Going to the Grand Canyon was on my Dad’s bucket list.  It’s not something he and mom could do alone and I wanted to bring my family so I planned the trip.  Originally, I was just going to go to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas but after researching, I realized we could expand our road trip and visit more National Parks.  I followed the itinerary from Janine at BayAreaParent.com and even though her children are a little bit older, it seemed doable for my 5 and 8 year old and older parents (in their 60’s).  We did the “small loop” of the Grand Circle but it was perfect for a 10 day vacation.

Below were the details of our itinerary for our late summer trip (Aug 24 – Sept 2).  Based on this Google maps route, it is a total of 14 hours and 14 minutes of driving.

Days 1 – 3 (2 nights) : New York -> Las Vegas, Nevada -> Zion National Park, Utah

• We took a 7am EST flight from NY and got into Las Vegas at 9am MST.  After we landed, we got our rental car and loaded our luggage.  We ate dim sum as our last Chinese meal for a while and stopped at Sam’s Club for water, soda and a tray of organic peaches.  It was great to take the early flight because we were able to get into Vegas and drive to Zion by 5pm and not feel rushed.
• We drove 2 hours and 45 minutes to Zion National Park and checked into the Zion Lodge. I really liked this lodge. It’s the only lodging in the park and if you stay here you are able to drive into the park during the warm months of the year.  There were hiking trails that started right in front of the lodge.  We saw turkeys on the front lawn in the morning and deer in the evenings.  It was a great central location to take breaks for lunch and during the day.  If you don’t stay here, there is lodging right outside of the park and a tram that will take you into the park.
• Our favorite restaurants were outside the park.  We ate Meme’s Cafe for dinner.  Amazing pulled pork.  It’s gluten-free and my 5-year-old with the gluten allergy had 2 portions.  We ate lunch at Oscar’s Cafe.  Great Tex-Mex, HUGE portions, and gluten-free options.

Days 3 – 5 (2 nights): Zion National Park, Utah -> Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

• We drove 1 hour and 50 minutes to get to Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.
• We checked into the closest lodging outside of the park, Ruby’s Inn, .  I considered staying at the Lodge at Bryce Canyon because it is inside the park but because temperatures are rarely in the 80’s it does not have air conditioning.  The off chance there was a heat wave during our stay my mom would never forgive me for booking a hotel without air conditioning.  This lodge also prides itself on it’s rustic feel and experience so it does not have TV or wifi in the rooms.  Both not necessary, but I was reading my work emails in the evening so I was trying to stay at hotels that had it.  We were satisfied with Ruby’s Inn.  It’s run by Best Western, rooms are a bit dated but clean.  It’s a campus with a couple different restaurant options,  very large general store with souvenirs and groceries, laundry mat, guided ATV and horseback riding tours across the street.
• We really enjoyed the guided ATV and wagon ride.  Both were a short walk right across the street.  The tours go through the ponderosa pine forest to a different part of the Bryce Canyon rim that the tram in the park doesn’t stop at.
• Our favorite restaurants: We ate 2 buffet lunches at Ruby’s Inn Cowboy’s Buffet & Steak Room.  Selection and food were good.  The baked chicken was our favorite and it was nice to make a soft ice cream sundae for dessert.  We had pizza at Valhalla Pizzeria & Coffee Shop, next to the Lodge at Bryce Canyon.  Since I live in NY, no pizza can compare, but they serve gluten free pizza so my youngest daughter with the gluten allergy was very happy.
• To ensure we only took carry-on luggage onto the plane, I packed enough clothing for 4 days and made sure we were staying at places that had laundry machines.  I did the first laundry load the first night at Ruby’s Inn.  The laundry mat was right outside the main lodge.  I had to leave the building and it was a drizzly evening but I was happy to have a close place to do laundry.  I brought my own laundry liquid but the general store sold it also.
• It was 15-20 degrees cooler then Zion so we traded t-shirts and shorts for long sleeves and pants.

Days 5 – 6 (1 night): Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah -> Page, Arizona

• We drove 2 hours and 30 minutes to Page, Arizona for just 1 night because it was a half way point to the Grand Canyon.  A 5 our drive would have been tough with my 2 young children.
• We stayed at the Courtyard Page at Lake Powell.  It was a comfortable and clean hotel.  There were laundry machines (detergent available at the gift shop) in the hotel so I did a load of laundry.  There was also a free buffet breakfast that was included with the room.
• We ate dinner at Big John’s Texas BBQ.  The BBQ smokers and tables are in a parking lot and there was a band playing that night.  They sang John Denver which my parents love.  We were the Chinese family eating great BBQ singing John Denver in the middle of a parking lot.  It was awesome.
• There are sites to see in Page like Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and the Glen Canyon Dam, but we had already spent 4 days hiking and were anxious to get to the Grand Canyon so we left right after breakfast.

