Grand Canyon, South Rim

One of the treats traveling the I-40 on the way to the Grand Canyon South Rim is the stop at Winslow, AZ, famous from Jackson Browne's "Take It Easy" which the Eagles covered and made into a huge hit. When Jay and John stopped here in 2006 the "corner" was under construction so we wanted to see what they'd done with it. John's pointing to the "girl in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me", i.e. - he's got his thumb out hoping to get lucky. Back in the car buddy!

On the Canyon access road we ran into late afternoon thundershowers, evidently a common occurrence this time of year. Per one of the Park Rangers, "It's monsoon season". Speaking of the Park Ranger, turns out this volunteer was from hometown Toledo, OH and grew up on Robinwood Avenue, one street over from the family manse on Scottwood. It was old home week for a while as we chatted about all the Robinwood folks that the Wenzler family knew. Truly a small, small world. Factoid from the Ranger, "What's the most dangerous animal in the Park (other then the humans who find a way to rack up an average of 16 fatalities a season doing what the Ranger called "Stupid Park tricks")? Answer, the squirrel. These little furry rodents are quite adept at posing for the tourists who then either attempt to pet or feed them. Ouch! Off to the hospital for rabies shots, the most painful of treatments...

We posted a short video on Facebook which was a panorama of the different lighting of the park from one location. That's the beauty really. You can stand in one overlook all day and the light and colors will change dramatically as the sun makes it's east to west movement. We chose motion however. The Park has an excellent free trolley system (oh, did I mention that our Senior National Park Card got us right in at the entrance with no additional fee? What a bargain, for $10 a person you gain "free" admission to any National Park which usually have fee's in the $25 range. Save on as we visit Yosemite, Zion, Bryce and Monument Valley!).

We rode the trolley west to Hermits Rest, off limits to vehicles. Each stop offered different view's of the canyon and in some cases the Colorado River over 6,800 feet below in some spots. From Hopi Point, the river which is over 6,000 feet below looks like a thin line even though it's actually over 350 feet wide. With our binoculars we did manage to spot several rafting parties on the river below which would be a fun way to see the Canyon by looking up rather than down, provided one was on a "flat water" trip!

We had intended to hike down the Bright Angel trail about half-way but our friendly Ranger told us it took twice as long to come up as it did to get down, so with limited time we chose to grab lunch back at the Maswik Lodge, then took the car to explore all the overlooks west on the way to the Desert View and Watchtower, the final attraction along Desert View Drive. At each overlook, as the afternoon waned, the light in the Canyon changed and the hues mingled from green to red to dusky desert tones. No wonder we saw so many painters and photographers!

As a side note, we noticed that our wind shield sported a 10 inch crack that the sun must have brought out. We knew we were hit by a stone the day before but there was not a sign of damage the next morning. But after lunch when we entrained in the car for the Desert View run we saw it. Yikes, 3,000 miles on a new car and already a damaged windshield. Bummer. We'll take care of it in LA where we have a two week layover with Jay.

After a long day, we managed a lovely prime rib dinner at the Best Western in Grand Canyon Village just outside the park next to the Red Feather Lodge where we were staying. Fodor's gave the Best Western dining room a big thumbs up and we agreed, especially priced at $12.99 for a three course dinner (yes, early bird before 6:30 PM but remember, we were still transitioning from EDT to PDT so parts of our bodily system thought it was 9:30 PM (that would be the Cavit part?).

It's very difficult to describe the elegant beauty of the Grand Canyon. Even photo's don't quite capture this unique eloquence of nature. As one of our dear friends, an expert photographer with a fabulous kit of equipment told us, "Only the human eye can truly capture the beauty".

I guess this is why the Grand Canyon is a must see on any bucket list. It's truly a gift of nature, it's here so you don't have to travel halfway 'round the world and it's so stunning that words can't really describe it.

With a long travel day ahead of us, we hit the vee berth early and the next morning at 7:00 AM found us LA bound. We answered the Duke's call, "Westward Ho!".