My crew flew into Las Vegas on Christmas Eve and we drove into southern Utah to stay a couple of nights. We wanted to see the Mormon Tabernacle before we did any other adventures while out west. Unfortunately, the Mormon Tabernacle was under construction so we didn’t get to see it in its fullest magnificence. We instead redirected ourselves to go the Great Salt Lake. We found a great place to park and walked about a half mile to actually dip a toe in the salty body of water.
It’s Christmas Day and we made a 4 hour drive back to our hotel. The landscape was so unique to what we experience in the Southeast United States. The only restaurant open was Denny’s in Beaver, Utah. The restaurant staff was small but did a fabulous job serving so many unexpected guests on Christmas Day.
We began planning our trip to the Grand Canyon to visit the Skywalk on the western rim. We found the story behind the Skywalk to be very intriguing. The western rim was chosen because it was land on the Hualapai Native American Reservation and is owned and operated by the Hualapai Tribe. It was and is not part of the US National Parks.
When we first arrived, we paid for our experience, loaded a bus and made our way to the Skywalk. The Skywalk allows you to walk out over a small section of the Grand Canyon. Those of you wondering why I don’t have pictures of our overlook experience is because you’re not allowed to take any electronic devices out on the Skywalk. All electronic devices have to be left in a locker or leave all belongings with those in your party not participating in the 4,000 feet (give or take a few feet) look to the bottom of the canyon. You will be able to purchase a picture from the Skywalk staff. I personally am not a big fan of heights and figured I’d be crawling on hands and knees around the horseshoe design. The floor and sides are made of glass. Vertigo started setting in quickly for this guy but my adult children were soaking it up as we’re the other young guests enjoying God’s great and wonderful work. It was very cold that day and we got to experience snowfall during our trip. We spent time and money in the restaurant. The restaurant has a limited menu but everything we ate was delicious and it was reasonably priced.
After our Skywalk experience, we went to the gift shop. I bought 3 shirts for those of us that went out there. The shirt exclaims that “We did it!!” By far, it was one of the greatest experiences I had with my kids and wife.
For you future adventurers to Skywalk, keep a close eye on your young ones. There are no railings to keep folks from the edges.
There are also many other activities to do. There is hiking, rafting, zip lining, cabins to rent or bring the RV.
I’m looking forward to the day when our grandkids get to see the “Grand Look” and hope they see it much earlier than my own children.
Be blessed and safe travels!
