We had such a nice time with dinner last night, we decided to have a breakfast picnic this morning. Well, that and the Motor Inn Motel didn't have free breakfast, nor did it have a place in our room for 7 of us to eat breakfast. While the kids ate, I loaded up the roof of the van, chowed down on some cereal, and then we were off relatively early. We only had one stop planned for today, and it was a big one. Grand, you might even say - the Grand Canyon! Aside from that, it was all car time today.
Our trip to the South Rim was relatively uneventful, but we did drive into and through some more thunderstorms. At one point, the car thermometer read 58 degrees, the lowest temperature we saw on the entire trip. We had just entered the Grand Canyon park when it was time for my 9am meeting, but my reception was so bad that I only managed to stay in my meeting for about 2 minutes before I lost my connection completely. I had another meeting scheduled for 9:30 which was much more important that I attend, but I was a little nervous. Luckily, we got up to the Desert View pullout and I had about 3 bars of 4G data, more than enough for my meeting! The kids got out and admired the scenery during the beginning of my meeting, and I got out when they were finished. I'm not sure if anyone has ever taken a work meeting in a remote, scenic, gorgeous location, but it's something I'd recommend. The views were breathtaking!
After my meeting, we continued on to the visitor's center, parked, and watched an interesting, educational film on the canyon. Afterwards, we walked out to Mather Point, took a few pictures, and then "hiked" the smooth, paved, partially-shaded 0.7 miles down to Yavapai Point. After a few more pictues and a look around the Yavapai museum, we took a shuttle back to the visitor's center, hit the bathroom, and we were off. Destination: Lake Havasu City, my hometown.
Our trip to Havasu was also uneventful, which honestly is great. I'm ecstatic at how great things have gone on this trip. The one remarkable thing was when the temperature started to creep up. And it just kept creeping up! The highest we noticed was 109 degrees, which makes today both the lowest and the highest temperature days, and they both happened in the same state - Arizona. I'm genuinely surprised! We made great time today, making it into town at 4:30 after clocking in 400 miles.
Other than unpacking, the goal for today was to spend as much time as we could with my mom, sister, and niece and nephew. Well, and grocery shop, get laundry going, and burn off some of the kids' energy after sitting in the car for so long. But mostly visiting. The Airbnb we rented came with a pool (and about a mile-long list of rules, regulations, and thinly-veiled threats), so we made good use of it! Me and all the kids jumped in and spent hours in the pool, having a blast. "K" ran to the grocery store while I tried to keep all the heads above water, and she brought back a bunch of fresh fruit and pizza for dinner. Yum!