Grand Canyon Caverns

Our little family took a quick trip (one that I planned on Friday) to Grand Canyon Caverns, Arizona. Daniel has been asking forver to go camping and to see caves. His favorite thing is to talk about calcite (a word he learned from watching Planet Earth Caves).

I was able to pull everything together for camping and when Carlo came home from his Saturday morning work appointment, we were off! Coral didn't cry unti we were almost to Kingman, Arizona and then we had a little break. An hour later, we were there and it was freezing!

We had a tent to set up, Coral wouldn't quit crying unless I held her, Daniel was less than helpful, one of the tent poles broke (my amazing husband rigged a quick fix), Daniel ran into the tent while we were still setting it up, he ran back out and tripped and blood was flowing from his nose, he also made five trips to the bathroom before he'd go, a zipper broke on a tent window (Carlo said he's picking out the next one) and I finally got to make dinner in the dark! Whew! And that is what it felt like- one big run on sentence!

We then ate taco soup and introduced Daniel to smores! Oh the best part of camping. Unfortunately, star gazing was cut short as Daniel called from the tent that he couldn't sleep unless we were in there. I can't remember the last time I saw the Milky Way and so many stars. Just beautiful.

We got Daniel to sleep and Coral woke up for what reason? To poop. So, Carlo did a quick change and she went back to sleep. Around 5:30 am she woke up to nurse and I knocked over our tent heater and burned a hole through the tent and tarp underneath. Carlo totally predicted it. But my children weren't freezing!

In the morning, we went and ate in the diner at the cave entrance to get warm and then went on the personalized tour at 9:00 am. We were the only ones there that early, but then again we were the only ones camping and our children were up at 6:00 am for the day.

The tour was fun and Daniel was really quite. At one point, the tour guide turned off all the lights and it was pitch black! I thought for sure Daniel would cry, but he just admited to me yesterday he was scared. Brave boy. We saw some cavers going down in to dig into a new cavern they have discovered and a mumified bobcat. It is so dry in there that no bacteria or anything else can live!

So, after our tour and a quick trip to the gift shop for a souvenir magnet, we took down camp and headed home. We were tired! Carlo, Daniel and Coral all fell asleep until Kingman. Then no one slept! Thankfully, it was only 168 miles from Las Vegas.

One trip down and many more to go!