Catching Sunrise at The Grand Canyon

Here come the star of the show: The Great Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon terletak di Arizona, sekitar 4,5 jam dari Las Vegas. Tapi karena kami ngide ke Joshua Tree National Park dulu, jadilah it took around 6 hours menuju kesini dari California. Sepanjang perjalanan asli sepi banget. It just us with road and the sky. Kami sempet berhenti di rest area buat makan di Wendys and grabbed a coffee before heading to Seligman (the famous route 66) then going straight to Grand Canyon.

Kami menginap di Bright Angel Lodge, penginapan yang ada di dalam Grand Canyon-nya langsung. The location is superb! Buka pintu udah nyampe di South Rim Grand Canyon (spot buat lihat Grand Canyon dari atas). I would say spending little bit more money on the lodge is the best decision ever! I mean, dengan bawa bayi 15 bulan, kami bisa tetep dapet sunrise disini karena ya emang sedeket itu lokasinya. Winter rate di lodge ini sekitar $137 semalem untuk kamar tipe tiga queen beds. Di high season emang mahal banget sih ratenya, around $450 semalem. Dan bukan hanya itu, we have to reserve like 10 months in advance lol.

Downside-nya kesini saat winter adalah: dingin banget. Grand Canyon masih bisa bersalju dan meskipun saat kami disana cerah sepanjang hari, tapi beberapa hari yang lalu sempet turun salju jadi masih banyak sisa-sisa salju disana. We consider that we were lucky because even though it was freezing (like -10 celcius at night), the sky was clear. We did stargaze at night and woke up with a pretty sun in the morning. It was really really beautiful.

Grand Canyon sendiri memiliki sejarah yang panjang. Nggak berlebihan kalo orang bilang Grand Canyon adalah buku sejarah geologi terbuka. Lapisan batuan tertua di dasar ngarainya berusia hampir dua milyar tahun sedangkan lapisan atasnya terbentuk dari endapan laut dangkal, sungai, dan gurun selama ratusan juta tahun. Jadi bisa dibilang satu tebing di Grand Canyon menggambarkan lintasan waktu hampir setengah umur bumi. It really great, isn't it? I don't really into history and geology actually, but realizing that I stand in a place that having that long and spectacular process really amazed me.

Oh ya masuk ke Grand Canyon ini nggak free ya. Kita harus bayar entrance fee sekitar $35 dan additional fee for non-US resident untuk 10 national park ter-ramai di US (Grand Canyon is one of them). BUT, we can get it cheaper by buying annual fee, which is America Beautiful Pass, dengan harga $250 per 1 Januari 2026 untuk non-US resident. We were lucky because we purchased it in 2025 so we just paid $80 untuk satu tahun fee for all national park.