TR Southwest Splendor 5-25 to 6-1

[lsutigger2]

We got back on Sunday from out first ABD trip. It was AWESOME

Everything we did was just about perfect. The stops and things we got to see and do were so much fun and interesting. The places we stayed were great.

Just a few details: It was just DH and me.
Our group size was 25 with four under the age of 12. Everyone was friendly and we really enjoyed talking with all.
Tiffany and Mike were our guides. They were fabulous

I will probably do better with specific questions, so fire away and I'll do my best to answer them.

 

[bicker]

Glad to hear Tiffany is still working this tour! and glad you had a great time!

 

[jenbadeaux]

Lsutigger, glad to hear you had a great time. We are going on this trip 8/2-8/9. It will be me, my dh, my dd19, ds11. ds9, and dd6. We are also from Louisiana (in fact, the 19 year old is going into her 2nd semester at LSU). I do have a couple of questions for you. How did you find the heat compared to what we have here in the south? Did you do the helicopter ride over the canyon? Did you do the hummer ride up the cliffs? What did you elect to do on your own time? Did you make reservations for anything in advance? Anything you wish you had known or would have done differently? Appreciate any tips you might have. We are getting excited!

 

[lsutiggeratwk]

Answer's to jenb's questions:
Heat: The weather was just about perfect for us. Crisp, low humidity everyday but one. August will be different and probably much hotter. You will be in a higher altitude. It is a "dry" heat as compared to the "humid" heat in south louisiana.
We did take the helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. It was probably my favorite activity. We did the 55 minute ride. It was $240 per person. But it was worth every piece of really great jewelry that I didn't buy
The tour guide took care of making the arrangements for us. We did not do this ahead of time. There was a shuttle from the helicopter company that picked us up at the hotel and brought us back at the end of the ride. The airport is about a five minute drive from the hotel.
We did not do the hummer ride. I don't think anyone in our group did that.
We spent some of our free time shopping When I get home I'll send some info on shopping in Sedona. We rode hores while at Red Cliffs in Moab. the ride was long for a gal that had not been on a horse since I was a pre-teen.
We did not make any arrangements ahead of time.
One suggestion, especially for a trip in August is to bring something that will hold a couple of bottles of water. You will want and need to drink lots of water. When we were hiking in Red Rock State Park and doing the jeep ride, etc it would have been really nice to have something to hold a couple of bottles of water. There are some fanny packs that have places for bottles of water. My DH did have an LSU water bottle holder that clipped onto his belt loop.
Be prepared to have a great time. If you have any other questions, please ask. I will be glad to share. The trip was filled with Disney magic and lots of pixie dust.

 

[tammydel]

We are doing this trip in August - I'd love to hear more details of your horsebackriding. How/when did you arrange it, how long was the ride and where did you ride?

 

[lsutigger2]

Horseback riding details:
This was available at Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab, Ut - last stop on the trip. I don't believe there is a need to pre-arrange this. A group that went on the ride on Friday night (second night in Utah) had about 8 -10 in the group. Our group on Saturday was about 18 - 20. You sign up at the reservation desk in the hotel. I believe the cost was $69.95. Everyone gathers in the corral and then the wranglers match you up to a horse. My horse's name was Lucky and my DH's horse was named Cisco. Cisco has two speeds - slow and stop. Could have been operator error as well. The ride lasted almost three hours. You stop often for horse "potty breaks" and once to check saddles and to see how everyone is doing. The wranglers will take pictures at this stop also. I would have been happier if the ride had been a little shorter in length. You ride across the highway (but go under a bridge to get there) and up thru the canyon and end up along the creek that runs thru the lodge property. The scenery was really nice. It is rocky, as is much of the area around Red Cliffs. Bring and drink water if you decide to go. Much of the ride is out in the open - no shade. You could probably get additional information on the Red Cliffs website. I'm not sure of the age restrictions. I know one of the jr adventurers in our group was 8 and she rode and there was a young boy, maybe 7 or 8 in our group.

I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did.

 

[tammydel]

Thanks for the great info. We are doing this instead of our summer Disney trip so we are trying to keep everyone excited. Of course I'd love to know every little detial!!!
Last year I heard some not so great reports on the Grand Canyon Hotel (Heard the others were great though) How were your hotel experiences?
Tammy

 

[bicker]

Oh yeah! I'm curious whether they ever wrangled the dust bunnies from the stairwells at the Grand Canyon Hotel and set them out to pasture.

 

[tammydel]

We are going on this trip 8/2-8/9. It will be me, my dh, my dd19, ds11. ds9, and dd6.

