Grand Adventure

As many of you know, Nick and I spent last weekend at the Grand Canyon. We had a wonderful trip. We flew to Phoenix on Friday morning and decided to sight see there first, eating lunch at the Matador restaurant and then checking out Bodyworlds at their local science museum (yes, we realize that the same exhibit was in Minneapolis for quite some time). After that we drove to Glendale in an attempt to see the Cardinals stadium, but unfortunately it was closed to the public for a private vendor sale (even the ladies in the gift shop weren't allowed to go in and look at it!).

With our sightseeing complete, we drove up (both north and about 5000 miles in elevation) to Williams, AZ. There we spent the night in the Grand Canyon Railway hotel, ate at Max and Thelma's, and swam in the hotel pool. We got up bright and early to ride the train north to the Grand Canyon. For anyone interested in visiting the canyon, I would definitely recommend this way of travel. Each train car has its own attendant, who is pretty much just there to make sure that you have a good time. It was a very relaxing 2.5-hour ride north. From the train we jumped right onto a tour bus that took us to some lookout points on the canyon. The views are amazing - it doesn't even look real when you're standing there looking at it because it's just so big! That night, as we were waiting in the lounge before dinner (there is a 5-star restaurant, El Tovar, right on the rim that serves delicious food) I accidentally deleted all the pictures from my digital camera by reformatting the memory card. Luckily we still had another day at the canyon, and we rallied, shooting an additional 203 photographs on Sunday.

Sunday morning we got up early and watched the sun rise over the edge of the canyon. It was cold, but not nearly as cold as Minnesota was and still is (mid 40s).

Sunrise at the Grand Canyon


We didn't get to ride the mules but they did oblige us with this photograph.

Next we decided to try hiking. We weren't prepared for the "down the canyon" hike, so instead we took a shuttle bus to Pike's Peak, about five miles east of the train depot we had to back at by 3 o'clock. From here we "hiked" back, taking plenty of pictures along the way. There were a lot of tourists out, and we saw some people do some crazy things, like go way to the edge of tiny precipices for "the best picture". We also saw a raven who would do anything to protect the golf pencil he had somehow gotten a hold of. In fact, he dropped it over the edge and had to make a diving catch in order to get it back!

Our hiking trail. There were plenty of smaller detours you could take that got you closer to the edge and out on lookout points, but for the most part this is what it was. The Rim Trail was a very nice, easy walk, although I think the lowish temperatures helped a lot - I can't image walking that far in 100-degree heat!


The raven and his golf pencil.


One of our Canyon photographs. There were signs that showed the distance to the "bumps" over the horizon. Some were more than 50 miles away!


The Colorado River gorge. We were so far up that you couldn't even see the water in the bottom, although there were points (we were told) where the water was not only flowing, but had 10 foot rapids!!


Proof that we were there and I'm not just making this all up.

We made it back in plenty of time to catch the train; in fact, we were even able to eat lunch at the same fancy restaurant we'd had supper at the night before. The train ride back was just as enjoyable as the train ride there, except that we were robbed!!! Not only were we robbed, but the train actually STOPPED so the robbers could get on. Oh my. Luckily, we were able to hang onto my jewels and purse and get off the train minus only a quarter. We made it safely back to Williams, and then survived the drive back to Phoenix and flew home to Minneapolis. Of course, the plane part wasn't completely uneventful, but Nick wants to write that part so it's a 50/50 chance as to whether or not you ever actually hear about it. The important thing is we're back and we had a GREAT time away from frigid Minneapolis.