We screwed up.
We screwed up so, so badly.
Our flight was at 7:10 a.m. yesterday morning. We got up at 4:30 a.m.
In hindsight, it was so clearly not enough time, but our hotel was relatively close to the airport (less than 10 minutes), so we thought we were good.
I started to get very, very nervous when it was 5:45 a.m. and we were still in our hotel room. We lit a little fire under our asses and got out as quickly as possible, but then we had to stop to top off the gas tank for the rental car. And then, the rental car return ended up being way PAST the airport, and by the time we got there, unloaded, got Nora’s car seat (and other belongings) packed and zipped into the car seat bag, caught the shuttle to the terminal, arrived at the terminal…
We were 5-10 minutes too late. FIVE TO TEN MINUTES.
They wouldn’t let us check in. Delta has a policy that you must be checked in 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure time. (I know that other airlines are only 30 minutes. Too bad we were not flying those other airlines.)
We got sent over to “Special Services,” to deal with a (admittedly VERY nice) ticket agent who tried everything he possibly could to get us home as soon as humanly possible. The very best he was able to do was to get us home at 11 p.m.
We were supposed to get home at 5 p.m.
If we had been up at 4:00 a.m., we would’ve been fine. But that extra half hour of sleep cost us SIX EXTRA HOURS in an airport.
I have never been so pissed at myself. Not only did we miss our flight, but we missed our flight WITH A BABY. For crying out loud, we are idiots. But I’ll tell you what, though… I don’t foresee us ever making that mistake again. Lesson learned, folks.
So, after being on a vacation that was go-go-go (which is typical travel fashion for us), we suddenly found ourselves with a lot of TIME. Lots and lots of extra time. We meandered everywhere today. I don’t think I’ve ever walked so slowly in my entire life. What, we have to go all the way to Terminal A? Meh. We have THREE HOURS. Let’s walk slowly. Really slowly.
Our 7:10 a.m. departure from Vegas became a 9:45 a.m. departure. So, needless to say, we had plenty of time in the Las Vegas airport. We discovered they had free wi-fi there (love it), so we spent some time uploading pics to Facebook, and of course played with Nora. She was simply fascinated by Daddy’s hat.
We made it through our first stretch of waiting, and it was finally time to board. A 4+ hour flight later, and we were in Atlanta, at least. But we had a freaking four-hour layover to contend with there, which was less than ideal. Surprisingly, it went by more quickly than we thought it would, especially since we killed a ton of time by going for a sit-down dinner.
From there, we simply walked the terminal, back and forth, back and forth. Nora dozed off in her stroller, which was great, considering she had barely napped all day and wasn’t going to be home until way past her bedtime.
Thankfully, after missing the flight, everything was uneventful. Flights were on time, Nora was a fantastic little flyer (once again), the in-flight movie (which we could only half-watch with a baby) was decent (it was The Tourist), and all was well.
It was certainly a long day, though.
My mom (bless her!) picked us up at the airport shortly after 11 p.m., and we pulled into our driveway around midnight. Nora fell asleep in the car on the way home so I transferred her directly from her car seat to bed. For the first time in her little life, she slept in her clothes. :)
Michael and I were more than ready for bed ourselves. We’re tired today. The late bedtime + jet lag is not fun. Nora has been a trooper, though. We all slept late this morning, until 10:00 a.m. We actually got up before Nora did, which was great because I went in to find her in the “butt-in-the-air” sleep position that is ridiculously adorable. So, of course I had to take a thousand pictures of her:
It’s good to be home.
After all of the driving we’ve done this week, I have to say that most of it was really not that bad. Until today. The ride from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas (about 4.5 to 5 hours) sucked. OK, I take it back… most of it was OK, too. But the last hour or so, and especially the stretch from the Hoover Dam to Vegas? OH.EM.GEE. I just wanted to get out of the car. Out of the car NOW.
As always, we got up early, packed up the car, and left as quickly as we could. We arrived at the Hoover Dam around noon, and well, we were out of there in about 15 minutes. The Hoover Dam? I’m sorry, but it was B-O-R-I-N-G. I had totally overestimated what this thing would look like in my head, and when we finally saw it, I was completely underwhelmed. Oh well.
