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Grand Canyon
May 30 and 31 plus June 1, 2009
On the Road Again. You never know what you would see on the
road. An Allard.
Or This - A Duck? I think the duck is headed to Infineon
(Sonoma) racetrack.
Back on I10 - Now THIS is a PROPER SPEED LIMIT.
Supper in Fort Hancock Texas (just outside El Paso)
Huzzah - El Paso (and Juarez, Mexico in the distance). The
brown thing just over the freeway is the big border fence.
I love Texas but it is REALLY GOOD to be out of that state.
Thunderstorm in the distance. This will be VERY IMPORTANT
real soon.
Las Cruces Comfort Inn. The night the lights went out in
New Mexico. Actually we are looking at the Holiday Inn express next door. The
thunderstorm (see above) knocked out the electricity and the had to bring in the
fire department next door to get people out of the elevator. See, it is better
to stay in cheap hotels with no elevator.
The next day - onward to Arizona.
Ah the friendly folks from Immigration. They have the WHOLE
FREEWAY closed down and are stopping EVERYONE. Welcome to your new government.
But, Arizona is a pretty place. This is just a rest area.
Again, you NEVER KNOW what you will see on a freeway.
But onward through Tucson, Phoenix (at least they know how
to spell it - can you say Alabama?) and Flagstaff and then FINALLY
Our parking place at the Grand Canyon. No joke - the rim is
about 100 feet from here just over the top of Mary Ann's head.
A geek just can't put his laptop down. Verizon Evdo (the
thing sticking out of the computer lower left) worked just fine here so after we
got settled in, I called Josh with Skype Video and showed him the Canyon.
DAS RIM. It REALLY IS a big hole in the ground.
Riding back from Hermit's Rest
Our Cabin - This was fun and not too expensive. Well
relatively speaking - it is a national park.
The cabin is part of the Bright Angel Lodge facility.
The Bright Angel Trail down to the bottom of the canyon.
Remember this for the MULES to come. To the right is a 400 or 500 foot drop.
Meet Willow. The Mule not the woman.
Willow is not really happy.
And why is Willow not happy? Meet the Down to the Phantom
Ranch (bottom of the canyon) class of the day. Willow gets to take one of these
to the bottom on that trail seen above. 9 hours on a mule. HooRah.
I just liked the irony. Yep, it is a loading zone.
Random Views of the Canyon