Days 6 – 8 (2 nights): Page, Arizona -> Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

• We drove another 2 hours and 30 minutes to the Grand Canyon, Arizona.
• We stayed at the El Tovar Hotel.  This is the nicest lodging on the rim of the Grand Canyon and we very much enjoyed our experience there.  The hotel is rustic, elegant and modern at the same time.  We stayed in the Manager’s and Zane Grey suites (suites have to be booked by phone), they were both spacious, with 2 queen beds, modern bathroom, and separate living room with tables and couches.  The Zane Grey suite had a balcony with a view of the Grand Canyon.  It was right on the rim and in a central location so we could walk to everything from seeing the sunrise and sunset to restaurants to hiking trails and tours.  There were no elevators in the hotel so we carried our luggage to the 2nd and 3rd floors, but I did see staff helping to bring up luggage also.
• Favorite Restaurants:  We had breakfast at the El Tovar Dining Room (dinner requires reservation).  From this dining room, you have a view of the Grand Canyon.  We had lunch at the Bright Angel Cafe and ate this great burger platter where you could choose your bun (gluten free option), toppings, sauces, and fries. We had dinner at the Arizona Room.  The ribeye is their specialty so we all ate it.
• We took the Hermit’s Rest Tour which drove us to different viewpoints along the rim.  It was great because there was a tour guide who spoke about the history of the Grand Canyon and answered our questions.  After hiking Zion and Bryce, my young children were tired so this bus tour was perfect for them.
• I didn’t do laundry here but if you need, to there is a laundromat near the Mather Campground.

Days 8 – 10 (2 nights): Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona -> Hoover Dam -> Las Vegas, Nevada

• After seeing the sunrise on the Grand Canyon at 5:30am, followed by hike about a mile down the canyon, then breakfast at the El Tovar Dining Room, we got into the car and started our drive to Las Vegas with a stop at the Hoover Dam.  It’s a 4 hour and 45 minutes drive to Las Vegas and you hit the Hoover Dam on the way, about 45 minutes outside of Las Vegas.
• We made the stop at the Hoover Dam because my Dad is an engineer and really wanted to see the turbines there.  My little one is too young to take the dam tour so we dropped my Dad off and then hung out at the Hoover Dam Lodge a couple miles away.  They have an arcade, restaurant, casino, and they generously let me use the coin laundry machines.
• We checked into the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  This was the first time my parents visited Las Vegas so this hotel was perfect for our stay.  It was in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip, rooms were nice and clean, great restaurants, nice pool, and fresh flowers everywhere (which my mom loved).
• Favorite restaurants: Great Chinese dim sum and noodle dishes at Noodles in the Bellagio.  Our favorite buffet was The Buffet at Wynn.

 

This vacation was amazing!  Amazing.  You will see so many beautiful things.  Even though we wouldn’t plan much for the days and spent a lot of time hiking and touring and looking around at natural wonders, I would not categorize this as a relaxing vacation.  We never felt quite settled because we stayed 2 nights at each location and then packed up and drove a couple hours to the next location.  Three nights would have been a little too long for my young children since they couldn’t really do much hiking.  This was the best itinerary for my family to tour the “small loop” of the Grand Circle and I would not have changed a thing.

If you’ve been to the Grand Canyon, would love to hear your itinerary.

Cheers to fantastic family vacations,
The Dumpling Mama xo

Even though Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park were amazing, the highlight of our Grand Circle summer vacation was to see the Grand Canyon.

Our first stop was to the visitor center to get the Junior Ranger booklets and hiking maps.  We took a stroll outside and there was a deer.  They say to stand at least 75 feet from the wild animals but it was impossible since the deer was right next to the walk way!

And then we walked a little bit further and got our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon.  Breathtaking…Nothing prepares you for how amazing this is.

We stayed in at the El Tovar and this was the view from our balcony.  I loved this hotel.  It was right on the Grand Canyon rim.  The hotel is rustic and elegant and the rooms were clean and modern.

I signed up for the Hermit’s Rest guided tour to take us to all of the view points along the west rim.  SO many beautiful views of the Grand Canyon.  It was great to have a tour guide to tell us history and answer questions.

At the first stop there was a National Park biologist who had setup a telescope view on a condor.  It was hard to see through the telescope and the condor was very small because it was so far away.  I think I saw it.  I could not believe he found the condor with his telescope in the Grand Canyon!

 

The highlight of the tour was Hermit’s Rest, a house built by one of the first woman architects, Mary J. Colter.

