We woke up very early for our Grand Canyon adventure. Our historic hotel which is very pleasant, did not include air conditioning. The ceiling fan was helpful. The window fan was dead but will be replaced this morning. So, we hope tonight’s sleep will be more pleasant.
We wandered down Route 66 and found a delightful Mexican restaurant where we had very hearty breakfast. Our hotel owner had given us a tip that we could pick up our train tickets for the Grand Canyon Railroad evening before, which we did, so we were not in a rush to go catch our train. The town was abuzz with tourists, both headed to the Grand Canyon and their Route 66 pilgrimages.
We boarded our train at 9:15 and it took off promptly at 9:30. The car that we were on appeared to be air-conditioned 1950s-era train. We were delighted over the next 2 1/4 hours by our car host, Amber Rose who took very good care of us and gave us a lot of information about Arizona, The Grand Canyon, and other things we saw on the train as we headed across the land of Northern Arizona. We saw the terrain and plants change as we went down and up in elevation. Also, on the train, we were serenaded by a singing cowboy. We thought they did quite a nice job with the train ride, and were very appreciative that we had sprung extra for an air-conditioned car.
We arrived at the classic train depot and after a couple of quick photos, headed up the stairs and across the street where we emerged and the South Rim of The Grand Canyon. Even though we had both been to The Grand Canyon several times previous, it is always awe inspiring. There really are not words to describe the grandeur, the immensity, and the beauty of this amazing place.
We spent a couple hours wandering along the South Rim, pausing at a number of beautiful, beautiful overlooks to gaze and, of course, take photos. We took some selfies, and served as photographers for many couples and families during the course of the afternoon.
We felt drawn to go about a half a mile down the classic Bright Angel Trail. If one follows the whole trail down to the bottom of the canyon, this becomes an all day or even a journey where one spends the night and comes back. It is a seductive trail because the downward part is very easy. We were drawn farther and farther down where we got some lovely shots. We eventually paused at a beautiful shady spot where we talked with a number of people who were on longer hikes.
We even met a couple of middle-aged guys who had hiked the day before from the North Rim of The Grand Canyon down to the bottom and all the way up to the top of the South Rim. They said they started their hike at 4 AM and finished at 11 PM and at various points they considered that they might need to call for helicopter rescue. It was a grueling hike, but they were rightly proud of themselves for having completed it. We also had a delightful conversation with a family from North Carolina, hearing about their 10-day western travels that they were in the midst of. There is nothing like exchanging travel tips and talking about journeys with fellow travelers who are also so grateful to be out on the road again.
It was beginning to heat up in the canyon and we knew it was time for us to turn around and work our way back up to the South Rim. We walked along for a while longer and then checked whether there was too long of a line on the shuttle bus to go further along. Indeed, the line was not long and the bus had just arrived so we hopped on and headed for what would be a 80 minute round-trip shuttle bus trip. We stretched it for another half hour or so by getting out a couple of times again to look at different perspectives of the canyon. Amazing, amazing, amazing. It was getting hotter and hotter and we were so grateful to stop for some ice cream. Then, we got on the shuttle to go back. We had another hour to play with, but Patti especially was tired, so we decided to catch the earlier train back to Williams. It was a car full of more tired, but happy travelers. All had had a beautiful day at The Grand Canyon. It was Grand for sure!
As part of the entertainment on the way back, we were visited by another singer and then the train was "robbed". Bandits approached the train on horseback and boarded the train. They took tips as their booty as they came through the cars. A pretty good gig for these guys to have daily times playing their characters and interacting with audiences.
We arrived in Williams at about 5:45 and went into the classic Fred Harvey Restaurant for a buffet dinner. We realize this is the first buffet we had been at in nearly a year and a half. It was set up fairly classically buffet style, but nothing was self-serve. Not quite as satisfying as piling up things on your plate, but we were hungry, having skipped lunch in our adventures today.
Following dinner, we walked back towards our hotel put some more ice in our cooler and headed up to our room. We’re still working out some of the kinks in this travels realizing we left the connector for our computer mouse, as well as the charging cube for the phone at home. Hopefully, tomorrow we will hunt up an electronics store and get ourselves in better condition to go forward. We always find at the beginning of a trip it takes a little bit to get back into the rhythm of traveling and figure out what we didn’t take along with us this trip.
There is something very delicious about being on just the second day of a lengthy vacation. We’ll get it figured out… No worries. It’s good to be on the road.
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