.day.FIFTEEN.

Sunday morning we arose at the crack of dawn to pack up and drive off. Okay, maybe it was more like 8am when we got up, took showers in Aunt Rose Marie's house, ate another scrumptious breakfast, said our goodbyes and finally pulled out around 9am.

Our first stop, a whole 3 minutes away, was..... you guessed it, priority #1! :) The required caffeine for the day was supplied and we were off and running {ok - we drink decaf but that's besides the point! Lol}.

Onward towards the Grand Canyon we journey! And what a good brother this is, helping to entertain his younger siblings while we drive, drive, drive and drive some more!

We stopped to grab some groceries for lunch in Flagstaff, AZ and sheez, we were in for a temperature change! My apparel to run into the Sprouts changed just a bit. lol And I wanted to make sure you had a complete picture of adjustments necessary.

{top half w/ warm winter parka, not donned since the first few days of the trip}

{bottom half - still donning beloved flip flops, not giving in to cold weather}

We finally arrived that the masterpiece known as Grand Canyon! 

First stop....restrooms! We then descended upon the Visitors Center to check things out.

One of our favorite things to do is to have our National Parks Passport book stamped at every park we go to.

We then took the path for the rim trail and headed towards the Canyon.

While we were there, when driving away and days later, our brilliant chauffeur kept referring to the Canyon as just so "GRAND!" Original, right? lol

This picture is one in a million - particularly because Grandma HATES, DESPISES AND DETESTS heights! Was that strong enough? lol So we backed her up as close to the railing as she would go so Kevin could quickly snap this picture before she bolted forward.

But I guess the driver was somewhat correct.... it was pretty and magnificent and something that pictures just don't do justice to! The shear extravagance elicits the same response in me as the Tetons did, I just want to shout Praise the Lord! <3

{And Esther shall be known by her feet - only! lol}

One of the other fun things that took place in the Grand Canyon was our own personal treasure hunt. You see, friends of ours, the Wytsma Family, were on a similar trip but a bit ahead of us. So they had the idea to hide a couple things that we could find as we followed them to the same parks. Grand Canyon was the first spot for us to find something. After we left the main Grand Canyon rim trail, we got back in the motor home to go find our treasure. They had left it at a lodge named Bright Angel. It happened to be the ONLY lodge where a motor home could NOT park at! So the driver graciously dropped off the big boys and I and kept circling around until we were done. Thankfully the Wytsma's had passed on some good clues so it didn't take all that long to discover the treasure. And the best thing is that it was STILL there and no one had found it before us! :)

We then headed out of the park and to our camp site for the night, which was another 3 hours away. But we'll definitely find ourselves at the Grand Canyon again in the future. There was so much to see and do, it was overwhelming!

We all laugh throughout our adventure because this is Grandmas favorite spot to be. Remember Grandma is 74 years old!!! Here's why... Here in the passenger seat she can plug her phone in (note white cord) while texting her friends a and sister at the same time! Lol She gets very concerned when her phone gets 'low' on battery (ie. 30 or 40%)! Did I say she's 74????

And here's what we do to pass the driving time when the driver can keep us on smooth roads. 

Tomorrow.... Bryce Canyon, an almost prank and another treasure hunt! :)