Grand Canyon National Park: Our First Day at the South Rim

After spending the night in Williams, Arizona, we got up early-ish—not ridiculously early, because we were still on vacation! 😂—and headed toward Grand Canyon National Park.

And just like that, we were finally seeing one of the places I had been waiting for this entire trip.

Arriving at the South Rim

 

We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly we made it through the entrance. The line was short, which felt like a little road trip win!

We headed straight to the Visitor Center to get our bearings, check out the overlooks, browse the gift shop, and see what was available.

And then we did what we seem to do best…

We started exploring!

Instead of rushing from one planned stop to another, we spent the day driving around, stopping at overlooks, getting out to walk, and just taking in the fact that we were actually standing at the Grand Canyon.

Pictures really don’t do it justice.

Exploring Hermit’s Rest

We eventually made our way toward Hermits Rest, taking the shuttle and exploring the overlooks along the way.

The boys and I hiked sections of the trail while Byron decided that apparently this was a great opportunity to get his run in. 😂

He ran a good portion of the way while we took our time enjoying the scenery.

There were beautiful viewpoints everywhere, and I loved that we could experience the canyon in different ways instead of simply stopping at one overlook and moving on.

Dinner Plans… Changed

About 60 days before our trip, I had made reservations for dinner at El Tovar.

I was pretty excited about it.

But then we got to the Grand Canyon and realized there were way more food options than I expected.

After just coming from Las Vegas, where we had spent a small fortune eating out, a fancy dinner wasn’t really what our family was craving.

So…

We canceled our reservation and grabbed pizza instead. 😂

And honestly?

It was perfect.

Sometimes vacation meals don’t need to be fancy. Sometimes you just need pizza after a long day of exploring.

A Relaxing End to the Day

After spending the day exploring the South Rim, we headed back to our hotel and called it an early night.

We had another big day ahead of us.

The plan was to get up early the next morning and hike to Ooh Aah Point before the heat really settled in.

And if you’ve been following along with our trip, you already know…

We were about to find out just how important that “beat the heat” plan really was!

The Grand Canyon was everything we hoped it would be—and somehow, it still managed to surprise us.

Next up: Ooh Aah Point!

Safe travels and happy memory making! ❤️

Kayla

Btw... we did stay the night at the Thunderbird Hotel. Parking was a challenge, especially with thunderstorms rolling it, but it was a good stay. Definitely rustic and possibly the most costly hotel so far, but it was so awesome to be able to maximize our time in the park.