Grand Canyon 2014 - activities and flights

App - TRIP IT - I am using this app to save travel plans. It also has a website and it says it allows you to share travel plans with other people. It saves confirmation emails as well. Let's see how great it is. I will have a back up for now, but , it might be a great little find.

FEES 

$25 for cars or $12 for walking person - valid for 7 days. There are free days as well

FLIGHTS

There are flights to Phoenix, AZ, Las Vegas, NV, and to Flagstaff, AZ. There is also a flight from 

There are other options on their downloadable trip planner ( http://www.nps.gov/grca/parknews/upload/trip-planner-grca.pdf ) but they were not interesting to us.

The flight to Las Vegas is so far the best option. 

(Phoenix is less than $500, but it puts us there in the evening. And Flagstaff is almost like a flight to Brazil!!!!)

The Vegas flight puts us there by 10am, and it is around $580 a person. 

It gets us back home by noon, giving us a whole afternoon to rest before going back to work.

It is important to note that the website is expedia, but I am planning on going straight to UNITED - who breaks guitars - given my previous nightmare experiences with third party agencies...

GETTING AROUND WITH A GPS???? the website mentions GPS might be unreliable. So, go learn to read a map, if you haven't yet.

THINGS TO DO - This guide also gives options of hikes, drives and bike-rides. I am going to print one of these for me.

OTHER PLACES TO GO - Let's not forget that this is the DVWinters family trip and we have trouble - a lot of trouble staying put. I just looked at 

HOOVER DAM - It is close to Las Vegas, so we might start or end our trip there. There is a one hour trip that costs $30/person - and includes the power plan and dam passageways. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/index.html - notices that there is a cheaper shorter option that only includes the power plant.

GRAND CANYON SKY WALK - http://www.grandcanyonwest.com/ owned and operated by the Hualapai Nation, and they charge you to go on this Sky Walk which is a glass bridge right over the grand canyon.

There are different packages and to view them you need to click on the packages option at the bottom of the page, other wise you can only view the Gold package. Not all packages include the SKYWALK!!!!!! You must add it! 

The cheapest package - $45 per person after all fees and taxes are added. You have too add the SKYWALK which is about $30/person. So it will easily cost you $80/person (after taxes on the $30) That is without a meal. It seems that the Gold package will be a good deal because it includes the meal and the skywalk for a total of $88/person. Check them out before you make your choice, you might not want a meal. ....

We still have to look better into lodging and look at car rentals. My times is up for today, so I will save that for later. 

Don't you think for a moment that i am not going to plan our day by the second. Last time I didn't do that things got left undone.