Category Archives: Travel

The grand finale of our 2011 Northern Arizona visit! Paul and the Long Suffering Wife took a bus tour (about three miles) to the west from the Grand Canyon Village with stops at Hopi Point, Mohave Point, and Trail View Point, took a walk along the rim in the Grand Canyon Village, saw a fantastic sunset before dinner with mule deer visitors after, then a second bus tour (almost twenty-five miles) to the east from the village, stopping at Yaki Point, Moran Point, Lipan Point, and finally, at the Desert View Watchtower.

When we went we took a travel package that included:

• a night in Williams, Arizona at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel
• morning train ride from Williams to the Grand Canyon
• an overnight stay at a lodge in the Grand Canyon Village
• afternoon train ride back to Williams from the Grand Canyon
• a final night in Williams at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel

I have rarely bought travel packages in the past (I prefer to wander where and when I want) but this was a great combination. If you can swing the time, I highly recommend it!

Having said that, there are also numerous other lodging choices in Williams. You can also just get tickets for the train, and it’s possible to do a one-day round trip with a couple of hours at the South Rim. There are also “Polar Express” train trips in the winter that don’t go all the way to the Canyon, but stop at a “Santa’s Village” site along the way.

After getting off the late morning tour bus on our second day at the Grand Canyon, we picked up our luggage from the lodge and hustled off to the Grand Canyon railroad station.

I’ve always been more of a plane-guy than a train-guy (duh!) but I’ve got to admit, a nice train ride can be a lot of fun. This picture was taken as the train pulled back into the Williams station.

Up near the canyon you’re at about 7,200′ elevation. Here the predominant foliage consists of pine trees.

Down closer to Williams, at about 6,800′ and fifty miles away from the canyon, it’s a bit more dry, open, and flat.

The views from the train are great in general, but if you book your tickets far enough in advance there’s an option for a limited number of observation car seats. Obviously, that’s what we got and it was worth it!

It’s a long train, and you’ll twist and turn your way up to the South Rim.

Just ahead of the engine, on the right side of the tracks ahead, is “Santa’s Village”.

On the way north from Williams to the South Rim, there are musicians strolling through the car. Some of what we were treated to was some excellent bluegrass pickin’ and grinnin’. Other selections were singalongs of songs you probably learned in second or third grade. (“Oh, Susanna”, “This Land Is Our Land”, and so on.)

On the way back south, there are hombres and train robbers. They catch up with the last car, climb aboard, and proceed to “harass” everyone on the train. I hate it when that happens!

The main lobby of the Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel.

So there you have it! Granted, I take spectacular pictures (*pause for choking and coughing to die down*), but no pictures can do justice to the Grand Canyon. If you’ve got a “bucket list” or a “life list”, make sure that a visit here is high on it!

Almost there, everyone!

So far on the 2011 Northern Arizona trek we have seen Paul and the Long Suffering Wife take a bus tour (about three miles) out to the west of the Grand Canyon Village with stops at Hopi Point, Mohave Point, and Trail View Point, a walk along the rim in the Grand Canyon Village, saw a fantastic sunset with a critter kicker, then another bus tour (almost twenty-five miles) heading east along the rim, stopping at Yaki Point, Moran Point, Lipan Point, and finally, at the Desert View Watchtower. This is the end of the line for the bus tour to the east.

(Google Maps)

While the canyon continues upstream to the northeast for more than a hundred miles before reaching Lake Powell, the Desert View Watchtower is near the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon National Park.

The Watchtower sits on the edge of the canyon and gives one of the best views anywhere, unless you’re in a helicopter. (You can’t get a helicopter ride into the park itself, they were banned years ago because the noise and pollution were making all of the tourists crazy. But you can get a helicopter ride to the canyon just outside the park boundaries, which is still pretty spectacular.)

The watchtower was built in 1932 and is based on a Native American design.

Inside the watchtower, you can walk up the circular ramp to the top floors, where the view of the canyon outside is spectacular. (Sorry, you can’t help but overuse that word at the Grand Canyon.)

View to the west, back toward the village.

View from the tower, to the northeast, where the national park ends and the canyon opens up a bit. Down on the observation deck in light blue, looking up at me taking pictures, is The Long Suffering Wife!

