Sat....THE GRAND CANYON!
We are staying at the Grand Canyon Railroad R.V. Park. It is known for the train ride to the Grand Canyon. We took the train today. I highly recommend this way of viewing the Canyon. As part of the ride, we had a fun Western show to watch beforehand. It was well done and very funny. Today marked a special day for the train. It was the 20th ann. PLUS it was the FIRST day for the steam locomotive to run on vegetable oil! The Mayor, all dressed up in his Western suit, was at the show and on the train as well. Train buffs would love this one. We felt famous, or something, as we watched many people out in the middle of nowhere waving at us and taking pictures of the train! The train ride was 2 1/2 hrs. long each way (through the desert and ranch land) and we had 3 hours at the Canyon. On the train, each car had a special person to talk to us, informing us of so many goodies (facts about the Canyon, the land, animals and what to do or where to eat back in Williams, AZ). Also, on the train, the actors from the shoot out were on board and would roam and talk with us. There were really great country singers with their guitars and harmonicas, too. All in all, we felt the train ride was top notch and lots of fun. It sure made it nice to reach the Canyon without the worry of parking.

The Grand Canyon....WOW. Amazing. Although Bryce Canyon was great, the Grand Canyon is just HUGE. It was advised to us to have lunch at the El Tovar Hotel/Lodge at the Canyon. It is the oldest lodge on the premise and is known for the 'whose who' crowd. Since electrical power is not as powerful there as our 'usual', we found the dining room elegant and warm...on a warm day. The food was wonderful and it had an old charm feel. The big picture windows overlooked the Canyon. Oh...there are 300+ condors in the Canyon. We didn't see any but others said they spotted a few with a baby. We saw loads of the red ant hills (mountains to us) along the desert as we were on the train though. We were told some of them were 100 yrs. old. Oh, and we saw the pronghorns (deer)...the second fastest animal.

One of the amazing sights for me is the sky out here. On the way home, on the train, we could see from one end of the earth to the other. The sky is so eventful. In the distance we could see a double rainbow where it must have rained. I am taking it all in. Somehow the NJ sky just isn't quite the same!

Williams, AZ (where we are staying) is a town of 3,000. It is on rte. 66. What a cute Western town! Don't miss it if you come this way. It offers lots of good restaurants and some souvenir shops....mostly tourist traps, I think. The people seem to be warm and friendly. We had a nice dinner at a place that was recommended to us (voted one of the top 25 rest.'s in all of AZ) and it was relaxing after a big day. Afterwards, we went to the indoor pool and hot tub. Nice.

Tomorrow we head to Sedona. We have been informed of ALL the places not to miss there. The ride alone is to be a very scenic rte. that takes an hr. and a half. I'm thinking we should have planned to stay in Sedona a few days. Hmmmm.....we'll see...the charm of having a hunk of time to do this. I hear there are more chances of scorpions and spiders there....yikes.
Good night my special friends and family,
Mary