Grand Canyon - 19th May 2012

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Today we are back into the old routine with a 08:00 start. We are going to the Grand Canyon. We take the coach to Williams; which is about a 45-minute drive, some of it along the famous “Route 66”. We arrive at Williams and go to a Cowboy shoot-out between the “Cataract Creek Gang and the Marshall, with a bit of audience participation. (This group of cowboys will show-up again later in the day!)

The train journey from Williams to the Grand Canyon South Rim takes about 2-1/4 hours. The scenery through the window of the train is not too interesting. There is some entertainment on the train – Clarence Clearwater; a Native American Indian sings us some old Indian songs. We arrive at 11:45.

The first sight of the Grand Canyon is truly awesome; it is difficult to fully comprehend the scale of the place. Although I will take numerous photographs and shoot video whilst here, I doubt that they will ever do the Grand Canyon justice.

We spend a little time taking photographs of the rim and then head off to find a cab to take us to Grand Canyon Airport so that I can take the helicopter flight that I booked yesterday. The concierge at El Tovar calls us a cab and we get to the heliport in about 15 minutes. I am in good time so I go through the pre-flight checks. And then we sit outside in the sunshine and have a sandwich lunch. (Di has decided not to take the helicopter flight, so she will wait at the heliport for my return)

When I go back inside the heliport is packed with people awaiting flights. We board the helicopter, it is a 6-seater, three rows of two so we all have a window seat. It is a 30-minute flight we head out the canyon and it flies up and down a portion of the canyon. I take lots of photographs and shoot video. The scenery is amazing!! I get back to the heliport and meet up with Di and book a cab back to the rail station. (We are in good time, we have had multiple warnings that there is only one train back to Williams and it leaves at 15:30 and there is only one train back!)

The cab driver that we get to go back to the station is really good. He is actually a tour guide just standing in as a cab driver for our trip. He tells us about the history of the Canyon, the buildings, the architects etc. He is very knowledgeable. He takes us on a roundabout route to point out buildings and points of interest (I am initially skeptical that he is just running up the fare - but it is the same as the outward fare - shame on me!)

He drops us back at the El Tovar Hotel, where we go in for a refreshing drink. We catch the end of the European Cup Final, and are glad to see that Chelsea has won.

We board the train for the return journey. This time we have a "folksy" singer called Calvin who sings Skiffle, Folk and Blues Music. There is a mock hold-up of the train by the Cataract Creek Gang who run along side the train on their horses and board the train. They hold us up essentially for gratuities from their morning performance, later the Marshall pursues the robbers through the carriages - it helps to pass the time!!We arrive back at Williams to be met by Bob and the Coach, and we take off for Flagstaff Station.

We arrive there at around 18:00; we are told that we need to be back at the station for the overnight sleeper to Los Angeles at around 20:15. We rush of to find a restaurant, and end up at the Beaver Street Brewery. We have just ordered our meal when the tour guide turns up to tell us that the train has hit debris on the line and is running approximately two hours late – so we go from being short of time to having time to kill!! We enjoy the meal, Di has the Pizza special and I have the Chicken Pot Pie, washed down with a nice “Saw-vin-yon Blonc”. Conscious of our time to kill – we have pud, which is Peach and Blackberry cobbler with ice cream. Even taking our time over our wine we still have two hours to spare.



We decide to walk down the road to the Altitude Bar, which appears to be an out-of-season “Après Ski” bar, as the loo’s have numerous ski run maps pinned to the wall.




There is a Blues/Folk singer performing called John Rossi, two other guitarists and a drummer accompanies him. We sit at the bar and drink more wine. The artist intersperses the music with tales of his time in the marines and of the blues artists that he has met.




We eventually make our way back to the station and after a further wait board the train at around 23:00, to find that our sleeper car is not ready. So we need to wait in the Dining Car whilst the attendant gets the sleeping car ready. Our beds are made up, so we turn in after a long and enjoyable day.

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