Microadventure: Grand Canyon for Thanksgiving

It wasn’t the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade…it was better! Our first trip back to the Grand Canyon since July 2016, when we visited our first national park as a family, was another success. This day trip from Flagstaff started off cold, with Flagstaff temperatures in the high 20s. When we entered the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, temps were in the 30s and eventually got into the high 40s for the day. Those temperatures were a shock, prompting Leona to ask, “Why is it so cold if it’s so sunny? Why isn’t it warm like California?”

We even made sure to try and take a similar photo to the original one we took for a sunrise in July 2016.

Even on a big holiday like Thanksgiving, the South Rim was packed with people enjoying the natural beauty of this place. There were still a lot of international tourists walking around the rim trails even with the tighter Covid-19 travel restrictions. We started at the Grand Canyon Visitors Center, visited Mather Point, then walked west a few miles to Grand Canyon Village where we saw some mule deer off to the side of the trail. We had lunch in Grand Canyon Village, walked back and drove out through the East Entrance visited a few lookout points as well as the Desert View Watchtower. Blake had a blast walking with everybody and the girls loved seeing the Colorado River through the strategically placed viewfinders. All in all, an amazing day to see the park during a different time of year.