(ETA: Thanks to a commenter, I’m now aware that we were in the wrong spot for pictures. We were at the back, and somehow completely missed the front of the dam. In hindsight, I still don’t see how we could’ve accessed the front from where we were. Oops! That makes a lot of sense, though, because Michael and I kept saying that it looked nothing like we thought it would. Come to find out we were just on the wrong side! Amateurs’ mistake.)
Still, we parked for a few minutes and took a few photos, simply because we were there.
Once back on the road, we hit a lot of traffic on our way to our hotel in Las Vegas, which was a Westin located about a block off of the strip on Flamingo Road. After suffering a bit longer in the car, we finally pulled in and were able to get out of that stinkin’ car.
We were immediately taken aback by the OVEN that we had driven into. The forecasted high in Las Vegas today was 97 degrees. Yowzers.
We took a bit of a break in our air conditioned hotel room, but then decided to brave the strip for a little while. We applied a ton of sunblock and hit the streets.
Given the heat, we didn’t go too far. We got to the strip and cut across the street to position ourselves in front of the Bellagio fountains. There were a lot of people standing around waiting, so we figured we were probably pretty close to being able to see one of the fountain shows (which we now know occur on the hour and half-hour, in case you’re curious).
While we waited, we busied ourselves with more photos:
In the meantime, Nora fell asleep. So cute, but even in the photo you can tell she’s sweating!
How cute is she, gripping onto her little rubber ducky that the Westin gave her upon check-in?
Soon, the fountains began to do their thing:
After the show, we ducked into a hotel/casino for some air conditioning. While we walked through, Nora woke up (the girl can’t pass up a chance to people watch!). Once back outside, we were immediately hot again. There’s not much you can do when it’s freakin’ 97 degrees.
Nora was a champ drinking water out of the bottle.
By this time, it was later afternoon and we were starving, so we started to look for the nearest place to eat. We stumbled upon Margaritaville and we went with it. A frozen drink + a gigantic pulled pork sandwich later, and I was a happy camper.
After eating, we didn’t feel like we really had anywhere else we wanted to go (especially not with a baby), so we went back to our hotel. Michael wandered around with Nora while I played a few more penny slots–and I won $10. Woohoo! :)
Once again, I just have to comment on the cuteness of summer clothing. Tank tops! Shorts! I die.
Nora was EXHAUSTED tonight, so we made sure to get her to bed early. She was actually sleeping a little bit before 7:00. Yes, you read that right–we were in our room for the night by 7 p.m. We clearly do not belong in Vegas. :)
Although this has been a great week, I think we are just about ready to go home. Up and at ’em early tomorrow morning…
This morning, we woke up knowing We don’t have to drive today. We don’t have to pack and unpack. It was refreshing.
However, I will fully admit that I didn’t wake up in the best mood. I’m tired, y’all. Needless to say, I wasn’t moving very quickly this morning, and once again, Nora was ready for a nap after only an hour or so of being awake, so she and I snuggled and napped in bed while Michael went out for a little drive to explore a couple of other areas of the park.
On his drive, a coyote crossed his path, so he snapped a quick pic:
He also took a photo of the canyon in the early morning light:
And then came upon some mule deer:
Michael came back to the hotel room, and once Nora and I were in better spirits, we got ready and went out for breakfast. We took the shuttle to El Tovar, where Michael enjoyed a chocolate chip belgian waffle and I had a signature cinnamon roll. Good stuff.
After a quick pit stop back at our hotel, we drove to the Visitor’s Center, where we caught an orange line shuttle to the head of South Kaibab Trail. We strapped Nora into the Ergo carrier again, and down we went, hiking down into the canyon.
This pic is looking back up the way we came down. The trail winds back and forth:
I don’t know why, but this trail was tougher on me than the others we’ve done. Although the elevation change was the most we’ve done, the trail seemed to be cut in a way that was less steep than the one we did on Tuesday in Bryce. Maybe I was just tired from the cumulative miles I’ve put on my legs during this trip? Plus, it was hot. We had to stop and rest a few times.
