Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York would be a great event to attend but, let’s keep it real. Flying anywhere during the holidays is very expensive, hotel rooms in New York city – are you crazy? I am not made of money! Being an American, I knew I had to spend Thanksgiving with turkey and yams, but this was also a 4 day weekend for me so I needed to make the most of it. Flying was out of the question, luckily I live in San Diego so there are plenty of drive-able destinations. After ruling out Mexico, as I was unsure about the quality of turkey there, I decided on the Grand Canyon – only after I saw a photo circulating the internet of a girl pretending to fall off the edge.
To start our journey, we left at 7 am on Thanksgiving day to begin the 7 hour drive to Flagstaff. First piece of advice: allow yourself plenty of time as there is much to see along the way. The bonus of visiting Arizona is the free scenery.
The truth is, I did not do any research on Arizona, all I wanted to do was mimic the photo of the girl so, on our drive I was not expecting to see other wonderful sites.
One site along the way; Montezuma Castle located in Camp Verde – cost $5 to enter. After taking a few photos we were back on the road.
We arrived into Flagstaff and it was finally turkey and yam time! We did not know the area or had the sense to Yelp anything so we stopped at the first place that advertised a Thanksgiving day special ‘Coco’s’ it was! Our meal was $17 each and we were more than satisfied.
Next stop was the hostel, for $20 a night we stayed at the Grand Canyon International Hostel. This hostel is clean, offers complimentary breakfast, and hosts great people from around the world.
After checking in and unpacking we headed to the local bar to immerse ourselves in the local culture. By immerse ourselves I mean enjoy beer and sing karaoke in pajamas. Little did I know that the bar had an all you can eat, complimentary buffet for Thanksgiving! There was pumpkin pie and stuffing as far as the eye could see. People were singing, eating, and celebrating how thankful they were for how amazing this night was.
I became friends with some foreigners which was quite convenient as I learned the cost to enter the Grand Canyon was $25 per car, we were able to split this between 7 people. It was also convenient to split the cost of champagne, as every visit to the Grand Canyon must be celebrated with a toast. Once inside, it was time to replicate the famous photo and say a toast to the Grand Canyon, after all I was very impressed on how grand it really was. Second and final piece of advice: do not bring open bottles of champagne unto shuttle buses, no one appreciates it.
The grand Arizona journey did not end here, we went on to take a helicopter ride in Sedona and enjoy the local culture of Phoenix. After getting my fill of Arizona I returned to San Diego with a bank account to be proud of and my infamous photo.
Derek Johnson says
Nothing better than a clean hostel and a huge Canyon!