Wednesday, June 3, 2009

THE GRAND DADDY OF CANYONS.



















Anzhela wanted to tittle this blog The bottomless pit...but the Canyon is not bottomless, but it is sure a LONG way down. Today was a bit of going down memory road for me. Thirty years of roads in fact. I first visited the Grand Canyon in November 1979. The road up from Flagstaff was pretty quick, lots of motor cycles on the road. The landscape close to the canyon was quite lush which surprised me, but as we arrived at the park – yes another $25 entry fee – we were all in awe at this wonder of the world. It is HUGE. And that is an understatement. At the first area there is a stone tower built in 1930 which is a viewing platform, plus the derigeur tourist gift shop. But really, all eyes are on the view. It goes straight down, and forever in each direction. I must admit, 30 years ago i was okay about sitting at the edge, but now, nope. No way. I didn’t really like being right beside the railings when it was about a mile or so to the bottom. The Colorado river winds through below but is dirty brown. At other view spots, it is more of the same.
But it is the colors that are awesome. Every autumn color you can think of, reds, browns, greys and everything in between. Some people were brave or perhaps stupid and had walked down several rocky outcrops away from the barriers. Absolutely b... nuts!
We ate up at the Canyon village, but wouldn’t recommend it again, food really just mediocre. If we had realised there were other options just outside the park, we would have waited.
Back onto highway 64 and then Interstate 40 heading west to Kingman. Interesting that the freeway signs give the miles to Los Angeles. This makes me realise our trip is nearly over... o nly 7 days to go. Time to go home. And yes, it is time, we’re all a bit tired and cranky.
But a surprising highlight came when we went off the freeway for a ‘restroom’ stop at Prescott. What a cute unexpected find. Cars... yes cars again... Old ones. We hadn’t realised we were also travelling along Route 66. Now for car nuts like us, this was a real treat. And the gas station we had stopped at had all this Route 66 memorabilia for sale. And yes, we indulged.
And now we’re at historical Kingman for the night. We’ve swum in the pool, relaxed.... until tomorrow at least.
Hoover dam and Las Vegas to come.

Happy days
Jane and gang

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