4 days, 3 states (besides Utah), 2 kids and 1 tired Mom....1400 miles (23 hours) in the car but it was WORTH IT! Grand Canyon Trip 2014

If you take a look back at the Martushev Family Goals in the years past- starting when Artyom and I got married in 2005- you will see one ongoing trend...I have had "Visit the Grand Canyon" on each and every one of them!

I can't really pin down why...It has just been something I have wanted to do for SO long and I have actually been PULLED to that place. Well. This past weekend I was able to cross it off my bucket list! And I gotta tell ya- it did NOT disappoint!

Artyom was scheduled to be on "emergency call" the weekend of Memorial Day, so I figured that I would plan a few things for the girls and myself and if he could come, then great! Well Artyom gave me the best surprise when he called and said that someone at work wanted to switch with him and he now had Memorial Day Weekend off! And to top that-he asked if I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon!!

I went into FULL PLANNING MODE and found the best hotels and best travel deals with the ones that gave us the "biggest bang for our buck" and we were a go!

Our plan was to do a big LOOP from our house, South to Farmington, NM and visit the 4 corners Monument, then drive West to the Petrified Forest, and into Flagstaff. Visit the Grand Canyon and drive home through Zion's National Park.

And we pretty much stuck to it!

As with any well laid out plan, we had a few hiccups along the way and had to make a few minor adjustments, but they were not a bit deal. Some included:

• Not driving BACK to the 4 Corners Monument since the girls would have visited all 4 states anyway on our trip! DONE!
• We had to call the hotel in advance in Flagstaff as there was a Forest Fire in Sedona (a place we were going to go visit) and the hwy was closed. But good news, the hotel was fine and aside from some overcast skies with forest fire smoke, we were good!
• We had also wanted to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and see the skywalk, but unfortunately it was another 100 miles roundtrip out and we simply did not have the time to do so...NEXT TIME!

All in all, I could not be happier with the way it turned out. The girls had an AMAZING time, we were able to spend some much needed quality time with our family, swimming, hiking and taking pictures, and we captured some awesome memories.

NOW ON TO THE PICTURES!