While we were in the northern Arizona area, we did not want to miss seeing the Grand Canyon. We quickly learned that campgrounds near there are expensive! We finally found one about half way between Williams, Arizona and the South Rim Visitor Center that was within our preferred price range, barely.
The park was called Raptor Ranch and it was actually a pretty cool spot! The RV spots were fairly basic with electric and water only. No sewer hookup. No big deal really, because our black (toilet) tank doesn’t fill up in a week. We did have to use the poop suitcase once to take some grey water (kitchen sink and shower/bathroom sink) to the dump station. We call it a poop suitcase, but we’ve only ever used it for grey water. People have all kinds of names for these things. Another one of our favorites is “Turd Toter.” 😂
The first night we were there a really cool thunderstorm rolled through. I of course, went outside and tried to get some pictures of the light show being put on.
Raptor Ranch had a Flintstones theme going on. They had a whole Bedrock village out behind the clubhouse/office and some really scary looking goatasaurus’s. Oh, and yes, I did slide down the dinosaur! Yabba Dabba DOOOOOO!!!
Another thing Raptor Ranch did was a few times a day they had a bird show. A falconer would fly one of his falcons for a while. Super cool because it would fly right down in between the folks standing around watching. He had a gps device on it that measured altitude and speed. The one we got to watch reached 82 mph! We even got to hold him afterwards! I’d never been to a falcon show where they let you do that. (Yes, Morgan was as scared as she looks in some of the pictures. LOL)
The only thing we didn’t really like about Raptor Ranch was the laundry. It was a nice laundry facility but they charged $5 to wash AND $5 to dry! $10 a load? No thanks. We drove into town.
We drove in to Flagstaff one day because we needed to get the oil changed in the truck and had some documents we needed to have notarized. While we were waiting for the truck to get done, we noticed there was a mead hall about a 2 minute walk from the dealership. Funny story. The first time Morgan had mead, which is sort of wine made from honey instead of grapes, the place called themselves a “Meadery.” Morgan thought all week that I said “meatery.” So she thought we were going to a place that would just bring you piles of brisket or maybe meat on a sword like the Brazilian steakhouses. HAHAHA! Anyhow, the mead hall in Flagstaff is amazing. If you like mead, hit them up if you’re ever there! If you’ve never had mead, you should try it. It’s called The Drinking Horn and it’s amazing. Honnibrook near Colorado Springs is another great Meadery. Honnibrook mead is about 5% alcohol so it’s more on par with beer. The Drinking Horn makes there at a more traditional alcohol percentage at around 12%. Similar to wine.
Saturday, we spent pretty much the whole day at the Grand Canyon. My sister and I talked about going there years ago when we were tent camping in Yellowstone NP. We decided to stay in Yellowstone another week instead so I had never gotten to see it. It was worth the wait.
Hope you enjoyed the read! Tell us what you think! We really enjoy reading your comments.
I love the memories y’all are making. They will keep you warm on cold winter nights when you are older. 🙂 I still rerun RV trips we made ‘back in the day’. Treasure each day and each adventure! ♥ ♥
Yes ma’am! That’s another reason we’re keeping this blog. Hopefully, we can come back here and read and remember things our memory may have gotten fuzzy on. Treasure each day and each adventure and most of all, treasure my beautiful wife. ❤️
Pretty sure I fixed your email address in the database. You should get replies now. 🙂
Really cool & great pics! We loved the Grand Canyon and have visited twice. We prefer South Rim over any other! Flagstaff area is super nice. Temps are lovely. Thanks for sharing more of your travels.
You know, we wondered if we were missing out by not making it to the North Rim. It was such a long drive around we skipped it so I’m glad to hear you like South Rim better! Maybe if we’re in the area again we’ll stay near the North Rim. Flagstaff is really nice! I wasn’t expecting it to be such a neat little town. Beautiful scenery too!
Fantastic job Mr. Smith as usual appreciate you catching us up. The merry travelers on the go enjoying the USA. See it all while you can. Love you both
Thank you, Grams! Glad you enjoyed it! We’re doing our best to see as much as we can while we can! We love you more! 🙂