We eventually arrived at our destination, Ooh Ahh Point. It’s about a mile from the trailhead. The trail continues on, all the way down to the floor of the canyon, but that’s about eight miles round-trip, and not something you are supposed to do in one day. We stayed at Ooh Ahh Point for about 15 minutes, snapping photos and getting a little rest in.
While Nora slept the majority of the way down, she woke up pretty much as soon as we reached Ooh Ahh.
Before heading back up (ughhh), Michael and I traded–he took Nora, I took the camera bag. I got to carry her downhill, and Michael thankfully took her on the way back up. It’s funny, because we later ran into a couple we had passed on the trail on the way down. When she saw Michael carrying Nora (back up at the rim), she admitted that when we had passed them, she saw me lugging Nora and had said to her husband, “Sure, leave it to a man to make the woman carry the baby on a hike!” She was happy to hear that Michael had bared the load on the way back up. :)
We eventually made it back to the top (yay!), just as a woman was about to push a stroller down onto the trail. I was just about to open my big fat mouth when she asked, gesturing to the stroller, “Is this crazy?” Michael and I both told her yes. HA! For a second it seemed like she wasn’t going to take our advice, but then we heard her tell her friend that they should come back later with the Baby Bjorn. Thank goodness.
We hopped on the shuttle (ahhh, air conditioning) and got off at the next stop, which was another overlook.
That’s Nora as we waited in the shade of a tree for the next shuttle. *LOVE*
And this is Nora on the shuttle bus. *LOVE* again.
We went back to our room to rest for a bit. I fed Nora her food, which she gobbled up, but not without giving me this hilarious look like, “Mom–What are you trying to feed me?”
After we all got a little nap in, we went back out to see a bit more of the park before going to dinner. We took the red line shuttle to a couple of stops west of the Grand Canyon Village, and walked along the rim trail for a while. It was pretty bumpy for our Chicco stroller, though, so we walked along the road for a bit, too.
Michael snapped this pic of me as I stepped out onto one of the rock ledges to take a better look.
There’s the Colorado River!
We ended the evening at The Arizona Room, where we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a couple of margaritas and some Southwestern-inspired food. Although the food was good, the service was a bit slow this time, so Nora was getting antsy by the time we left. She was still great under the circumstances, but by the time we got out of there, we were definitely ready to get back to the room to get her to bed.
Tomorrow, we’re back on the road for our longest stretch yet–from the Grand Canyon back to good ol’ Las Vegas.
Free breakfast began at 6 a.m. at our hotel this morning. We were there at 6:20, sharing the dining room with a huge bus full of Japanese tourists. And to think we thought we would be some of the only ones there that early! I guess they were all getting an early start as well.
We were ready and hitting the road by a little bit after 8:00 a.m. Before leaving, though, we did take a few pics of the view from our hotel. (Not our room. Our room had no view.)
Page and surrounding area seems like it might be worth visiting, but I’m not sure we’ll ever be back. If we had more than seven days for our trip, perhaps we would’ve spent half a day exploring there!
A few hours later, we were pulling into Grand Canyon National Park.
Nora slept the ENTIRE way. She literally fell asleep two minutes after we pulled out of the hotel parking lot, and was still catching flies when we pulled into the park.
Sweet girl.
Our first stop within the park was at the watchtower, which also provides the first overlook to see the canyon.
While Michael got out to get the lay of the land, I sat in the car with a sleeping Nora for a bit longer. Soon, she woke up, so we got out of the car to join him.
You could climb the watchtower for a slightly more elevated view.
We continued driving and stopped at another overlook to see the canyon in all of its glory.
Nora was in a great mood, thanks to her fantastic nap.
We met a young father who had a baby about Nora’s age at home. He was traveling with his dad and some other guys for a little getaway. After he and his dad talked to Michael for a few minutes about babies, they took a family pic for us:
We eventually made our way to Grand Canyon Village, and to our accommodations at Yavapai Lodge. However, when we tried to check in, we were told that the room wasn’t ready yet, and to check back after 4 p.m. (it was noon). Bummer.
We killed some time by having some lunch at the Yavapai Cafe, then took one of the free shuttles to the rim of the canyon.
