Maverick Rides Around the Grand Canyon

I absolutely loved the Grand Canyon! Seeing for the first time this national landmark was awe-inspiring.

This western landscape invokes all the old Gene Autry movies of Saturday mornings. If you have the time then I have to recommend going to the south rim of the canyon during these winter months. [Having many friends with children I know it is easier for trips like this to be in the summer during school breaks, but maybe a winter break would work?] My trip was just a couple weeks ago and the sky could not have been more blue. The temperature was mild during the day and crisp at night.

When you go, I highly recommend taking one of the awesome helicopter trips around the canyon. This is the best use of your time for the amount of landscape you get to take in at once.

I did hear from a guest at our hotel that there are some outfits that have huge issues with their scheduling (he was bumped for his allotted time then was sitting around waiting). He also said to avoid Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters, because their helicopters had some seats facing backwards. There are only three outfits at the South Rim.

I could not take a bad photo from the window of our Maverick's Helicopter, they were out of this world. Our family with us bought the DVD made of the ride, set to cool music and including some interior shots of them sitting inside (so try not to grimace when the helicopter suddenly drops into the canyon).

We took the Canyon Spirit tour that 45 minutes (ours was 47 min) includes the Eastern Canyon, Northern Rim and Dragon Corridor It was about $220 each and totally worth it. Considering we were there only a day, this was a perfect first time visit when we added in a nice brunch at the El Tovar Hotel at the rim.



We drove from Las Vegas after a couple of days hanging out there and eating great meals. We had some great steak and definitely will consider Tao next time. I think it was a great trip over all but next time I might consider flying into the Grand Canyon fron Vegas rather than driving....we'll see.


Photo credits to sfcphotography.com