Although the offerings in and around the Grand Canyon National Park don’t quite match up to the luxurious hotels in Phoenix or Scottsdale, they are more than suitable considering their proximity to the greatest of all the world’s geographical features: The Grand Canyon. One weekend, my wife and I decided to drop the kids off at grandma’s and just go, and we couldn’t have had a better trip.

Visiting the national park is pretty neat because they have the roads and installed foliage set up in such a way that you can’t actually see the canyon until you are walking right up to its edge, creating a momentary overwhelming feeling as you take in the scenery.

And the scenery is some of the best in the world; pictures just don’t do the Grand Canyon justice. Seeing and touching the rocks firsthand is something that anyone with any form of interest in the sciences should partake in. For those not so interested in rocks and Earth’s history, there is a full bar within 15 yards from the edge of the canyon that can fill your time while your friends or family look at the vast scene.