Yosh has never seen the Grand Canyon before. I've been there before but i was so young i could only sort of remember what it was like. I do remember it being spectacular and of course i always wanted to go back. So when we found out we had 3 days off after Christmas with nothing much to do, we figured what the heck.
After spending time with the family on the 24th and 25th, we headed out Friday AM. The GC is only about 7.5 hours from our home so it wasn't a big deal. It's practically in our own back yard. We would make camp 25 miles south of the GC in a undisclosed location in some very cold temperatures. Below zero, -7 to -17 to be exact. I believe the area broke records the time we were there. We had the area to ourselves. There hadn't been any tracks ahead of us.
It was the coldest i've camped in. Our furnace barely made a difference, it was that cold. You had to literally stand inches from the fire to stay warm. 
The next morning we woke up to frozen chairs, stove and tables. Did i mention it was cold?!
Once i stepped outside, I packed up without hesitation and headed for dry ground and warm coffee. Good ol' Mcdonald's. I've roughed it many times, i was ready to be out of the snow and get a nice warm breakfast muffin. After a $13 (prices are higher near national parks eh?) breakfast we headed into the park. We were very excited.
Even with the snow and cold weather the crowds were still there. Along with bad drivers, either driving too fast or too slow. No happy medium. After about 30 mins of driving around with a line of cars we found a spot to park the 23 foot beast and get out for our first view of the Grand Canyon with snow. It was just as i remembered. Spectacular. Camera's just do not do it justice. It's just too massive. Even with a wide lense, you'd never portray what you see in person.
After checking out the West side of the South Rim, we headed to the east side to check the view out from there along with some points of interest along the way. The roads were stunning and bright white.
We pulled into the Tusayan indian museum. They had a ton of cool stuff on display and outback they had ruins from original areas of where the indians lived.
Unfortunately the ruins were covered in snow.
One of the largest icicle's i've ever seen.
Nice view of the San Francisco peaks in the background..
After the museum we headed to the east entrance to check out the view. I think the east section is my favorite. It has a beautiful section of the canyon that opens up to the desert floor. The canyon looks larger than life from this side. Almost fake looking like your on a movie set.
The desert view watch tower built in 1930.
For more information click here
After dealing with tourists, snow and ice for 5-6 hours. We decided to leave the park and figure out where to camp/stay for the second night. We both agreed we earned a nice warm bed for the night. I had my fun the night before in the snow and i wanted a warm nights sleep. I think this is the very first time we have ever stayed in a hotel on one of our trips. I guess im really getting older and wiser? We ended up staying at the motel 6 in Williams AZ. It wasn't half bad.
Save this pic.. it's probably the only time you'll ever see the SMB parked at a hotel..
The next morning we were up refreshed and ready for the drive home. But before we made it home there would be two stops. The Grand Canyon Caverns and Cracker Barrel. Two things we don't have in Southern Cali.
We popped out onto Route 66 for a bit to get to the Caverns. Some interesting things to see, that's for sure.
We arrived at the Grand Canyon Caverns.
Dixie thought she was out of that cold snow!
The caverns were cool. I had been to them 20 years previously when i was a kid. It was still all the same and even think the tour guides were the same, missing teeth and all. The 1960's elevator was still taking you down 210 feet the way it did before and looked like it was all original even though they assured us it wasn't. The stairs located in the shaft were brought in from New York... and were old fire escapes from the side of an apartment building. Scary.
Here's some pics of 20 stories down under the ground. It was actually warmer down there than up on ground level. Probably the only time of year it is. 56 degrees year round.
Watch your head!
At one point the government used these huge caverns as a fall out shelter. Today they are still enabled to do so. There is enough food and water stored for two thousand people for 2 weeks. Crazy.
Supposedly they found this bobcat almost mummified because of the lack of air down under. Apparently they had it examined and it died back in the early 1850's.
Some of the areas were huge. You could have a awesome concert down there. The acoustics would be amazing i bet.
After seeing the caverns we headed west on Route 66 for Kingman AZ to have lunch at one of our favorite spots. The Cracker Barrel. They don't have them in California, so if we see one we usually stop. It was good eats as always. Then headed home via 40 and drove into warmer temperatures. I tell you, it felt like summer when we pulled up to our place. It was great.
That's it for this trip, another in the record books.. and now Yosh has seen the Grand Canyon.