So where were we when we last left off?.....We were getting on the train. Now I was just a mite disappointed in this train because the pictures on the Grand Canyon Railway website showed old steam engines that took you up the mountain to the canyon. We were in a historic train.....but one from the sixties. Ours was a diesel instead of a steam. Evidently, people complained that the steam engines were bad for the environment. Ummmm.....I can't figure that one out as diesel seems more pollutant than steam! I think I would rather drink the steam than the diesel....just sayin'. Evidently, they do run the old steam engine when they are more busy in the summer, but alas....not for the Yelton family!
We boarded the GCR train to take a twisty-turny ride up the side of the mountain. As the train was pulling away from the Williams train station, the crew held up a sign that said, "Have a Great Day!" It was such a nice surprise! Our tour guide, riding with us up the side of the mountain, gave us all kinds of facts, historical information, and even tips on how to be safe at the Grand Canyon. We rode 65 miles through pine forests, then desert lands, and finally cliffs and mesas.
Our restored train was kind of like a school bus inside. The seats were like the old buses that are kind of bouncy and the backs were built low, before they were worried about the safety of children. We were entertained by a cowboy singing cowboy songs with his banjo, a conductor telling interesting facts, and the cowboys from the skit went from car to car chit chatting with the passengers. One of the cowboys pointed out his home in the distance as we rode past. He was from Peoria, IL and worked for Caterpillar. When they laid him off, he retired to be a rootin' tootin' cowboy. He told us the land he bought to live on didn't set him back much financially because even though it is near the Grand Canyon, it is considered wasteland. My hopes began to rise.....could we afford a vacation home near the Grand Canyon???? I started to plan the lovely rustic lodge Mike would build for us in my mind! Get this.....no water. DEAL BREAKER!!!! I am a freak for clean. You can't be clean without water. No can do. This cowboy didn't look too clean either. How clever of him to land a job where looking dirty was cool! He said that he has his water delivered by truck and they use it very sparingly. 
One last word about the train and its residents. There was a Canadian family of adults and teenagers sitting in front of us on the train. Unfortunately, after buying lots of snacks on the train, they all proceeded to throw their used wrappers and containers on the floor! How could you possibly be on the way to one of the greatest natural formations on earth and throw down your snack trash on the floor for someone else to pick up? I know, on the whole, Canada does a better job than the USA at recycling and being less wasteful, but this family seemed to think nothing of just throwing down their trash in a public place. We see trash at every lovely nature spot we visit. Very disappointing. Very heartbreaking. Very discouraging to people who care about the earth.
At last we arrived at the Grand Canyon! As we pulled into the village, we saw a three second glimpse of the large gape in the earth. It was just a tease before the train pulled onto a wye then slowly backed up. This is how they "turn" the train around. This 5 minute procedure had us nearly jumping out of our seats. We were finally there, but had to wait for the train to get turned around for the ride home to Williams later!
DISCLAIMER: Although the people in the following photos look aggravated, they were in reality very happy! The South sun made it very difficult to look into the camera that day!
We disembarked in front of the old log train station. We missed looking inside! I didn't know there was a little museum inside until later when I had time to read the little Grand Canyon Gazette on the way back home. At least we snapped off a picture anyway! It is the only log station still standing.
We made our way up to the South Rim via the El Tovar steps. El Tovar was the first luxury hotel built at the Grand Canyon at the turn of the century. Again, before I got to the top, I felt faint and couldn't make it all the way without stopping to get some more air. The thin air really effected me.....could it be that I am too fat to climb stairs in thin air these days????
We walked straight to the side of the canyon. No picture, no movie, no preconceived notion can compare with seeing the canyon for real. I couldn't believe the colors! There was blue, gray, red, brown, and green! Before we set out on our trip, I had checked an Ansel Adam's Grand Canyon book out of the library.......I was expecting the Grand Canyon to be in black and white! What a surprise! I am sure it would be even more colorful in spring or summer.
As long as I live I will never forget how blue the sky was and how warm the sun was on our backs. It was a glorious 61degrees even though it was January. I had feared snowstorms, raging coldness, and impaired visibility. Instead we were treated to a lovely spring-like day. The four of us being together on the brink of the canyon all afternoon, happy, companionable, and secure that we had each other, and were in this incredible place right now, is a memory that I will catalogue into my "happiest moments file" in my heart.
