Our Arizona Spring Break, Part 2

All the locals told us that getting to see the Grand Canyon with snow was a rare gem to behold.  But it's strange, no one mentioned anything about seeing it in the fog...?!  That's right, we saw one of the iconic Seven Wonders of the World not once, but twice during our trip.  Sort of. ;)  We made the first two-hour trip up to the canyon only to find we could see about ten feet in front of us due to the thick fog that had settled over.  I think my favorite part was wandering around a bit (because we had already driven two hours!) and seeing hundreds of tourists still taking pictures!  Ha!  

Now stuck at a crossroads of whether to stay for the remainder of the day to see if the weather would turn a corner, or attempt the trip again the following day when the weather looked much better, we killed a little time on some pretty good pizza, a historical IMAX movie about the canyon, and some laser tag and hatchet throwing with the kids.  And the sweet babes said the laser tag afternoon was one of their favorite parts of the trip.  Aren't kids amazing like that?  Give them a cozy new place to spend a few nights, time together as a family, and an hour or two of laser tag and they're the happiest travelers.  Beau and I got quite the chuckle out of this, thinking we could have forgone the flights and saved a little money with a cabin closer to home!

We headed back to the cabin later that afternoon.  We decided we would try the Canyon again the next day, and sweet Beau had the idea of getting up there for sunset.  We got up well before dawn, loaded the car, and headed back up on I-40 in the pitch dark.  After a few miles down the road, my phone's GPS starting rerouting me to a different exit but didn't say why.  After many failed attempts on poor Siri's part to reroute us, we soon discovered why when we came to a sudden halt on the interstate.  There we were, a little after 4 am, stuck in a packed rental car sandwiched between miles upon miles of semi trucks.  And we did not move for FIVE HOURS.  Yep, five hours.  We still aren't sure if there was a big accident that stopped traffic that long, or continued cleanup from the snow storms the following day, but we have never experienced a traffic stop that horrendous.  I bounced between trying my best to be the cool, calm and collected mom to absolutely losing my mind and waving my white flag on the entire trip.  Fortunately, the wifi was spotty enough that I couldn't actually get through the airline, nor could I see that parts of I-40 were closed for 12 hours the day before, leaving people literally stranded.  I'm pretty sure we would have said goodbye to our luggage and hiked to the nearest gas station at that point!

I know we'll forever laugh about that five hours stuck in a car together - watching Yes Day from my phone propped on the dashboard, reading chapters of Harry Potter in all the voices, and making and rating food creations with the leftover groceries in the backseat.  Again, Cruz and Mila proved to be more patient, present and positive than the adults and we said more than once we were just thankful they weren't babies.  And that Mila and her mama have large bladders compared to the Jorgensen boys who peed on the highway four times in five hours. ;)

After five hours, plus another two once we got moving, life turned a corner and we arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park under a bright blue sky.  It was an adventure to get there, but worth it in the end.  

I think!