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The Rutter Family at the Grand Canyon!

On Friday, August 30^th, 2002, we headed off to Arizona and Nevada for another family vacation in our 27’ travel trailer.  We were looking forward to a week of sightseeing and camping in Prescott, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and Laughlin (Nevada).

It took about eight hours to get to Prescott from our house in Whittier, California. The girls did great on the long drive. About an hour south of Prescott, the scenery changed drastically as we entered the Prescott National Forest.  We felt like we were in Big Bear, not Arizona!

The town of Prescott was incredibly unique. The town surrounded a large, old courthouse, with lush, green grass, which residents and vacationers were using for picnics. This historical part of Prescott reminded us of the town of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show. There were lots of old shops and neat restaurants to peruse. We decided to get settled at our campground, so we continued about 6 miles past town to the Willow Lake RV & Camping Park. We thought we were in for a real treat since the campground was near Heritage Park, which had a playground and lots of grass. But we were sorely disappointed when we entered the campground gate. It was totally run down and the people were "less desirables," to say the least. There were lots of full-timers (which typically means the sits are cluttered with junk), and many trailers that were dilapidated.  We left immediately, even though it was Labor Day weekend and most places would be booked the next three days.  Also, we had very little water and no generator, since we had planned on staying at full hookup sites.

Thankfully, we found dry camping at Watson Lake, just a couple miles away. The campground had just a handful of sites, but given that there were no hookups, we knew we had a mission to accomplish the next day. The campground was fairly close to the road, so you could hear the traffic and see the headlights shinning on your site at night. Unfortunately, you didn’t have a view of the lake, which was a really pretty site with lots of red rocks and green trees sprouting from the rocks. The water level was very low, so the coloring on the rocks from the erosion added a lot of character.

On Saturday, our first goal of the day was finding a place to camp with hookups since we wouldn’t be able to dry camp for very long given our water situation. We headed to Point of Rocks Campground, just a half mile from Watson Lake. They had two sites for us to choose from. We were able to get a site on the "upper park," which had more trees and better privacy than the sites below.  As a bonus, the sites on the outer edge were surrounded by tall, red rocks. We headed into town around while we waited for the current residents to checkout. The courthouse plaza area that we saw yesterday was now the site of the town craft fair and farmer’s market.  While we walked around the plaza, we heard a sound similar to a helicopter landing and soon it sounded like locust invading the town square. We learned it was Cicada, similar in shape to a very large beetle, but with lots of colors. They were extremely loud.  At least these insects only make the noise periodically.  Around 11:00, we enjoyed lunch at The Palace. The décor was truly "old country," as the waitresses were dressed in prairie dresses and the men in western gun-slinger attire. The food and the service were great and moderately priced. Afterwards, we headed back to Watson Lake to pickup our trailer and set up camp at Point of Rocks Campground.

On Sunday (our last full day in Prescott), we headed to Lynx Lake, just a short drive from Point of Rocks. As with Watson Lake, the water level was really low.  It was obvious that this was a very beautiful lake in its prime. It is surrounded by lots of pine trees, but the large gap between the trees and the water level was very barren.  Prescott is a lovely town with rolling hills, lush foliage, restaurants, shopping, parks, and lakes.  (We'll keep this town tucked away in our heads as we get closer to retirement.)

On Monday, we headed to Page Springs, just a few miles south of Sedona to Lo Lo Mai Springs Campground, our home for the next couple days. We arrived around noon, just in time to make lunch and get situated. This was one of the loveliest campgrounds we have ever visited, and we've done a lot of camping!. It was like an oasis in the middle of the mountains, with lots of trees, grass, and even a stream and pond.  Plus it had some extras such as a recreation hall, pool and a spa.  We found a great site along the creek, near a small waterfall with shade and geese to keep us company. The only thing this campground lacked was a café. We decided to hang around the campground for the day and head into Sedona the following day.  We had a great day, feeding the ducks, swimming in the pool, and BBQing next to the stream.

On Tuesday, we woke up early (thanks to the girls) and headed off to the town of Jerome, the largest Ghost Town in the U.S. It was only an hour drive from Prescott. It’s nothing like the town of Bodie, near Bridgeport, since Jerome is still a working town with restaurants and stores. We started off at the museum which is located on a hill all by itself outside of the town. It cost $4.00 per adult to get in the museum, which was small, but a great opportunity to escape the heat for a couple hours. Afterwards, we drove through the town, or what was left of it since many of the buildings had fallen to the ground. Then it was off to Slide Rock Park, just north of Sedona. On the way, we stopped for lunch at Junipine Café and Grill (just a couple miles north of the park), where we had a fabulous lunch in a cabin-like setting. With full stomachs, we pulled into Slide Rock Park and enjoyed a fun afternoon. A stream runs through a small canyon of red rock.  The rocks are slippery enough that they act as a slide for those who are brave enough to go in the 65 degree water.  Mommy and Karlie did it first, and then daddy decided to give it a try. He went down the slide twice. Kaitlyn stood on the sidelines and watched, since one time was enough. It was a loaded day, but we had a great time. The girls slept on the drive home and we enjoyed a BBQ dinner at our campsite that evening. At bedtime, we enjoyed a lightening storm followed by a little bit of rain.

On Wednesday, we packed up the trailer and drove to our next destination: the Grand Canyon. We had reservations at Trailer Village, which is located in Grand Canyon Village, for one night. We made a slight detour along the way to the Meteor Crater, about 30 miles east of Flagstaff. We probably could have bypassed this little journey.  The cost to get in the gate was $12 per adult (the girls were under 5, so they were free), which we hadn’t expected. We spent a little while viewing the exhibits and walked out on the observation decks for a close-up view of the 550’ deep meteor crater that was supposedly created 50,000 years ago. After a couple hours, we were back on the road again towards the Grand Canyon. We arrived around 5:00, just in time to get a birds-eye view of this wonder of the world before sunset. It is truly spectacular. John had been there before, but it had been about 20 years. April’s last visit was as a toddler, so technically this was her first "real" visit. After ogling over the view for a while, we drove to our campsite at Trailer Village for the night. It was a convenient location, since we could drive to the rim of the canyon in a matter of minutes, but the grounds didn't offer much. We did have full hookups, but the place was pretty barren, which was surprising given that the foliage around the canyon was so lush and green.

The next morning, we drove to the rim of canyon for another view of the canyon in the morning sunshine. There was a lot of haze, but the view was still breathtaking. Afterwards, we packed up our trailer and headed to Laughlin, Nevada, about half way between our house and the Grand Canyon. We stayed at the Flamingo Laughlin, located right along the Colorado River in the heart of town. We enjoyed the hotel buffet and a walk along the river that night. It was still stifling hot, but the girls loved being outdoors and seeing all the bright lights. We stopped by the Colorado Belle, so Karlie could see the place where our friends Scott and Kris Viseur got married in October of 2000. She was thrilled to see where it all happened since we left her behind on that trip (and Kaitlyn wasn’t born yet).

Friday morning we headed home after a week on the road and many wonderful memories in our heads. It was an uneventful drive, until we blew a trailer tire about an hour from home. We didn’t feel it, but luckily another driver was kind enough to flag us down and tell us that it had happened. The tire debris did not damage the trailer, so we were very blessed to walk away without any harm to us or our vehicles. John was able to change the tire and we were on our way an hour later. Just a minor setback after traveling a total of 1300 miles.  What a fabulous journey!

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