Terry Foster: The Grand Canyon Is A Great Family Vacation Destination

By Terry Foster
The Family Deal

Grand Canyon, Arizona – My last trip to the Grand Canyon was less adventurous than my first trip. Instead of hiking down to just above the Colorado River I decided to take a Pink Jeep tour with my children Brandon and Celine.

It was an easy choice. Celine was wearing flip flops.

The sights were spectacular and our tour guide Abel Sanchez, a graduate of Northern Arizona University, was spectacular. He lives near the Canyon, has hiked to the Colorado River six times in his life and enjoys winters here more than summers.

Do you know what he does for a fun time on weekends? He hunts and fishes.

My kids were intimidated by the Canyon and were as hesitant as a shy person on a first date. However, Abel took us to places where most do not go and their fears were eased. This is a beautiful but intimidating place. The Canyon looks fake as the cascade of colors roll out in technicolor.

In the early 1990's I hiked down the Canyon. It was just as fun but you got a different view.

It was an adventure and if you are in decent shape I recommend hitting the Bright Angel trial that takes you from the South Rim to the Colorado River. It is a nearly 10 mile hike 4,300 feet into the Canyon. It is the easiest of the trails and is the only one that provides water on the way down and up.

Here is the trick though. Going down is easy. Walking back up is not. It took us 2 ½ hours to make it down to base camp but 4 ½ hours to get back up to Grand Canyon Village. Red dirt caked on our clothes and I was pouring with sweat. Then it rained on my group twice on the way up.

My clothes were filthy that not even Tide could do anything about it. I ended up throwing them away.

Most people do not hike the canyon or camp down below. Abel told us that the average Grand Canyon visit is 4 ½ hours. We stayed there for just two hours during our Pink Jeep tour. I did not want to stress or sweat on this visit. I simply wanted to give my kids a once in a life time peak at one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

My first visit I carried sandwiches, chips and drank two gallons of water. This time our meal was Pizza Hut individual pizzas and a soda. The two adventures were as different as night and day. But they were both great.

Brandon and Celine loved it.

If you visit Arizona I also recommend a drive through Sedona. It is a town that is overgrown now but the red rocks are spectacular as is the drive north of town which features Slide Rocks National Park.

(Foster can be reached at Terry.Foster@cbsradio.com. Twitter: TerryFoster971)