Three months later, the opportunity presented itself for us to make the trip! This time the occasion was spring break and the weather was nicer. Steve took Thursday and Friday off last week (during my spring break) and we headed up north for his first ever trip to the Grand Canyon!
We stayed in Flagstaff Thursday night and spent the evening hanging out with a good friend and old roommate of mine. On Friday morning, we drove the 30 miles to Williams...picked up our train tickets...wandered the platform...and participated in a wild-west shoot-out show. I say "participated in" because the old guys running the show called me down to the front just before it started - they kept calling me Kathy Ireland (a super-model) because of my green Ireland hoodie. "Are you here alone?" was their first question. "Would you like to be?" was their second. When I told them I was here with my husband, they said, "What?!? You're married?? To who - that guy up in the stands with the big grin on his face?" Ha ha. Anyway, they decided to give us a gift - dried up manure. Yep. Yum.
Random bit of information: Just to give you an idea of what we had to work with...the weather was in the 40s, possibly 50s, the entire day. I had planned to wear a t-shirt and hoodie :) Can you tell I've lived in the valley of the sun for the past several years?? Luckily for me, I have a clever husband. One who knows how to plan. So, just before we left our car, we opened our bags and Steve insisted that I "layer-up". I ended up wearing both t-shirts I'd brought, a t-shirt and two long-sleeved t-shirts of Steve's, and my hoodie. Were you counting? That's SIX layers! Plus my hat, sometimes my hood over the top of it all...and still I was freezing during the shoot-out. Throughout the day, only one of those layers ever came off - and it was for a brief time during and after our short hike. Crazy!
After the show, it was time to board the train! We were in the fourth car - row 20. Unfortunately the view wasn't great - in fact, we couldn't see out the window very well - so we asked to move to an unoccupied seat...and lucky us - we scored the best seat in our car! We ended up in rows one and two, which faced each other. Essentially we had four seats all to ourselves and a massive window to look out of!
While on the train, we watched the scenery, played canasta, snacked, and were entertained by a musician with his guitar. Finally we arrived at the south rim of the Grand Canyon!
We spent the afternoon wandering the rim trail, taking photos, and visiting the gift shops. We hiked down the Bright Angel trail a ways. There was still a lot of snow and ice on the trail, so for part of the hike, it was slow going.
After spending a few hours at the Grand Canyon, it was time to board the train back to Williams. Imagine our surprise when our train was high-jacked and we were all robbed! Steve and I were fortunate - all we had was six cents to lose...that we were willing to give up, anyway. The little girl across the aisle from us lost a whole dollar ;) Talk about an exciting train ride back!
All in all, we had a great trip! Next time we hope to do some real hiking - and not during the winter :)
2 comments:
Looks like tons of fun! I didn't know they had a Grand Canyon Train! We will have to do that someday :)
The train is something new to me! What a blast. You guys make me want to get married all over again... to the same guy, but those newlywed adventures are so precious. I am glad you are writing things down and sharing your adventures with your fans.
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