Zachary

The band

The other band

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[Tuesday of our vacation]
Met everyone at Cracker Barrel for an early breakfast. It was pretty good. Better than Denny’s. :) Then it was off to the Grand Canyon. My parents told me I was there when I was 1 year old – funny, I don’t remember… Our first stop was at the train station. We were taking a train to the Canyon park. This train used to run in the early 1900’s and was revived/restored in the 80’s (I think?). The train station had a little gun fight show, and a Starbucks. Who could ask for more?? The show was cute. Then we were “all aboard!” -- for a two and a half hour train ride. Sadly the train was missing some creature comforts, like nice seats and air conditioning. But we had some entertainment. Walking minstrels… or rather… walking fiddle player, who, according to his oversized belt buckle, was some sort of fiddle champion. I don’t doubt it. He was quite good.

Towards the end of the ride, we were handed a park guide and given some instructions on where to go. There are free shuttles that run a tour all around about a 10 mile stretch of the south rim. After some studying we picked our route.

First stop – food. It was noon and breakfast was a long time ago. Ate cafeteria style then caught the shuttle bus to some lookout point.

The Grand Canyon is….big. Immense. Even standing on its edge you can’t really comprehend its size. Averaging ten miles across and one mile down. Unless you’re in it, or over it, you have no idea. It was awe inspiring all the same. We walked along the canyon for almost two miles, then caught the shuttle back. But, not before a quick visit to one of many souvenir stores. I bought a turquoise necklace, and J.T. bought a cactus – in a “to go” box.

The main downside to the train was you were on their schedule. And by golly if you were not on the train at 3:30, they were leaving without you. We were given many, many warnings on the way there. And sure enough, the train was pulling out at 3:28 by our watch. Sheesh. So if you’ve done the math, you’ll know we spent about 3 hours at the canyon, and that we spent more time on the train than in the park. Not enough time to do it justice, but enough time to make you want to come back, which we may do some day They have plane rides, helicopter rides, camp sites, and yes, donkey rides. Another souvenir was a donkey ride documentary DVD, which we enjoyed way more than we thought we would.

On the trip back, we had much less patience for the train. We’d seen the scenery before and it wasn’t that grand the first time around. But we were tired and managed to get in a couple Zzzs. The entertainer back was a guitar playin singer, who generously accepted tips. They all generously accepted tips. They even went so far as to rob the train about 20 minutes out so they could take even more tips under the pretense of entertainment. The only entertainment it afforded was watching the kids have fun. Bobby was all too eager to put his hands up and get robbed, even before they entered our train car. All in all, a good time, and well worth a glimpse at one the greatest natural wonders of the world.

Got cleaned up a bit then went to dinner at Salsa Brava – an excellent Mexican restaurant. Then back to the hotel for a bit of swimming and sitting in the spa, then a round of dominos (coincidentally, we played Mexican train) and off to bed.
posted by hbt at 12:49 AM