Sat 14th Grand Canyon

Day 4, Sat 14th
Once again we had a restless night due to the jet lag, early in bed and awake again in the wee sma hours, not helped by an air conditioning unit which kept banging as it kicked into action every ten minutes.
Middle of the night did some communicating by e mail, and also managed a Skype phone call home, at the extreme cost of 13p !!
Breakfast was in Denny’s Diner next door to the hotel, where we had a good bit of banter with the waitresses, at 6.45 a.m.
Coach set off on time at 8 a.m. and through the city which was quiet due it being early Saturday a.m., very clean and tidy and well laid out.
Bit of a hold up on the 101 Beltway due to an incident and we were diverted off onto the Frank Wright Bvld, he being a well known US architect / designer, so we lost a good bit of time on the diversion – pleased it was not me driving, and in the middle of the diversion there were a couple of minor accidents as drivers got caught up with the sudden changes of speed.
Once through the diversion we made it to the Interstate 17 North heading for Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.
Yesterday we had passed the Arizona State Penitentiary, and this morning we passed a couple of the local penal establishments, the Pheonix prison and the Juvenile Detention Centre, both on Happy Valley Road !!!
Headed East on the Interstate and eventually turned off making for Serona, through the canyon there and eventually had a stop at a beautiful village, which in real estate terms was worth ten to twenty times the price of elsewhere in the state.
We thought that the canyon was near to the Grand Canyon, but think again, we had another seventy miles to Flagstaff and then another seventy six to the Grand Canyon. The Interstate 41 replaces the famous Route 66 so we had a rendition of about ten versions of the song on the audio system.
We eventually arrived at the Grand Canyon visitor complex where we dropped off those who were taking helicopter flights. Next group headed for the Imax Complex to see the video of the history og the Canyon on the big screen.
Next stop was the Canyon itself, and really and truly there is no way to describe in words his amazing hole in the ground – a massive flat plateau, 6000 feet high and a river 250 miles long has carved a channel over a mile deep through the middle of it. Where we stood we could not even see the river in the bottom of it is was so deep down and hidden by the various cuts. Perhaps the helicopter trip should have been the correct option – never mind , the movie was frightening enough.
We had over two hours to spend wandering about, it was hot, but only about 90F as against 106F down the road. There were a number of condors gliding about using the thermals and we were told that some glide up to two hundred miles a day.
There are on average 20000 tourists a day at the Canyon site which is a lot of people. In the summer the peak numbers are about 50000 and in the winder 10 /15000.
Had a beer in the bar there and unfortunately met one of the rudest bar tenders I have come across - no excuse that it was hot or he was tired !!!
There are a few trails down into the Canyon but at that altitude, for every minute you walk down it takes double or more to get back up. Easiest way to travel is by mule, and they go down to the river at the bottom about five times a week.
We met up with another group from Archers doing a similar tour but they left an hour ahead of us.
The return trip to Flagstaff was a bit quiet although the courier, Chris did show a good DVDV on the mule trains going into the Canyon, then half way there we passed the other bus which had had a puncture and shredded a rear tyre.
By the time we got to Drury’s Hotel in Flagstaff we had been on the go for twelve hours and were shattered and hungry so it was a quick turn round and off for something to eat.
Flagstaff is on one of the main cross country rail routes and there are over eighty trains a day passing through on the east west route – some of them very long indeed.
Fed, watered and home to bed.