View to the east, where the plateau that the canyon cuts through starts to descend and break into hills.

View to the northwest, straight across the canyon toward the North Rim.

View to the north.

Vertical view back to the northwest, toward the North Rim.

I should mention that, while the South Rim is by far the most visited, the North Rim is equally spectacular. In many ways it’s even better, because it’s much smaller, more intimate, and quieter.

The South Rim Village is a small city in the summer. Traffic on the two-lane road along the rim can get congested and parking can get tight. Make sure you have reservations for a lodge or campsite well in advance of an overnight stay. Ditto for dinner reservations at any of the nice restaurants. Almost five million people a year visit the South Rim. It’s easy to get to off of the Interstate, and you can make a day trip of it from Flagstaff (80 miles) or Williams (60 miles).

The North Rim is a long, long drive out into the middle of nowhere. While it may be only ten miles as the condor flies across the canyon, it’s about 225 miles on the road to get from the South Rim to the North Rim. You have to swing way around into southern Utah and then down. There is only one route across the Colorado River between Lake Mead in the south and Lake Powell in the north, at Navajo Bridge near Lee’s Ferry. In addition, the North Rim is a thousand feet higher in elevation (8500′) and the roads to it are closed by snow from late October to mid May every year. The facilities at the North Rim are much, MUCH smaller than at the South Rim, so make dinner and lodging reservations at least six months in advance. There are no bus tours at the North Rim, but there are plenty of easy hiking trails. (I love to hike.)

Having said all of that, while I’ve been to the North Rim only once and the South Rim three times, the North Rim is still my favorite. The views are just as spectacular if not more so, the trails are wonderful, the wildlife is abundant, and having it with less than 1% of the crowds compared to the South Rim makes it much more personal.

I recommend you visit both the North Rim and the South Rim so that you can make the comparison yourself.

So far on our Northern Arizona adventure we have seen Paul and the Long Suffering Wife take a bus tour out to the west of the Grand Canyon Village with stops at Hopi Point, Mohave Point, and Trail View Point, walked along the rim in the village, and saw a wonderful sunset and some critters, then take another bus heading east along the rim, stopping at Yaki Point, Moran Point, and now, at Lipan Point.

(Google Maps)

We continue out to the east.

Looking back to the west. I believe that promontory sticking out from the left in the middle distance is Moran Point. Which, of course, means that the promontory sticking out from the right in pictures #1, #2, and #5 in the Moran Point post would be Lipan Point.

Looking north (more or less).

Looking northeast.

Waaaaaaaaaaay down below there is green, muddy water, with Class 5 rapids.

Looking east.

There are only so many ways of saying “stunning”, “amazing”, “beautiful”, “glorious”, and so on. You can look at these pictures, you can look at really good pictures, you can watch all of the 3-D IMAX footage you want. None of it can compare to seeing it in person.

As a side note, there’s been an article going around online about a rare (once every ten years or so) weather phenomenon that occurred at the Grand Canyon a week or so ago. An inversion layer “capped” the canyon and trapped clouds down in the canyon while the rim remained clear.

Look at the pictures, they’re stunning.

When last we saw Paul and the Long Suffering Wife they were in their second day visiting the Grand Canyon. On Day One they had taken a bus tour out to the west with stops at Hopi Point, Mohave Point, and Trail View Point, walked along the rim in the village, and saw a wonderful sunset and some critters. On Day Two, we’re on a bus heading east along the rim, stopping at Yaki Point, and now, at Moran Point.

(Google Maps)

As you can see, the major stopping points east of the village are farther out and farther apart . (The map scale has been zoomed out from the first six.) For timing considerations if you go (we had to make sure we were back in time to catch the train) it’s fifteen minutes or so between stops to the east, where it’s only five minutes to the west. Once you’re done on the eastern leg (we’re not there yet, two more stops after this), it’s about forty minutes back to the village.

This might be my favorite picture of the hundreds and hundreds I took on this trip. I really like the composition and depth.

I show this outcrop of white blocks because to me it’s an example of how some folks just aren’t playing with a full deck.

