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R. did not get up for sunrise pictures. I took a few. T. and I went to breakfast at Bright Angel Restaurant. Very cold outside but pretty.
We went to the National Geographic Visitor Center and saw the iMax film about Grand Canyon. It was okay. We bought some Grand Canyon merch: a gemstone pendant for A., a technical jackert for her, a shirt for me, a visor, a brimmed hat, etc.
We went to Starbucks nearby to plot our day. We drove to the main visitor center parking lot, parked and walked to Mather Point and took pictures. Then we walked to Yavapai Geology (because R. thought the road was closed to cars, which it was not, but that is great, because we walked along the rim which had been my major plan for the day). I bought A. a couple books, a ruler and T. a pen. We learned about geology. We took the bus back to the visitor center (these kids don't have much stamina, especially at altitude, which is good, because I only have slightly more). We went to the cafe, where T. got a chicken sandwich that turned out to be gluten free AND chicken salad. And yet, despite all that, he liked it. Who knew? We went to Bright Angel lodge and T. played on his iPad while the rest of us had lunch. I had the chicken club with a side salad, and didn't even mind eating the beets. The lime vinaigrette was good, unlike the Arizona Room's raspberry vinaigrette, which was pretty awful (fortunately noticed before pouring it on my food and got the oil and vinegar instead).
We had dinner at El Tovar. We forgot A.'s iPad, and the table had some padding that didn't interact well with the activities on the kids' menu. So we played many, many, many rounds of I Spy while watching the super gorgeous view and the many people walking past us on the rim trail. The manhattan was okay. The sidecar was better. The Hardy XO was excellent -- I'm going to look for it to buy. The next table over tried to order a Vieux Carre, which I would have done too if it worked, but since we had already established the bar had tequila but no mezcal, we figured they wouldn't have benedictine, either. They definitely were not able to make the Vieux Carre. Oh well!
I had the eggplant napoleon, which was a stack of veg, with a circle of polenta and a circle of marinara. It was really good. I may try to reproduce that, too. T. had creme brulee, and is now all over reproducing that at home. A. got a flourless cake with a blond brownie crust.
We went to the National Geographic Visitor Center and saw the iMax film about Grand Canyon. It was okay. We bought some Grand Canyon merch: a gemstone pendant for A., a technical jackert for her, a shirt for me, a visor, a brimmed hat, etc.
We went to Starbucks nearby to plot our day. We drove to the main visitor center parking lot, parked and walked to Mather Point and took pictures. Then we walked to Yavapai Geology (because R. thought the road was closed to cars, which it was not, but that is great, because we walked along the rim which had been my major plan for the day). I bought A. a couple books, a ruler and T. a pen. We learned about geology. We took the bus back to the visitor center (these kids don't have much stamina, especially at altitude, which is good, because I only have slightly more). We went to the cafe, where T. got a chicken sandwich that turned out to be gluten free AND chicken salad. And yet, despite all that, he liked it. Who knew? We went to Bright Angel lodge and T. played on his iPad while the rest of us had lunch. I had the chicken club with a side salad, and didn't even mind eating the beets. The lime vinaigrette was good, unlike the Arizona Room's raspberry vinaigrette, which was pretty awful (fortunately noticed before pouring it on my food and got the oil and vinegar instead).
We had dinner at El Tovar. We forgot A.'s iPad, and the table had some padding that didn't interact well with the activities on the kids' menu. So we played many, many, many rounds of I Spy while watching the super gorgeous view and the many people walking past us on the rim trail. The manhattan was okay. The sidecar was better. The Hardy XO was excellent -- I'm going to look for it to buy. The next table over tried to order a Vieux Carre, which I would have done too if it worked, but since we had already established the bar had tequila but no mezcal, we figured they wouldn't have benedictine, either. They definitely were not able to make the Vieux Carre. Oh well!
I had the eggplant napoleon, which was a stack of veg, with a circle of polenta and a circle of marinara. It was really good. I may try to reproduce that, too. T. had creme brulee, and is now all over reproducing that at home. A. got a flourless cake with a blond brownie crust.