Then slowly the realization sinks in that you have two small children, the trip requires an hour boat ride, you work three night shifts before the trip, and somehow it's still snowing in Northern Arizona. In May. The answer is still yes, but the little voice in the back of your head grows a bit more confident, and works its way much closer to the front of your head than you're used to.
That was how our week unfolded in mid-May this year. We had been trying to plan a camping trip with our very good friends, Dean and Jill, for several weeks. We realized that we all could take some days off of work around Memorial Day, so we decided to use them for a camping trip at the headwaters of the Grand Canyon. The trip would be wonderful in itself, but would also be a nice little prologue to a much bigger Grand Canyon trip we had planned with them later this summer (much more on that later). And since that trip wouldn't be involving our kids, this was a nice way to include them in a similar camping trip to assuage our guilt for not taking them on the big trip. Well, Aimee's guilt. I felt just fine about it.
Mid week before we left, the realization hit me that we had to pack three days of food, water, and camping gear into a little fishing dingy that Dean had rented for the weekend. A tricky endeavor under any circumstances, but especially since there would also be four small kids bouncing between the gunwales. Even in the modern post Glen Canyon era, the Colorado River is not to be underestimated. Suddenly the challenge/excitement/foolishness of our weekend adventure hit me, and I started to realize what we were biting off. And then on top of it all, Flagstaff got an extremely late-season snow, and I pictured us huddled up in a tiny tent, awake all night with two crying kids, questioning several of the decisions that got us to this point.
So we went, anyway.
We packed up the car, and headed north to Flagstaff. We spent the night at Dean and Jill's house, dipping our toes into acknowledging the challenge of what we were about to do. The consensus was that it would almost certainly still be worth it, and Dean and I would get up first thing in morning and head up ahead of Aimee, Jill, and the three smaller kids to scope it out.
Dean and I pre-packed the cars that night, so we could be on the road by 5am the next morning. Otto, their 6 year old, would be joining us, and the rest of the group was going to get on the road at a bit more reasonable hour. We figured allowing Quinn, Mimi, and Ruby (their 2 year old) to get some extra rest would make the three hour drive a bit more bearable. So we set our alarms for 4:45 and headed off to sleep.
Waking was easier than I would have thought. I woke up several times that night with the usual pre-trip did I sleep past my alarm excitement coupled with quite a bit of second-guessing. So we hopped in the car, buckled the half-sleeping Otto into his car seat, and set off for Lee's Ferry.
Sidebar: In a slightly misguided attempt to help Aimee and Jill sleep in a bit, I got Mimi up to use the potty before we left. I strongly, strongly willed her back to sleep (which would have normally been the case), but apparently the new environment (and her good friend Ruby being shouting distance away) resulted in a very early wakeup for everyone. Sorry, Aimee and Jill. [Guilty-looking emoji face.]
Our first stop was Speedy's, a roadside gas station on the Navajo reservation popular with river guides setting off on yet another Grand Canyon adventure. Dean works for one of the more popular Colorado River rafting companies, and had already been on some half dozen river trips, so stopping for the traditional corn dog breakfast was already ingrained into Dean's pre-trip routine. Recently becoming a vegetarian again, I opted for a sleeve of Hostess donuts and a gallon of coffee. You know, the healthy choice.
The drive was delightfully uneventful (Otto did great), and we made it to the boat rental shack in Marble Canyon around 7:30. The type of guy you'd expect would live in a boat rental shack in Marble Canyon popped out of the building and helped us connect the boat trailer to Dean's 4Runner. (He audibly laughed when Dean asked him if the tail lights worked.)
We drove down to the boat ramp at Lee's Ferry, and launched at 8. The weather was perfect, we were amped, and the boat deposit was non-refundable. We're doing this.
