My four-year old and I followed O to Phoenix, Arizona in late August for a short weekend trip. My husband was there Monday through Friday for work, and we joined Thursday night. Tickets were through AA at about $300/roundtrip. After a morning swim in the 100 degree Friday weather (glorious) and visiting a train-themed playground in Scottsdale, we left Phoenix and headed to northern Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. O extended the rental and booked a hotel in Tusayan. The drive was neat. The immeasurable amount of “cacti!!” near Phoenix suddenly change to lush pine forests in northern Arizona with the higher elevation.
Oh, before leaving Scottsdale, we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant, then grabbed Alien Donuts and Coffee Cartel coffee for the drive north. Big hit with the four-year old.
On Saturday morning, we spent some time in the Grand Canyon Village, which was 15 minutes from the hotel in Tusayan. Pictures from the edge:
We then decided (spontaneously) to drive the four hours from Tusayan to make it to the Grand Canyon Skywalk on the western side of the park. We stopped by the Visitor Center and retrieved maps. We also asked about stopping by Supai to see the blue waterfalls (the havasupai falls), but sadly were told they required reservations and were booking a month in advance. Highly recommend looking into these reservations. We wish we did.
We drove the four hours through the desert after forgetting our car chargers and barely made it to the Skywalk on time. It was extremely expensive at $80/adult and $65/kid to walk the bridge and sight see, but it was a great experience and beautiful views on this particular reservation. No regrets!
We hiked a little, too, which was a little terrifying with a four-year old near a canyon. We were not allowed to take any pictures on the Skywalk bridge. But the hike ended up being nice.
It was late when we drove back to Tusayan, but we took the extra 20 minutes to drive along Route 66. We so enjoyed the route- highly recommend. We stopped the car and viewed the starlit sky. Just incredible.
On our way back to Phoenix airport on Sunday, we tried to stop in Sedona to eat lunch at a restaurant with views of the red rocks. After sleeping in a bit, we ended up in Flagstaff at a diner called “The Place” off of Route 66, which was still pretty cool.
Lessons learned:
1) book closer to Grand Canyon National Park
2) book reservations at havasupai falls in advance
3) Take route 66 at all times anytime you can
4) Make time to stop by Sedona and eat lunch at one of the restaurants with stunning views of red rocks
Happy travels!
Big Families Can Travel Too 