The Grand Canyon

Late Friday afternoon, depart from Phoenix and drive two hours to Flagstaff via I-17. Arrive and settle into your hotel (may I recommend the Hotel Monte Vista?), then go explore Historic Downtown Flagstaff. Indulge in some of this stuff.

Early Saturday morning, depart from Flagstaff and drive the additional two to two and a half hours to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Enjoy a late breakfast or early lunch in El Tovar’s dining room. If you’d like to stay at El Tovar, plan your trip early and make your reservations well in advance. If you can’t stay right on the rim, chain hotels such as Best Western and Quality Inn are five to ten minutes away from the South Rim entrance. Take the afternoon to explore the short day trails such as the Rim Trail and the Bright Angel Trail. Enjoy the sunset over the canyon, and linger outside the lodge to see the stars come out.

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Frenchman's Bay as seen from Acadia National Park in Maine.

My husband and I have discovered that we really, really enjoy visiting National Parks. We find ourselves going back again and again to our favorite places, and searching out the National Parks in the states that we visit on vacation. We enjoy taking advantage of the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) recreational opportunities. And every time we’ve entered the various parks, we’ve paid the full day-use fee per vehicle.

As you can expect, that can add up to quite a bit of dough.

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Ah, nature

You’re looking at Wimbach Gorge in the Berchtesgaden National Park in Germany’s Free State of Bavaria and it’s awesome. You probably noticed that.

This is a Wordless Wednesday entry with a few words RIGHT NEXT TO IT!

Photo by adventurephotography.dk via Flickr

The Presidents of Rock

It seems that someone should say something here about how far-fetched National Treasure 2 was, but I’m going to let it slide. You probably didn’t see it.

Mount Rushmore, on the other hand has seen a lot. Located near Keystone, South Dakota, the National Park and memorial are visited by over 2 million tourists per year. That’s a lot of souvenirs.

For more family-friendly travel photos visit DeliciousBaby’s Photo Fridays.

Photo by Mike Tigas via Flickr