The Grand Canyon

The day dawned fine - sunny and not a cloud in the sky. The only thing wrong was that it was -16 degrees C outside. Still, once you got into the sun it was not too bad. We had left waterbottles in the rental car overnight and they had frozen solid!

We decided to return the rental car this morning instead of leaving it till tonight. A pleasant surprise awaited when Suzanne returned the car. We got a discount for returning it early!

We then got into Syd's card and headed down the road towards the Grand Canyon. It takes about and hour and a half from Flagstaff, but it was an interesting drive, going through different countryside again and learning more about Arizona and its inhabitants as we drove.

On arrival at the Grand Canyon National Park, Syd produced her seniors card and we did not have to pay anything to get in. We drove into the park and headed towards one of the hotels that overlooks the canyon. We parked in the car park there and spent a lot of time being amazed by the sight of one of the most famous landmarks in the world. I am not sure that we were prepared to be so amazed.

Took lots of photos there, then had a brief look into the hotel which was built in the 1920's to accommodate visitors to the park. There is a railhead there so you can take a train from Williams (a nearby town) on an excursion. We then went back to where the road turns off and takes you along the rim of the canyon. There were a number of viewing points along the road and you got a different perspective at each of the viewing points.

Finally, we headed for Cameron, a Navajo trading post with a restaurant and shops, as well as a motel and other services. We had a late lunch of Navajo Tacos, which we could not finish, then took a look around the trading post. The Navajo women make some beautiful wool rugs, some with natural wool colours and others with naturally dyed yarns. The smaller rugs cost upwards of $300 while the biggest rug was $24,000.

We then went to another shop at the trading post where there were some beautifully crafted Navajo jewellery, pottery, weaving and head dresses. The pottery was stunning - the nicest were pit-fired and carved and cost from $4,000 to $12,000. I have never seen pottery so highly priced!

By this time, it was getting late so we turned back towards Flagstaff and arrived back around 5.30pm. Syd drove us around some of the properties nearby - beautiful houses, but not occupied by their owners very often. The lake nearby was almost frozen over.


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Location:Flagstaff,United States