was the most relaxing of hikes but it certainly offered the most incredible views of the canyon.

We rode the shuttle buses to Hopi Point in time for sunset. Stood at this great vantage point with 100’s of other people all snapping away. Stunning but a little crowded!

Then on our final morning the kids and I had a great jog along the rim trail which was a  much nicer way to say goodbye to the Canyon…  We are so very glad that we didn’t let a little thing like a busted gearbox prevent us from seeing the Grand Canyon. It was worth the hassle, expense and most of all the ignominy of driving a Cruise America RV!!