We shed our coats and just spent time looking at the different formations in the gouge. The top of the rim to the North looked like granite. Each layer changing dramatically as the eye descended down the wall. There was a huge layer of red formations jutting out of the wall like monster feet. There was a layer of blue crags and cliffs. The bottom layer was a tired green showing its winter fatigue. On our side of the canyon, where we were standing, its rocks were rounded and broken sandstone and limestone peppered with hardy little bushes and sagebrush growing out of cracks and crevices. I am sure the bright light of the day brought out more colors than one usually was treated to seeing in January. The warm sun shone happily on our backs casting our long shadows over the edge of the canyon. "Stay back!" I warned Daredevil Mike, over and over. I had made him promise before we gave him the gift of the tickets at Christmas time, that he wouldn't get too close to the edge of the canyon. There was actually a book in the gift shop about all the people who have died at the Grand Canyon!
The strangest part of the Grand Canyon picture was that the North wall of the canyon didn't look real, but rather like a painting. I guess that was because it was 10 miles to the other side. (And about one mile down, if you care!) This was unbelievable to the kids and I. The sides, which were closer, looked like brown and white rock formations with live vegetation growing from the walls. The sides looked realistic and living. The North side looked as if a picture backdrop had been slid onto the back of the stage. The backdrop had a bluish-reddish tint that just made it look so unreal.
Harrison and Natalie used the clever scope designed to sight specific formations in the canyon. I love how Harrison took great pains to help Natalie sight each formation. They are like twins. The brass scope was mounted on a round brass plate, which was fixed to the rock wall. The scope could be positioned into different labeled grooves to isolate specific formations for viewing. When you look through the brass tube you will only see the labeled formation. Our favorite formation was the Battleship located on the bottom center of the canyon. This prominent stack of rocks was easily spotted from every vantage point as we hiked around the South Rim. That formation was the only thing that stayed the same. To quote Michael, "The picture changes every 100 feet as we walk the path!"
After we snapped off a few million pictures, never able to really capture the essence of the place, and rested our lungs by sitting on a bench made from a log with a 1/4 pie section cut out of it, we traveled on down around the curve of the canyon edge.
We hiked past El Tovar Hotel, which was first built at the turn of the century when the Santa Fe RR built a line from Williams, AZ to the Grand Canyon. Before that time, tourists had to ride in a bumpy stagecoach to get to the Grand Canyon. Because of that, there weren't many visitors before the train! El Tovar was designed by architect, Marie Coulter. I am amazed they chose a woman back then to design the buildings at The Grand Canyon. I love how she worked to make the buildings fit into the sides of the canyon, so they seem one with nature. I plan to read more about this amazing women when I have time.....
As we rounded the curve of the rim, there were places where the rock railing was absent, leaving openings to cliff drops going straight down. As we curled around the rim we saw the first cabin built there in the 1800's by a friend of Teddy Roosevelt who died with the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill. Bright Angel Lodge designed by woman architect, Mary Coulter, in the twenties was built to match the style of this log cabin.
Our next stop in the village was also very ingeniously designed by Mary Coulter. This was Look Out Point. Look Out Point has many layers and is built from the same surrounding rock. The rock is stacked in uneven layers creating an image rising out of the rock formation it is situated upon. This little gift shop has a small roofed tower veranda on top and tiers of look out ledges around the bottom. Watch your step! It is very uneven and is part of the landscape of which it is a part. It is said that if you are at the bottom of the canyon and look up, you don't see Look Out Point because it just blends into its surroundings!
Next we visited the Kolb Brothers' Studio, which was built by the Kolb Brothers at the turn of the last century. They were an interesting pair with a fascination with both photography and the Grand Canyon. They built their studio way out over the rim so they could photograph themselves in a myriad of dangerous poses over the canyon. They dangled by ropes and boards over the canyon while photographing it. The trail head of Bright Angel Trail is right by the Kolb Studio. Mike and the kids walked to the trail head. This trail would be 8 hours down 1 mile to the bottom of the canyon and 12 back up. We didn't squeeze that into the schedule!
We retraced our steps stopping at Bright Angel Lodge for lunch, toilets, mailing letters, and we viewed the history room. The history room showed the story of tourism at the Grand Canyon at the turn of the last century. The room tells the story of the Harvey Girls. Fred Harvey, like Howard Johnson, had a luxury hotel business. He hired young girls to be maids and waitresses at his hotels. It was a wonderful opportunity for girls to make money at that time.
