Grand Canyon 2020
Back in 2020, my dad, mom, and I each had a $500 voucher for American airlines. We got them in exchange for giving up our seats on an overbooked flight coming home from Mexico in February of 2020. and while I don’t think I would sit in an airport from 4:30 am till 9:00 pm for much less than $500, I will say that it was worth it. I mean, free tickets? Yes, please! We had a year to use them and if we didn’t use them within that time frame, we would lose everything and all our sitting in Miami would be useless.
My cousin was getting married in Colorado in November, so we decided to go there and then go on to the Grand Canyon. My sister went too, and we ended up having a flight together. The day after the wedding, my sister flew back to where she was teaching school and we flew to Phoenix where we got a rental car for the three hour trip to the Grand Canyon.
When we landed in Phoenix, the weather was absolutely amazing! It was 70 some degrees, and we thought this we great. However, the locals did not agree with us. The lady at the car rental counter was complaining about how cold it was and that she needed a coat. And we were all like, seriously?? This is awesome!
We had some time to tour around, so we went to Hole in the Rock. It might sound boring but its really cool! It’s a great little hike and the view is amazing. We had a three hour drive to our AirBnB about 30 minutes from the canyon, and I’ve never seen scenery like that. I’ll be honest, after a while I did get tired and seeing hardly any grass and just seeing cacti and brown all the time. 
Now, let me just explain something. This was November. It’s cold in November in Tennessee. But it’s not super cold. We don’t usually have snow and sometimes a thick jacket is enough. We had been watching the weather forecast for the canyon in the week or so before we went and we saw that there was a winter weather advisory. But we were thinking, Arizona? How can Arizona have a winter weather advisory? Arizona is hot. Well, let me tell you, Arizona can most definitely have and need a winter weather advisory! If you are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon in the winter, believe the winter weather advisory, take a real coat, and thank me later! The night that we got there, it snowed at least 6 inches, maybe more. I had a thicker jacket along but none of us had a proper coat or other winter clothes. And it was freezing!
I’ll admit, I’m not really a morning person. However, I am a photographer. And I was thinking, how many chances am I going to have to take sunrise pictures at the Grand Canyon? Probably not very often. So I dragged mom and dad out of bed early in the morning so that we’d have enough time to get there in time for sunrise. It was cold and dark and we had the consolation of knowing that we were probably going to freeze all day. Also, I didn’t know that instant ramen noodles were so good for breakfast! Please don’t judge me, at least they were hot!
I had done a bit of research before, so I kinda knew where I wanted to go. When we got there, there weren’t a lot of people out yet. The snow was deep enough to go in my shoes a bit, but it made everything so pretty! I walked out to the overlook that I’d chosen and got ready for the sunrise. I waited and waited and it just seemed to be staying cloudy and not really much of a sunrise. I was kinda disappointed, so I decided to walk a little farther down the trail to look at the canyon. Something made me turn around after just a little bit and head back though. And I just about had a heart attack right there. The sunrise was gorgeous! And I was missing it! And the overlook was full of people and I’d given up my spot at the rail! I hustled back to the overlook as fast as I could and made myself welcome at the rail. Thankfully I didn’t miss the whole sunrise! But it did scare me! 
If I had missed this, I would’ve been so sad!
We rode the bus part of the day, getting off at the different spots to look around. I don’t know if it was the cold or COVID, but there were not many people around at all, which was super nice. It wasn’t unusual for us to be the only people on the bus. However, after a while we were just too cold, so we left the park and went to the town of Tusayan and found an imax about the canyon. After that, we still didn’t feel like braving the cold, so we went to the Bearizona Wildlife Park. They have a drive through part and a walk through part, which were both really cool, and gave us something to do that wouldn’t freeze us. 
I was very determined to be at the canyon for sunset tho, especially since the next day we weren’t going to be there for sunset. So we went in enough time so that I could figure out where I was going to go. I found a great tiny overlook that was just a bit lower than the rim and had a great view. It also seemed a little out of the way and I was hoping that there wouldn’t be as many people there. I wanted to go walk a bit of the trail yet before sunset but I was afraid of losing my spot way out at the end because there was only room for 4 to 6 people at the max. There was another photographer waiting there and so I asked him if he would save a spot for me and he said he would. So I walked a bit of the trail and came back closer to sunset. And the overlook had filled up. There weren’t many people there actually but it didn’t take many people to fill it up. And bless his heart, the guy I had talked to earlier was still there and had saved me a spot. It was a little tricky getting down the steps, because with all the people walking around during the day, a lot of the snow had turned to ice and if you weren’t careful, you could easily fall. And by tricky, I mean that I had to hang on to the railing so I wouldn’t fall and go sliding down the steps. But I got myself and my camera safely down and I must say that in a way, the sunset was more impressive than the sunrise. The further down the sun went, the more red started popping out of the canyon walls. And the sunset itself was amazing. The next day we went back for sunrise but it was a bit of a letdown after the previous morning. But I made sure I learned my lesson and didn’t leave my spot till I was good and sure the sunrise was over! We were flying out early the next morning, so we left the canyon in the afternoon and drove back to Phoenix. 
My favorite!
All in all it was a great trip! Sure, we got cold. Sure, some of us might have wrapped up in a blanket the second day, but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do. I loved it all, even the instant ramen noodles. I will say they do taste much better when you’re freezing cold. The snow added so much to the beauty of it all, and I actually kinda feel sorry for everyone that goes in the summer and doesn’t see it covered in snow. But if you go in the winter, please take a coat if there’s a winter weather advisory!