There is a little store and snack shop at Hermit’s Rest.  We took a rest and looked through the telescopes.

There are so many amazing view points on the rim.  There are rock walls and metal rails to create a boundary before the edge.  But much of it is has nothing and it’s a vertical drop down.  It can be scary with young children.

The girls really did a good job holding it together through all the National Parks we visited.  There was a lot of walking, hiking, restaurant eating.  Even though the views were amazing, when you are little, seeing the Grand Canyon one time is enough.  What helped keep the girls occupied was the Junior Ranger program.  We did the booklet together and the girls got engaged with their surroundings looking for things, animals, colors, smells.  It’s a great program!

In order to get your Junior Range badge, you have to finish at least 4 pages of the Junior Ranger booklet and attend a Junior Ranger class.  The girls attended Ranger Ronnie’s class on safety and history.  Afterwards, they got a badge and took an oath to take care of nature.

The girls also kept themselves busy making up dance routines wherever something looked like a stage.

They continued to take pictures with their iPads during the day and then print the photos in the evening and tape into their scrap books.  This was another great activity for them on the trip to keep them engaged and excited.

We caught the last moments of the sunset.

And did an early morning (5:30am) hike to see the sunrise.

It was gorgeous.

These trails were much longer and steeper then Zion and Bryce.  It takes at least 4 hours to make it to the bottom.  We didn’t have much time because we hiked the day we were leaving so we went as far as we could.  To keep the trails not so steep, they zig zag down the canyon.

There is still a steep drop off the trails so I liked to hold the rock while hiking.

Grouchy Husband wanted me to take a photo through this hole in a rock on the trail.  Against my better judgement and the scary “Dangerous Outlook” sign, I climbed to take the picture.

I’m not sure the photo was worth it, but it made him happy.

I planned this trip because my dad wanted to see the Grand Canyon.  It was on his bucket list and for all the things he’s done for me, it was the least I could do.

We looked up and saw deer on our hike.

We have seen so many beautiful and amazing things in Zion, Bryce, and now the Grand Canyon.  Many of them so unbelievable I found myself having to look several times to know this actually exists in the world.

I feel so blessed to be on this trip with my family and my parents.  Being together at these places is something we will all remember.  This trip was for my parents.  Even though they are normally (like many Asian parents) show little emotion and hard to please (especially my mom),  they both said multiple times they had a great time.

The Dumpling Mama xo

Next stop on our summer vacation driving the Grand Circle was Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.  This canyon is so different from Zion but equally stunning because of all the layers of red rock.

The weather is about 20 degrees lower then Zion so instead of shorts and t-shirts, we were in pants and long sleeves.  Most of our time was cloudy and drizzly so we wore our rain jackets.

But even with the cooler wet weather, the canyon was beautiful.

On our last day, the weather cleared up, it was sunny and warm, and we could spend the day exploring the canyon.  I took my parents and Baby on a wagon ride to the canyon.

My husband took Princess and my sister on an ATV tour.  Both were great and were guided so we got to hear history and ask questions.  Both our groups randomly ran into each other at one of the view points.

Texas Dave was our wagon tour guide.  Baby really wanted to take the horseback tour but she wasn’t old enough to ride a horse so we did the wagon tour.  Texas Dave let her sit in the front and hold the reigns and she was very happy.

After the wagon ride, he let both girls ride a horse around the coral and they were over the moon.

This isn’t something that is normally offered so the girls felt so special.

After the tours we headed into Bryce Canyon for a hike.

Since you start at the top and hike to the bottom, the trails are steep and don’t have guard rails, my mom and Baby waited for us at the top.

Walking down the trail was awesome!  We walked from the top of the hoodoos, pillars of rock left standing after millions of years of erosion, all the way down to the bottom of the canyon.

Princess braved the hike with us.  She was a good sport, it was steep and the whole trail was in the sun.

We made it to the bottom.   We did the Queens Garden Trail, named because one of the hoodoos at the bottom of the trail has a rock formation that looks like Queen Victoria.  It’s the hoodoo right behind us.

We hiked back up after a rest at the bottom.  The view from the top on the rim is unbelievable.

So in awe of God’s creations,
The Dumpling Mama xo

My family is on our summer vacation, driving some of the Grand Circle to see Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the Grand Canyon.  We took my parents because it’s always been on my dad’s bucket list to see the Grand Canyon.  We just left Zion and had the best time.  We stayed at the Zion Lodge.  This lodging in the only one in the park and I highly recommend it because it brought us closer to all of the hiking trails and because we are with my young kids and parents, it was so nice to have a place to take a break during the day.

