The USA Road Trip
Day 11 Tucson to Williams
and the Grand Canyon
Once again with heavy hearts we left our hosts and headed
North into the Sonora Desert. Actually we bade farewell to Rich the night
before as he had to fly out overseas early the same day we left. Hopefully we
will be able to return the hospitality to Rich and Daisy the next time they
visit Aus.
As we made our way North towards Phoenix the temperature
rapidly started to rise toward 110 degrees Fahrenheit or above 40 degrees
Celsius and the desert once again underwent a transformation from large Saguaro
Cacti to barren rocks and low lying scrub, but never once was it boring, there
being beautiful vistas at every turn. From Phoenix we head to Flagstaff and the
town of Williams, Flagstaff possibly being the location of our investment
property Lol.
We arrived in Williams late afternoon and upon first sight
it looked to be a bit dilapidated and run down our only reason for choosing to
stay there was because it offered the cheapest accommodation close to the Grand
Canyon, but looks can be deceiving, Williams proved itself to be a fascinating
town with good food and entertainment. To start with the main street is a part
of Route 66 so a lot of the shops and dinners reflect that theme. Williams is also
the terminus for the Grand Canyon railroad so you can get the train to the
Canyon if your budget stretches that far (ours didn’t) another attraction in
town is the evening cowboy show that takes over the streets, again a lot of
fun. The final thing Williams has going for it is that it has a restaurant that
serves 48 different varieties of pie for desert and I’m not talking wafer thin
slices but ¼ pie. Naturally we had to go back the second night just to try
again.
Day 12 The Grand
Canyon
An early start, breakfast and watch the train to the Grand
Canyon, leave complete with a send off from the local cowboys. The same cowboys
that performed the night before and that would board and rob the train later in
the day Lol. We then boarded our mechanical horse named Toyota Camry and made
our way to one of the natural wonders of the world. Words just don’t do justice
to the first view of the Canyon, it is truly spectacular. I only hope my photos
captured the landscape adequately. The Canyon should be a destination on
everyone’s Bucket List.
As usual the Nightingales set out on foot to pack in as much
as possible; walking along the Southern Rim of the Canyon, the temperature was
over 100 degrees, but there was some very dark clouds heading our way. Luckily
for us we made it to the Grand Canyon village just before it hit and we got to
see the spectacular sight of lightning crashing over the landscape along with
lashing rain. However within a half hour of the storm passing it was hard to
believe it had rained at all and the temp climbed back above 100.
After a visit to the local IMAX and experiencing the Canyon
on the big screen we then headed back to Williams and caught the Cowboy show
once again. The kids befriended of one of the Cowboys, who turned out to be ex
US Navy and who had made port visits in Australia years ago, visiting such
highlights as Geraldton, Albury, Whyalla and of course Hobart. During the show
he same Cowboy came looking for a girlfriend and Chelle happened to be the
lucky girl, so she was dragged out centre stage in front of the crowd. Not like
Michelle to be in the thick of thingsJ
