Monday, May 10th - Williams AZ
Today was our planned "no driving" day. Neither Gael nor I had ever visited the Grand Canyon so, months ago, we booked a package for four that included our two nights at the Grand Canyon Railway and Resort, pretty fancy accommodations on the train from Williams to the South Rim of the Canyon, meals and so forth.
These people know how to do this kind of thing, believe me. For example, they have the most humane method of "spending" your food credits. Usually on these things you get a buffet or something; if you don't like it, you're free to eat something/somewhere else but your food credit is lost. Not here. If you don't want to use the buffet you get full credit toward food at any other facility on the property. Same for dinner and for breakfast.
The train ride is about two hours up and two hours back with lunch at the South Rim. Before the departure at 10:00a, they put on a short Wild West show just to get our blood pumping:
(The pile of "material" there was announced to be "free Western Souvenirs"; no takers)
(This is Marshall Rusty; you'll be seeing more of him)
(This here's Shiloh; he didn't make it..)
(Chief "bad guy", Gabby. He didn't make it either)
Bad guys vanquished, then, onto the train. The train has, seemingly, about thirty different accommodation packages. It's really not that many but "for a few dollars more, you get..." figured mightily in the sales pitch. We opted for the "Dome Car" upgrade (recommended):
(The track was far from a straight shot between Williams and the Canyon)
Behind the diesel engine (they use a steam locomotive
.. during the summer) were three "regular" coaches, a Cafe Coach (dining car), two Dome cars and a "Luxury Coach" car.
Everything runs like clockwork. The train runs at about 35MPH giving you ample time to enjoy the Northern Arizona wilderness; we especially liked the Dome Car. Beverage service (great, well-trained staff) and entertainment both ways.
Marshall Rusty joined us on the train. When I asked him if I could take a shot of him, he agreed if he could take his own shot at me:
In addition to Rusty, we had a strolling western troubadour entertaining us (along with the big guy in front of me whose red shirt seems to be in all my pix):
We arrived at the Grand Canyon Railway station and were whisked by bus to lunch. This is us, just after lunch:
At 1:20pm we re-boarded the bus for a tour of observation points along the South Rim. The vistas were magnificent as Arizona came through with another perfect day. It was windy but we all managed to hang onto our hats.
Now here's where it gets hard. We took dozens of photos of the Grand Canyon and, after a while, they all started to look alike. Here are some representative shots of mine:
..and of Jackie's:
And, just so you'll know we were really there..
(I just love this one; "top o'the world, Ma!")
And, of course, what day would be complete without a portrait of my girl:
Oh. And we don't know exactly what happened to Buzz:
We boarded the train for the return leg at 3:30pm. Same great service (and views from the other side of the train) until we saw a band of mounted outlaws galloping alongside the train:
We were stopped mid-track and boarded by these outlaws who, somehow, failed to get away with any loot.
As one of the servers said, "We stop the train because it's hard to find outlaws who will jump from horseback at a gallop onto a moving train - for minimum wage."
On the way home we had yet another troubadour perform for us:
There was champagne on the train (rhyming is a specialty of mine). There were many, many glasses; here's Jackie's near the end:
After a strenuous day of sitting in a railroad coach, taking pictures and drinking champagne, you could understand how "some" people might need a bit of rest:
We arrived back at the hotel at 5:30pm. Here is our wonderful coach staff, Amber Rose and Erin (they got dash plaques as did Marshall Rusty):
(It was their first time working the Dome Car as a team; too bad Erin slept through it all :)
A bit of gift shop exploration, a drink or two and Buzz & Jackie headed off to dinner. Gael went to the exercise room and I crashed for an hour before being roused to build today's page.
Tomorrow, off to Needles, California. It's hard for us to believe we have only three days left for our Route 66 adventure!
If you find typos or other errors on these pages, please click to
. I can't always respond to the emails promptly (being on the road all day) but I do receive, read and act on them.
Another great day -- and much, much more to come...
Watch for more tomorrow, Day #15 on the Mother Road!
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