The Grand Canyon

Saturday morning is sunny ... and cold. It is about 38F when we set off.
We are going west on I-40 with a  detour onto Route 66. We have the Eagles playing on the i pod.  I wonder what the rest of the world is doing?

We drive into Williams around noon.

Williams is known as the 'gateway' to the Grand Canyon. It is nestled at the base of the Bill Williams Mountain amid the world's largest stand of ponderosa pines. It is 60 miles south of the Grand Canyon and about 35 miles west of Flagstaff. Its elevation is approximately 6,800ft.

The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad and later the Santa Fe Railroad all served as the primary reason for the town of Williams' existence.
Today though another railroad is one of the major reasons people stop and stay. Each day, locomotives of the Grand Canyon Railway depart from the historic Williams depot for the Grand Canyon over tracks first completed in 1901 by the Santa Fe Railroad. Passengers disembark only steps away from the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Williams was also the last town located on Route 66 to be bypassed by I-40.

We have a site reserved at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park for 2 nights. When we arrive we also book seats on the Grand Canyon Railway for tomorrow. It will be a day trip.

It is very cold and windy.  We walk over to the Railway Depot to collect our train tickets and look through the Grand Canyon Hotel. The hotel and RV park are part of the Grand Canyon Railway and Resort; we are able to use the hotel facilities including a gym and pool. But it is just too cold.  I feel that I have toothache, my face is so cold!!

The RV park has first class facilities. Music is piped all through the parking areas and rv sites and in the laundry, showers and restrooms. It is all 60's and 70's music!
The showers are wonderful - just like in a hotel.
We speak with the kids in the evening, which is about 9.00am on Sunday in Perth. We will be in another time zone when we cross into California but at present we are 15 hours behind Perth time.
The warmest thing to do is go to bed!

Main Street, Williams

               Signs along Route 66 ....

Sunday is another very cold morning. It has snowed overnight and there is a lot of snow on the ground. You have to be careful walking.

We spoil ourselves and have breakfast at the Railway hotel. I order a mushroom omelette and watch the chef as he makes it to order - it is wonderfully tasty.

Our train ticket includes a gunfight at 9.00am ..  the train passengers all congregate outside the train depot where a Wild West shootout is played out by several characters dressed up for the part. Then, thankfully we can board the train. It is warm. We leave the station at 9.30am.

The trip to the Canyon covers 65 miles and takes approximately 2 hours. Its terminus is the Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim. We have an interesting attendant for our coach; she is very informative, giving out  facts about the history of the railway and surrounding countryside.
We also have entertainment during our trip; 2 musicians take turns to entertain us with songs of the West.
When we arrive at the train depot we are met by a bus. We will spend about 31/2 hours at the South Rim. It is very cold and we didn't want to have to be outside all of that time. So a bus tour which includes lunch!
The bus takes us to several of the best vantage spots on the South Rim. We can wander around at the edge of the Canyon and ... take many, many photos!

I have tried to pick out the best.

Yes - it was cold!

4.4 million visitors come to the Grand Canyon each year and most of them to the South Rim, probably because it is accessible year round.

We are told that we are only seeing about  8% of the Grand Canyon! It seems unbelievable - we are in awe at the sheer immensity of what we see.

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over 1 mile.

The train depot

We get back on the train at 3.30pm for the return trip to Williams.
Again we have musicians entertaining us and more anecdotes and trivia from our attendant.

Just before we reach Williams ... the train is held up!! It was very well done and I think all the passengers were taken unaware. We recognise a couple of characters from the gun fight earlier in the day.

We find out that the train robbers' horses were taken by horse float back to the Railway depot in Williams. I guess that the robbers remained on the train.

It was all a lot of fun.  But the star of the show was the Grand Canyon - it is quite an emotional experience standing on the rim of the canyon looking out onto such a natural wonder. The photos don't do it justice. It is something everyone should experience in their lifetime.