Day 7

Sedona, Arizona to the Grand Canyon

113 miles logged

I woke feeling totally refreshed, recharged, and rejuvenated.  I had a great night’s sleep and opted for one last Peloton workout while the girls enjoyed their room service.  Brad even joined me for a little sweat session! We all got our final showers of the trip in our beautiful cabin at L’Auberge and headed back to the RV park to hook up Bandit for our second to final trek.  Charged on clean hair and Starbucks, I am actually excited to be back in the car.  It is just a short and very memorable drive to the Grand Canyon.  The girls have no idea that they are about to see one of the wonders of the world and I am so excited to show it to them! Sun in the sky and spirits are high! 

We made it to the Grand Canyon and docked the Bandit at one of the park’s RV corrals, Trailer Village; which was fairly empty seeing as how it is less than a week before Christmas and the middle of winter! We broke out the grill to char up some bison hot dogs and elk brats that I had purchased special order from a ranch out in Montana.  I heated up some buffalo chicken I made using Danielle Walker’s recipe and made a Cobb salad with vegan ranch dressing! I have the recipe linked here because you must try it, it’s incredible!

I was in maybe the best mood of the entire trip; maybe because we are only one day from seeing my parents, or maybe the sun in the sky, or the clean hair? 

Off to the canyon.  We layered up to see what awaited us on the Bright Angel Trail. 

The girls were in awe of the beauty and also a little scared as we headed down the trail.  We made it about a mile down and then took a few photos and then made our way back up.  Up is significantly harder than down but Ayla was practically running up the trail.

The last time Brad and I were here, I caught the flu and we didn’t get to hike the trail at all! Once we made it back to the top, we loaded back into Smokey to see some of the other lookout points on the Rim Trail.  Our favorite lookout point was Maricopa; It was breathtaking and the girls were able to get some cool pictures on their Canon Ivy self printing cameras for their trip journals.  

We made it back to the Bandit, turned the heat up, put on some soft clothes and turned in for a night of turkey chili, with all the fixings, of course. (Find the recipe here on my membership site). Paired with the chili, a little 2016 Dalmau Rioja, one of my all time favorites, and some quality family relaxation.  

Looking forward to an early wake up to see the sunrise!