Lunch was very good, but then $50.00 hamburgers and french fries should be! The waitress was great and kept us filled with water. We were a little on the dehydrated side because we had become a little dry on the trains. I hoped that was contributing to my lightheadedness and not the fact that I am overweight!
On the way back to El Tovar we took more pictures and just drank in the image of this wonder, trying to imprint it into a part of us, making the image last for life.
We stopped at Hopi House, which was authentically designed by ..........You guessed it!.......Mary Coulter in the twenties. The art gallery and gift shop was crafted to look just like an ancient Anasazi dwelling complete with ladders and adobe. I taught about the Ancient Anasazi Indians as a third grade teacher and was excited to see this replica of the ancient Hopi Indian's cliff dwelling. I didn't know the Anasazi actually lived on the sides of the Grand Canyon in their dwellings!
Our last stop was the visitors center, which used to be the first gift shop, set up by a man who first peddled Indian "curiosities" to early visitors. Before he had a cabin for a store, he just used a canvas tent. I can just imagine it. Later he built his store with an upstairs in which his family lived. The family only recently sold it to the National Park.
We ran out for one last look at our canyon, for it was getting very close to the time we needed to board the train for Williams. (See the Battleship formation on the bottom of the canyon?)
We boarded the train and sat back as we wound our way on switchbacks down the mountain. We were again serenaded with cowboy singing. This time it was a gee-tar! I was only slightly embarrassed that I knew and sang all the words to the Johnny Cash songs! I fell into a burnin' ring of fire.....I fell down, down, down......And the flames grew hotter......My dad always said his girls got their brains from their mom. But I assure you, my Johnny Cash education came straight from my dad!
We saw deer, cows, elk, and antelope on the way home. About the time we were getting back to the piny forest those same cowboy scoundrels that we'd met this morning showed up on their horses. Now why a train would stop for some cowboys to rob it, is beyond me, but it did. The outlaws boarded the train and robbed the passengers of whatever they were willing to give. I had given Harrison and Natalie each a dollar for the ride home, knowing that we might be robbed. They held tight to their money and didn't share it with the robbers. That education came straight from me! Glad to see they learned it well!
Back in Williams our feet hurt, and we were tired anticipating a 3:00 AM wake-up for Amtrak boarding. We bought water for the trip home. Then we posed on Route 66 for the camera. We ate dinner at the Pine Country Restaurant. I thought this nice, friendly restaurant had totally "yuck" food. I felt we paid $60 for a "yuck" meal. Mike liked it though! He actually sucked his chicken bones dry, gristle and all, which about made me vomit! I think I would have liked McD's more, but we were too tired to walk!
Back at the hotel, Natalie wanted to go swimming. She and I set out to find the pool. It was one of those "you can't get there from here" places. By the time we found it, I was wishing we would have just taken our gear with us! So we walked all the way back to the room to change into suits and towels and...... flip flops......I wish. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford room in the luggage to pack flip-flops, so barefoot it was......another yuck. Mike joined us.....against his will but succumbed to my pleading eyes. Harrison, not so sensitive to his mother's pleading eyes and showing a little of the upcoming 13th birthday, declined to come with us, instead showered, and plugged into the TV. Me being the worry wort mom, you know that I had to have visions of returning to the room to find my son had been kidnapped or worse......
.Once we got to the pool, we had to run outside really, really fast (with no shoes!)to get to the "indoor pool." It wasn't warm now like it was while we were at the Grand Canyon! It was freezing cold! None the less, Natalie had a ball. She had the pool to herself. After about 25 min. I couldn't stand worrying about Harrison alone in the hotel room, so we ran back to the room wet....and cold......and barefoot.....and trying to hold about 4 little towels around my body......but I figured there really wasn't anyone around so at least no one would see me. (No photos here, please.) About the time we got to the elevator, a party of about 10 people stepped out. "Oh, is there a pool? Where is it?" It was kind of a "Let's stop and chat" sort of meeting. Sorry.......I was cold, wet, half naked, and shoeless......Ummmmm......its in that direction I mumbled with my head down.....gesturing over my shoulder. "Good luck with it!" I thought to myself.
Up next......early morning train!
No comments:
Post a Comment