This picture was taken from one of the viewing areas, with rails and fences that let you get right up the edge of a thousand-foot drop. Off the right, you can see that it was quite possible to simply hop the railing, go down that little embankment, and walk and climb around on this rock outcrop. There weren’t any signs prohibiting it, no warnings that doing so could lead to a horrible & painful death. Maybe they just figured it was obvious.

It wasn’t obvious to a group of young men and women who were out there trying to see just how high they could free climb on these rocks and how close they could get to the edge. (They weren’t from our bus — our bus was full of old  and older dudes and dudettes.) “YOLO,” I guess. It could be that I’m just above-average risk averse, but these folks were way out on the other side of the bell curve.

There are people who keep track of that sort of thing and have published a book about it. Apparently there were twenty-one deaths at the Canyon in 2011 with over 4.3 million visitors. As a percentage, that’s pretty low. It seems that deaths by falls are even more rare. You’re much more likely to die from heat stroke, drowning in the river, or in an airplane crash on an aerial tour. So from a statistical perspective, I’m just being an old curmudgeon. (Not news!)

You see these cup-shaped outcroppings all over the place, formed when a huge mass of rock fractures off and falls. I also just love the shades of red all through this picture, but especially on the right side.

When the first humans saw this, Native Americans or Europeans, did any of them understand what all of these layers and colors represented in terms of geologic history? Or did that come much, much later? I guess I could Google it…

From Moran Point you can see several structures like this one, like long, narrow fins sticking out into the canyon. The top is covered with layers of harder rock that protects the rock underneath it, while everything on the sides erodes away. On this one, the rocks at the top got tilted up at an angle at some point after being formed horizontally by sediment. Given fifty million years or so, it’s amazing what you can accomplish.

There was a great view of the river to the east here, with some of the rapids showing.

Another one of those features that looks like it’s got a huge ocean liner made of rock on top.

Looking back to the west.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Abraham Lincoln delivered the now famous Gettysburg Address. We have never been to Gettysburg, although it’s high on my list to see. However, just about a year ago The Long Suffering Wife and I took a few days to tour around Virginia and we had a chance to visit Appomattox, where the Lee’s Confederate Army surrendered to Grant’s Union Army on April 9, 1865. It is an interesting place.

The view as you climb the small hill from the parking lot. Much of the village of Appomattox Court House has been restored or rebuilt. From right to left are the Appomattox County Courthouse, the Clover Hill Tavern, the tavern kitchen and guesthouse, Woodson Law Office (partially hidden), and Meeks’ Store.

Note that “Appomattox Court House” is the name of the village, the “Appomattox County Courthouse” is the name of the building. They’re fussy about that, apparently.

The Appomattox County Courthouse. The current Visitor’s Center is on the bottom floor. While many visitors believe or assume that this is where the surrender was signed, it was not.

Clover Hill Tavern and kitchen in rear.

Standing in back of the Clover Hill Tavern (at far left), from left to right you can see the Meeks’ Store (light colored, two-story building), Woodson Law Office (one story building), the tavern guesthouse (partially hidden), the tavern kitchen (two-story, brick building), and the tavern slave quarters (white building).

The back of the Clover Hill Tavern, with the Courthouse in the distance on the left. Directly behind these buildings about a hundred yards is McLean House.

McLean House, where the surrender was actually signed.

The master bedroom on the first floor of McLean House.

I believe that this is the actual desk at which the surrender terms were signed by Generals Grant and Lee — but I’m not 100% positive of that, could be wrong.

I believe this is one of the upstairs bedrooms.

If you get a chance to visit any of the Civil War battlefields (or any other historic battlefields), stop for a while and think about the young men, many of them too young to shave yet, who when marching or running across the grass or through the trees, scared to death, but doing what they thought they had to for whatever cause they were fighting for.

If you get a chance to visit Appomattox, stand in that front room and know that it was there, after ending four years of war with over 1.1 million casualties, that Lee asked Grant for permission for his men to keep their horses, because they would need them to plant their fields in the spring. Grant was compassionate and allowed it, wanting the healing process to begin. In addition, when informed that many of the Confederate troops had not eaten in days, he had 25,000 meals sent across the lines.

Today, take a minute to read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. It’s only 271 words, but what memorable words they were.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.