After walking along the rim for a bit and getting our bearings, Nora fell asleep and we decided to walk back to our lodge, rather than take the shuttle. It was nice out, and the walk was slightly less than a mile.
Once back at the lodge, we were allowed to check in. Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised–the room is GREAT! It’s obviously been recently remodeled, freshly painted, and it’s very clean. It’s way better than you would expect for a place that is essentially in the middle of the woods.
Look at Nora Noo–love her! One of the bonuses of this vacation has been the CLOTHES! It’s so fun to break out some of Nora’s warmer weather outfits. I mean, c’mon–how cute are baby capri pants?!
We relaxed in our room for a while, playing with Nora, who was being hilarious and so much fun. Once it was time for dinner, we caught a shuttle to the rim again, and ate at Bright Angel Restaurant. After our meal, we took a few minutes to take a couple more photos before heading back to our room for the night:
On the shuttle ride back to the lodge, we saw a TON of elk. They were seemingly everywhere! At one point, there was a HUGE one standing right next to the bus, but when I took a picture, there was a huge glare from the lights inside the bus. Boo! So, this pic will have to do:
Tomorrow should be really nice… we’re not driving anywhere! For the first time since we arrived out here, we’ll be staying put in one place for more than 24 hours. We’re ready for the break!
Another day, another early morning. Although I’m not usually a morning person, I am finding it pretty easy to get out of bed out here, given the time change. It’s actually quite nice to get so much accomplished so early in the day–I wish this is how things came naturally to me at home!
Once ready, we decided to take a drive through Bryce Canyon National Park, stopping at the scenic overlooks. Bryce is located at a fairly high elevation, and because it was so early, it was quite cold out. We wanted to wait for it to warm up a bit before doing any hiking. Also, Nora needed a nap so we figured she could take a morning snooze in the car while we did our driving around.
While Nora slept in her car seat, Michael and I took turns getting out of the car to check out the views from the overlooks. Not exactly the ideal way to see the sights together, but it was one of the sacrifices we had to make while traveling with a little one!
The views were just beautiful. It was really interesting to explore Bryce and see how different it is from Zion.
As you can see in some of the photos, it was so cold at the higher elevations that there was actually still snow up there.
By the time we reached the top, Nora was awake, so we decided to get out of the car all together. At first, we planned to hike a short, easy trail up there, but soon discovered that it was completely snow covered. We didn’t want to risk getting lost, so we ultimately chose to turn around and get back in the car.
We stopped at a few more scenic overlooks on the way back down toward the entrance/exit.
Once back down at the bottom, we went to our hotel to pack up and check out. We had a little something to eat, loaded up the car, and then went back into the park.
We set out to hike on a trail called Queens Garden, which is 1.8 miles round trip. The trail winds down into the canyon, then you have to turn around and backtrack back up. Although it’s not very long, it was a little rough on the knees to walk all of the way down, and then it was a bit challenging to hike uphill all the way back up! It was worth it for the views, though… holy moly.
As we set out, it was time for Nora to eat, so instead of sitting in the car to feed her, I rigged her in a nursing position in the Ergo carrier and fed her as we hiked. Multitasking FTW!
Can you even tell? I don’t think the people we walked past could, either. :)
Once Nora was done eating, Michael took over carrying her, and she promptly fell asleep.
End of trail–but we still had to walk all of the way back up!
Walking back up was quite tiring, but we made it. Once back at the car, it was time to head out to our next destination. To help break up the long drive from Bryce to the Grand Canyon, we planned to spend a night in Page, AZ. Still, it was a 2.5-3 hour drive, and we were eager to get it over with.
After fighting it for quite some time, Nora did eventually pass out during the last hour of driving.
Upon arrival in Page, we made a quick stop at a grocery store to replace some of our essentials, and then checked into our hotel. To our disappointment, it ended up being another kind of crappy room (a Quality Inn). Oh well… nothing we can’t handle for one night.
Once unpacked, we headed out for dinner at a restaurant called Fiesta Mexicana. It was SO GOOD. Plus, they had awesome margaritas. Score!
Because we’ve been getting up so early, it’s been easy to fall asleep fairly early, too. We’re calling it another night, and we’ll finish our journey to the Grand Canyon in the morning!
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