Our favorite thing to eat at the lodge was the soft serve ice cream.

Every evening, deer would come to the front lawn and graze.  This was one of the highlights for the girls.

Another highlight were the turkeys that came to the lawn in the morning.  We brought a portable photo printer and every evening the girls print photos they had taken with their iPads and tape them into a memory book.

The hotel had rocking chairs in the front great for people, deer, or turkey watching.

Our first hike was to Emerald Pools trail.  It was relatively flat and had waterfalls.  We just had to walk across the street from the lodge to get onto the trail.  This was the first hike the girls had ever taken and it was perfect.

It was amazing to be surrounded by gigantic sandstone and rock.

My mom isn’t into hiking but she was a good sport and I think she had a good time.  My younger sister also came.

I think she had a good time.

The girls were much more into the animals and bugs on the trail then the actual hike.

My dad was really into hiking and seeing the different views of the sandstone and rock walls.

You feel so small in the canyon.

We took the Zion Canyon shuttle to get to the different hiking trails.

We took the shuttle to Big Bend because it was known to be a great spot to take photos.

And it was.

It provided a great backdrop for a family jumping photo.

Jumping photos never come out perfect but they look so fun.

After Big Bend, we went to Temple of Sinawava.

We started on the paved trail.

But the girls rather walk along the sand and stones next to the water.

This trail leads to the Zion Narrows, a network of difficult hiking trails to amazing views and trails in the water.  This was too challenging for our group.

We took one last photo on our drive out as we ascended up the canyon walls.

The Dumpling Mama xo

We just came back from a long weekend in Burlington Vermont.  I planned this vacation here because I wanted take the girls to visit Shelburne Farms.  This is a non-profit, working farm with a mission to educate on sustainability and conservative ethic.  Food and nutrition are important to me and I want the girls to learn the importance of where our food comes from.  We spent a day visiting their Children’s farmyard.

Every half hour there is an activity and the girls did them all.  Their favorite was collecting eggs.  The chickens lay their eggs in these little cubbies.  The girls waited patiently and went back multiple times to check for chickens that left their cubby so they could see if they laid an egg.  They were anxious to find eggs and with a little help from Grouchy Husband using a stick to lift a chicken up, both girls found a warm fresh-laid egg.

After they picked up the egg, they brought it to be weighed and placed it in the egg carton.

Milking the cow was their next favorite activity.  Girls were both surprised how hard it was to squeeze the milk from the cow.

The girls looked for all the colors of the rainbow in the garden.

They got to pick and eat husk cherries.

They got to brush a horse.

They visited a mama pig and her piglets covered in mud to keep cool.

The got to pet turkeys.

They watched how cheese was made.  And even got to try samples.

One of our best meals during our visit to Vermont was at the farm cafe.  Meat, cheese, and vegetables all from the farm and so delicious.  I love the simplicity of farm life.  If I had my own, it would have to be dairy farm because I can’t keep plants alive in our home.

Cheers to a Simple Life,
The Dumpling Mama xo

 

The girls, Grouchy Husband and I just came back from a long weekend in Burlington, VT.  It’s about a 5 hour car ride from our home and for the most part, the girls were good in the car.  They have started to like audiobooks so the Magic Treehouse kept them entertained for hours.

We stayed at the rustic, modern, and eco-friendly Hotel Vermont.  Recycled products everywhere, local Vermont shampoos and soaps, restaurant used local cheeses, meats, and vegetables in their food.  It’s the life I want to live all the time.  It was amazing.

On our floor was a shared beverage center serving water, sparkling water, coffees, hot chocolate, tea, peaches and plums.  Of course, all recycled cups and napkins.  Brilliant.  The girls had a hot chocolate every night.

We checked out the gym to make sure Grouchy Husband could put together a workout there.

On the back patio was a fire pit.  Girls wanted to roast marshmallows but unfortunately it was a gas fire pit and would have made all of the marshmallows taste like gas.

The hotel was a block from Lake Champlain and we walked there to see the beautiful pink sunset every evening.

The town was a couple blocks away with lots of great restaurants and outdoor seating.

And after we ate, there were rocks to climb.

And street performances to see.

One day we rented bicycles and road the bike path around Lake Champlain.  We stopped to take  pictures.

It was gorgeous.

We stopped at the waterfront.  The girls waited over 30 minutes to sit on this swinging bench.  Any swing is a playground.

After the ride, we cooled down at the ECHO Center for Lake Champlain.  The girls saw and touched animals.  Made buttons.

And did pull-ups.

The weather was amazing, the lake was beautiful, and I was in excellent company.  It was perfect.

The Dumpling Mama xo