Hole in the ground tour - Arizona
I am not saying that Arizona is a hole in the ground but it has a few famous ones, so that is what I nicknamed this vacation.
The ones we saw were:
The one we almost saw was lava river cave tube, technically it is open year round, but in the spring and summer months you can use a forest service road to drive to it and then you have about a 3/4 mile hike. If the road is closed it is a 4 1/2 mile hike, it was in our plan to see at the end of April, but the road was still closed. As we drove past the closed road we did see some random small piles of snow in Flagstaff. I think it would have been cool (pun intended) since the cave stays between 32-44 degrees year round.
Sunset Crater, Montezuma Castle, and the Grand Canyon are all part of the National Parks system and they accept the America the Beautiful Annual Pass. If you are going to multiple National Parks look up the individual fees, it may be more cost effective to buy the America the Beautiful Pass. It can potentially save you time as well, when we were in line to enter the Grand Canyon, we were waived out of the line because we had the pass and didn't have to pay for entry. You can also use the Pass at other National Parks and they are good for a year.
As I planned our stops I tried to not have too much driving between places, I think our longest drive was about 3 hours but we had a stop mid way to hit a Walmart to pick up supplies.
We did splurge and stay at one of the hotels that is within the Grand Canyon National Park on the South Rim (note the North Rim is only open in the summer). This was good because it allowed us to easily see a sunset and sunrise in the Canyon. It also gave us a place to head back to rest in the afternoon. The bummer was no food was included and it is pricey due to location and a captive audience.
However, we did get milk at the general store located within the park (yes it is pricey but worth it because no one wants spoiled milk. FWIW we did take the milk in the cooler when we left because it was a cool-ish day and put it in the next hotel's fridge for our final morning.) because the hotel had a fridge and had cereal for breakfast. We also had PB&J for lunch one day.
We entered the Canyon at the South Entrance, and left by the East Entrance.
There were other attractions that we hit while we were there. Winslow, Arizona was a quick stop for lunch and to "stand on a corner". We also visited the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, and Montezuma Castle (they are also covered by the America the Beautiful Pass). The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest are a 2 for 1 park, we entered at the Painted Desert and drove through with stops and exited from the Petrified Forest. And our surprise stop due to projected rain was a tour of Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Supplies
Because we flew in I didn't want to necessarily take a lot of stuff that I planned to consume on the trip, hence my trip to Walmart when we arrived. There we picked up a Styrofoam cooler and ice. We filled it with water and grapes.
We also picked up sunscreen and toothpaste (but really I could have packed either one), and lotion (Arizona is DRY) and we also picked up various snack foods and paper towels. One thing I would suggest you consider is a nasal saline spray because it is so dry in Arizona, also hotels are dry as are airplanes, it will make a difference and you nose will be more comfortable. I happened had some and took it with me. The thing about the nasal spray is you can't share those. If you only want to purchase one thing go with a nasal gel such as this one, that you can put on a q-tip so you can use a tube for multiple people.
Not all of our hotels has breakfast included, so one morning we stopped at Safeway (it seemed to be the ubiquitous store of the area) for breakfast sandwiches, which were really good. We also bought cereal, plastic spoons, peanut butter, jelly, bread, sandwich bags.
One time we also did dinner at Safeway, our hotel had a microwave and the kids had microwave tv dinners. Mr. Padawan and I got sandwiches from their deli, they also had hot food like wings and chicken tenders, it was pretty standard fare from what I have seen at my local grocery store.
I will admit that I did take plastic bowls from one of our hotels that had free breakfast. I just couldn't fathom buying a ton of bowls when I only needed 12. I also took the plastic cups from the hotel rooms to distribute snacks.
Food from home
Food is expensive at tourist attractions and the airport. Prior to our departure I made a big batch of granola (yes you can buy this when you get there but we have food allergies so this is actually easier). I took it in our carry on. I also made us dinner to eat at the airport, we call them breakfast bombs. (Note we told the little Padawans while in the airport call them breakfast things, no need to make anyone feel like they needed to panic.) While I do love them hot, they are also good at room temperature. I made them the morning of our trip and then refrigerated them prior to departure so when we hit the airport they were room temperature.
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