Wander with the Websters

At the beginning of this month we got the opportunity to venture to one of the 7 wonders of the world – the Grand Canyon and boy did we have some fun! Between train rides, luxury resorts, helicopter rides and random adventures, it is a trip we would highly recommend. I am putting together all of the details of our trip in this post.

We flew into Phoenix, grabbed a rental car and made our way to the Poco Diablo Resort in Sedona for our first evening. The resort was stunning and has a par 3 course on site. The rooms were so cozy and even had a little gas fireplace, which I quickly turned on to enjoy. We ate dinner at the Pisa Lisa Restaurant – they have the best gelato and a one of a kind lemon pizza. Trust me, the Siciliana lemon pizza is a must have.

The next day we packed up and headed out to explore downtown Sedona. The shops were so fun and we even got to hold a snake! Apparently, he was more like a dog than a snake. After we finished up shopping, we headed to the Verde Canyon Railway to grab our train tickets. We ventured through Clarksdale while we waited on our train ride. We grabbed lunch at the rail station and headed to our rail car. Our car had some comfy seats and was attached to an outdoor car. This train ride was so much better than I expected! The train rides out through the Canyon, while the tour guides point out different wildlife, unique rock formations and brief the guests on the history of the Canyon. We highly recommend this train ride.

After the train ride, we headed to Williams to check into the Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel. We grabbed dinner at the Cruisers Cafe 66. The Pine Country Restaurant came highly recommended to us, they just had a longer wait and we were starving! We had breakfast the next day at the Fred Harvey Restaurant before heading to the gun show. Before the train to the Canyon takes off, they have a fun gun show! We were ready to head to see the Grand Canyon. We hopped on the caboose and were ready to enjoy the ride. To be honest, this train ride was not as fun as the Verde Canyon train ride. I would recommend skipping this train ride and wake up early to drive to the Canyon. The wait to get through the gate can get pretty long, so the earlier the better. Parking can also be slim the later in the day you go.

After the train ride, we were picked up by a local taxi company and headed back to Williams to grab our rental car. We grabbed our car and drove back to the Canyon to stay the night at the Yavapai Lodge. That night we drove through the park and stopped off at several pull offs to catch the sunset. It was truly stunning! We ended up watching the majority of the sunset at the Desert View Watchtower.

The next morning we grabbed a breakfast sandwich and coffee at the Yavapai Lodge and explored a little more of the park before heading to our next adventure. If you are planning to find a decent parking spot, you will need to wake up super early and get moving. Parking fills up quickly. There are a ton of really neat hiking trails that if we go back, I would love to explore next time!

Later that afternoon we headed to the Grand Canyon National Park Airport for… drum roll please…… a helicopter ride with Maverick Helicopter Tours. If you can only pick one thing to do while visiting the Grand Canyon, pick the helicopter ride. It was the most incredible experience. Walking to the edge of the Canyon was nothing compared to flying through it. It was a 45 minute tour with a fun pilot that gave a stellar tour. We saw some of the coolest rock formations and wild animals that we would not have seen otherwise. I 10/10 recommend this tour with Maverick Helicopter Tours.

After the Helicopter Tour we headed back to Williams to stay the night in the Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel for another night. We ate dinner at the Fred Harvey Restaurant and headed back to the hotel. We hung out in Spenser’s Pub in the hotel for the evening and got to talk with some really neat people.

The next morning we headed back to Phoenix to our next destination – Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort! This was where we stayed for the next two nights and it was fabulous! The resort is built right into the cliffs and has 8 pools and a golf course on site. The main pool was where I stayed the whole next day, while Joseph headed to Troon North Golf Course for a round of golf with one of our Spring Hill classmates. He ended up meeting members of One Direction and calling me to tell me I should have come with him like he wanted me to. Apparently, Joseph made them die laughing, not shocked by this at all, and he returned Liam’s glove that he left behind in the fairway. He also got attacked by a jumping cholla cactus. We also made our way to a few of the surrounding golf courses in the area. I mean, is anyone surprised?

We ate breakfast at Scramble two mornings in a row. It was delicious! We ended up spending our final morning by the adult pool and then headed to the airport to fly back to home sweet home.