We go on 8/16, too bad we are not on the same trip I have ds11 and dd10!
Tammy

 

[tammydel]

Oh yeah! I'm curious whether they ever wrangled the dust bunnies from the stairwells at the Grand Canyon Hotel and set them out to pasture.

Should i pack my own dust buster!!!

 

[lsutigger2]

Relax about the Grand Hotel in Tusayan - just outside of the Grand Canyon.

It seems they have done some refurbishment of the hotel. They were putting in brand new furniture while we were there. They had painted recently. The blue tape was still on some of the walls. Everything in our room was fine. One of the rooms that another couple had even had a sky light. The Grand Floridian it is not, but it is fine for a couple of nights.

Did not see any dust bunnies in the stairwells, 'cause we always took the elevator

The Amara in Sedona is very nice. It is located just off a main highway so it is in walking distance of shops and restaurants.
The Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab is fine also. The rooms there have a kitchenette, dining room table that seats four, a sofa and patios that look out onto either the Colorado River or a creek. We actually had a few minor issues with housekeeping here and not any at the other locations. They were not even enough to complain about.

Shopping in Sedona: As I mentioned before, there is shopping very near the Amara in Sedona. If you want a different, more unique kind of shopping you may want to hop on the free shuttle that goes thru town and stop at Tlaquepaque. You do get a chance to eat lunch there and do about an hour of shopping there on the day you leave Sedona on the way to the Grand Canyon. But if you want more shopping time, go the afternoon/night before when you have some free time. It was really a nice area and I think there were three or four restaurants. You might check on the hours of operation. It seems like a lot of things in the area close up fairly early. We ate at Oak Creek Brewery and Grill - yummy

Anything else folks want to know??? I'm not going to give away any pixie dust surprises though. I want it to be as special for you and your family as it was for me and my DH.

 

[bicker]

Did not see any dust bunnies in the stairwells, 'cause we always took the elevator

Well, as long as they dusted the piano since we were there last year, that's good.

 

[jenbadeaux]

We go on 8/16, too bad we are not on the same trip I have ds11 and dd10!
Tammy

Wish we had coordinated that better!

 

[jenbadeaux]

OK, Lsutigger, my whole family is trying to convince me to do the helicopter ride over the canyon. It is fear, not finances, that is in my way. However, if it was your favorite activity of the WHOLE TRIP, I might have to face my fear and go. I have one more way of possibly escaping this, though. How many people can go on one helicopter? With 6 of us, I'm thinking we might not all fit. Be glad to volunteer to stay off if necessary, although my kids and my husband really want us to ALL go. Yikes.

 

[lsutiggeratwk]

Sorry jenb - the numbers aren't going to get you off the hook. We were a party of seven. Four adults sat in the backseat and the pilot and two adults and a young girl (9) sat in the front. There is lots of glass (?) so everyone gets a good view. They do arrange you by weight so the helicopter is well balanced! I had never been in a helicopter before. It was fine. Just a different experience. The helicopters are not allowed to go in the canyon, just stay above it. Does that help?

To see the canyon from the north rim (which is what you'll be looking at from the south rim ) was absolutely awesome!

I hope you give it a try.

 

[Turtlemom]

We're taking the Southwest Splendors trip on August 20-27, 2008. Can't wait!

Quick question for you southwest veterans. The helicopter tour sounds really awesome. But it there enough time to actually go down into the canyon? Have any of you done this? Just curious . . .

 

[lsutigger2]

Welcome to the boards! You'll be glad you joined this bunch. Everyone is full of great information.

The helicopters are not allowed to go down into the canyon. So you will stay above it all. We took the 55 minute tour. We started out east of the airport, crossed over the canyon to the north rim. Followed that for awhile and crossed back over the canyon and headed back east to the airport. So, we made a big circle. I know that sounds strange, but it really was good.
You might want to check out www.grandcanyonhelicoptersaz.com There might be more info there.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Turtlemom]

Thanks for the link. It looks really fantastic. We will definitely have to check this out when we are there.

One other question--do you actually have enough time to hike down into the canyon while you are there? I've head that there are donkeys you can ride into the canyon? Just wondering what the group actually does during the visit . . . . Any info is much appreciated.

 

[bicker]

We had enough time to hike down about 1/10th of the way, maybe more. But surely not all the way down, and not even by donkey.

 

[cindy18]

This is great! Our southwest tour starts on July 5th, and we're getting very excited. It sounds like The Grand has spruced up, which would be nice (based on earlier comments from last summer's trips). Apart from being worried about how hot it will be, we are very psyched. Any weather related tips would be most welcome.