Day #3- Atkins Go West 2.0 –Adventure of a Lifetime Continued…(May the Forest Be with You)

The tale of two rides!

June 11, 2017 – Grand Canyon, North Rim National Park to Las Vegas

Atkins Go West 2.0 –Adventure of a Lifetime Continued…(May the Forest Be with You!)

Bucket List Items:  2!  Mule Rides in the Grand Canyon for Jennifer, Exotic sports car (Ferrari 458 Italia) driving in Las Vegas for Chris!

Weirdest thing we saw: The kids had never seen a gas station attendant.  He even washed our windshield!

Funniest thing we heard: Kayden’ s mule, Festus.

Most memorable moment of the day: Sunrise over the Grand Canyon, Final lap at the track

Captain’s Log: Chris woke us up around 4:45 AM in order to see the sunrise over the canyon.  We hiked a short ways down the Sunrise-Bright Angel Point and stopped to wait for the sun.  It was just slightly cloudy so we had the perfect view!  

The sun rose at  5:15AM.  After the sun came up, Chris, the boys and I hiked the rest of the Bright Angel Point to the end where you could see magnificent views of the North Rim.  This place and this sunrise make you wonder how anyone could question God’s existence.  

We hiked back to the Lodge where we found some delicious breakfast at the Coffee Saloon.  We ate homemade blueberry muffins, giant cinnamon rolls, and freshly made hot chocolate on the back porch of the lodge overlooking the canyon,.  

The boys LOVED watching the little chipmunks that came right up to our shoes begging for us to drop our breakfast.  

This was about the most perfect breakfast I’d every had. 

Our next adventure was a bucket list item!  Mule rides in the Grand Canyon!!!  I had always wanted to ride the mules and the one hour trip around the top of the rim was just enough of an adventure to satisfy me!  Joe-Nicholas and Benjamin had never even been on a horse before so this was a true adventure for them.  Joe-Joe was pretty nervous, so the sweet guide, Maggie, put him on the laziest, gentlest mule named Supine.  

Supine was in fact so lazy, that every 2 minutes or so we heard the guide say, “Supine, kick kick, kick!”  She was trying to get Joe-Nicholas to kick so that the mule wouldn’t keep stopping along the trail.  Of course, his mule was first and the rest of us would have to wait on Supine to decide to mosey along.  Benjamin rode a very well-behaved mule named Fancy! 

  Kayden’s mule, Festus, was sweet and had a very noticeable gastrointestinal issue.  

Chris rode a friendly and sturdy mule named Marty.  I rode Toughie, the mule with the biggest appetite. 

  I could not keep him moving forward as long as there was greenery in his sight.  He would stop and munch along the path over and over again.  I think we were animal soul mates.  We had a great ride with only a few off road/trail adventures.  Supine didn’t want to move, but when he did, through the woods and through tree branches seemed like his preferred route.  The view of the Grand Canyon were amazing and a bit terrifying from the top of a mule on a tiny gravel path. 

  The photographer took some cute pictures of the kids along the trail  with the canyon in the background.  After the ride, the guide drove us back to the Lodge.  I took a quick picture with him because he reminded me so much of my Granddaddy Minton.  

This part of the trip was definitely something I had been looking forward to, and it exceeded my expectations.

We made the usual stops at the gift shop and visitors’ center for post cards, bumper stickers, and Junior Ranger books.  We stopped by to take some pictures at the park signs then headed on to Las Vegas!

On our 4 hour drive to Las Vegas, we got pictures next to 3 state sign! Our drive took us through several Indian Reservations as well.  We stopped in St. George’s for lunch at In and Out Burgers .  Delicious!!!  Kayden kept us entertained with an awesome road trip playlist, and the vast  canyons  and unusual rock formations kept us interested. 

The next bucket list item was for Chris at Exotic Racing in Las Vegas. 

Here he got to learn to drive two performance sports cars ;Nissan GT-R and a Ferrari 458 Italia.

  He started his training with a debriefing session and a ride around the track in a Porsche Cayenne.  The first car he drove was a white Nissan GT-R and he learned the track curves and how to really use the paddle shifters effectively.  Next, he drove the Ferrari ($300,000 car!) with Buddy, a former race car driver who raced at Bristol and Talladega with Petty’s team. The sound of this car racing down the track was insane.  Chris had the drive of his life reaching speeds well over 100 mph around the track and down the straight of way! The kids and I were so happy to see him mark something off of his list! 

Next stop was Las Vegas and the Excalibur.  By the time we got checked in and changed, we realized that the pool had already closed for the night.  I guess they want their guests in the casinos and restaurants at 7:00 and  not in the pool.  The kids were disappointed, but we were really tired too.  We at dinner at Pizza hut inside the resort’s food court.  It was some delicious pizza!  Next we each picked out various desserts to take back to the room where we crashed.  The kids got some much needed veg time watching Nick and You tube. 

Another great day.