Our Vacation: The Grand Canyon

The main part of our vacation was taking the train from Williams up to the Grand Canyon. I have never ridden on a train, and the girls (and Jon) were so excited about this adventure. Tuesday evening we drove up to Flagstaff and took my sister, Andrea, out to dinner. We stayed there overnight (and slept awful - the pillows at the Ramada Inn are too big!). Wednesday morning we drove to Williams and got our train tickets. The fun started with a little gun show-down! This was fun to watch, but it was quite windy and the girls weren't quite sure what was going on. We boarded our train car and got comfy in our seats, which were at the very back.They had a little buffet that we helped ourselves to: some yummy muffins and fruit. There was even a cowboy that came and played his guitar and sang to us. After each song, Melanie would say: Again! (Sorry the picture is blurry.)The girls loved looking out the windows and watching things go by. They even made friends with a little boy that was sitting in front of us.One of the cowboys from the opening show-down came through and Savannah was brave enough to get in a picture with him!
It was nice to just relax with the girls and play with them while we traveled, instead of trying to keep them happy from the front seat of the car.

After our 2 hour train ride, we made it to the Grand Canyon! It was certainly at trek, hiking up the stairs from the train depot to the Grand Canyon village! When we got to the top, I had to sit and take a breather, especially since I had been carrying Melanie! Of course the Canyon was beautiful! Savannah wanted to know who made the big hole in the ground.We got ourselves some lunch. Savannah had her favorite: a hot dog! And Melanie got a grilled cheese sandwich.

We walked up and down the Canyon and poor little Melanie was so tired that she fell asleep in the stroller! Notice that she is NOT wearing her sweater. She refused to wear it the entire time and just wanted her blankey put over her!I wanted a picture next to the Bright Angel trail head. My dad and I hiked this trail about 10 years ago! I can't believe that it's been that long! I am currently in no kind of shape to do any hike like this right now!Jon and Savannah stood in a really long line just to get us some ice cream! We didn't have much energy, so the ice cream was worth the wait.We got a finally look at the Canyon and this is about as close as we came to a family picture!Back on the train, we made a little bed for Savannah and she quickly crashed!Melanie was wide awake and got to have some of the sparkling cider that they served to everyone. She totally loved it!We thoroughly enjoyed the fiddler player that came through. He did a great job! Then they brought the train to a stop and we got to see some outlaws riding horses next to the train!They boarded the train and worked their way back through each car, robbing all of us!Savannah got woke up from her nap and was completely disoriented, but Melanie gave one of the outlaws a dollar! She wasn't quite sure what was going on; only that the bad guys had come through. The people sitting behind us told the outlaw that he should be ashamed for taking money from such a cute little girl!Then the Marshall came through the train looking for the outlaws. After a little while, he marched all of the outlaws back through the train, saying that he had caught them!Anyways, we had a fun time! The girls really enjoyed it! Here's us with the actual train that we rode on. And here we are with one of the train engines that they had back at the train depot in Williams.We then drove back to Flagstaff and had dinner with my sister again! She made it for us this time! Chicken Pasta Salad - one of Jon's favorites! Then we packed up all of our stuff and made the long drive home!