It's been awhile since I posted anything and I need to catch up! Barb and I have had an extraordinarily busy couple of months and we have much to report. First, I'm going to write about our vacation in Arizona in which we took a train to the Grand Canyon south rim and later visited Sedona (red rocks) and Phoenix. It is important to note that our niece (
http://thedestinationdesigner.com/) Mackenzie Melfa had a major role in booking the trip and finding out about Sedona which was a wonderful surprise for us.
This tale actually begins a year ago when we took AMTRAK across the country to visit our son Robert in Portland. One of the couples we met on the train, Tom and Carol Lee, told us about this wonderful train from Williams, Arizona to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. They wrote the information on an AMTRAK table napkin and we kept it in a folder until several months later when we decided we wanted to go. We still have that napkin.
We booked an early morning Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix on Sunday, June 8. That's Barb in the airport shortly after we arrived. We picked up our rental car and started driving four and a half hours to Williams, Arizona to the Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel. It was the biggest thing in town; a source of many jobs. This hotel is the former Sante Fe Railroad hotel built circa 1908 and it is said that as many as five U.S. presidents have taken the train to the Grand Canyon. It certainly is the most fun way to travel.
Prior to our 9:30am Monday morning departure, we and hundreds of others were treated to a cowboy show just outside the hotel and adjacent to the train. There were the usual bad guys and "the Marshall" who had to keep order. This would be a recurring theme throughout our trip on the train and on the return trip when the bad guys would rob the train and the Marshall would have to come to our rescue. We suspect the actors trade the roles to keep it fresh. It was a lot of fun.
Arriving at the Grand Canyon, we were greeted by several tour buses which were part of our package (including very good meals) and we were immediately taken to the rim of the Grand Canyon. I'm sure you've heard this before: it's impossible to describe the enormity of it all. It's huge. We were at 7,000 feet on our side of the rim and it rises another 1,000 feet on the other side of the rim. We elected to spend a night in the Maswik Lodge at the canyon rim so we could catch that late evening and early morning light. My sister told me that was a "must".
My sister was right. The color is dramatically different in the evening and in the morning. (That's the crack of dawn in the picture to the right). You really begin to see the various trails leading down to the bottom of the canyon and the astonishing number of people who are trying to make their way down. One thing you must remember: take a lot of water. Everywhere we went, there were reminders to re-hydrate yourself. The national park provides many sources of water, but they don't sell the water bottles. You must bring your own. Now, on to Sedona....
This was the view outside of our hotel balcony in Sedona, known for its fabulous red rocks and mountains. In some ways, Sedona is more "approachable" than the Grand Canyon which simply overwhelms you because it is so big. You can't take it all in. But Sedona (named for one of its earliest inhabitants) sweeps you off your feet with its beauty and history. We stayed there two nights, but it easily could have been a week. We took the famous "Pink Jeep" tour to the Indian ruins and saw artifacts from the era 1,000 AD to 1,200 AD.
These are the remnants of Indian housing built adjacent to a stream which was their source of water. These houses were built with stones and mud against a mountain wall. Pink Jeep offers many tours and this was just one of them, but we were so glad that we picked this tour. You can still see the drawings on the walls on the back side of their housing. The sun was a frequent subject of their paintings so we suspect it had a role in their religion. As mysteriously as the Indians appeared, they disappeared 200 years later. Possibly the water dried up.
Our final stop was in Phoenix which some have described as "low rise and 40 miles across". We found very few high rise buildings and the town seemed to empty out on Friday night, so this seemed to be accurate. That left us free to roam the light rail from end to end on Saturday and visit the historic Heard Museum (picture left) which is dedicated to preserving southwest U.S. culture and artifacts. When we visited, they also were featuring a "Lego" exhibit; hence the statues in front of the building.
In short, we loved our Arizona adventure.
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