Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Day 16: Destination – Grand Canyon, Arizona

Starting Mileage: 11228
Ending Mileage: 11419
Miles Traveled: 191
April 28, 2008



Checked out early and headed to Jerome—an old mining town that is built *onto* the side of mountain. Very scenic ride with lots of “S” turns—which made Brian very happy. Grace took some videos from the back of the bike. This whole route was recommended by Scott (THANKS!!). Also recommended was the Haunted Hamburger place—at which we happily stopped for lunch.






Then we headed out down the other side of the mountain towards Prescott Valley to see Barbara & Jerry—parents of really good friends from the Bay Area. What a terrific ride down into the valley. Barbara & Jerry have a FABulous home in Prescott Valley. Grace told Brian, “I want to live here!” So…maybe…just maybe…we’ll see…





After an absolutely wonderful visit with Barbara & Jerry, we headed off to the Grand Canyon. Upon entering the park from the Williams side, we went straight to Mather Point for restrooms and Grace’s first opportunity to stand on the rim, at which point she lost command of the English language – all she has said for the last two days is, “Wow”. The pictures will tell the whole story.




Always one to aim high, Brian rolled up to the El Tovar Hotel in the village and asked for a room. They have four (4) suites that look out onto the canyon from the second floor, and he was hoping for a cancellation. No luck there, but we did get a room on the other side of the hall for one night. The park is very busy, even at this time of year. Go figure. Many different languages being spoken here, German and Japanese in the majority.

So, after booking dinner reservations for tonight and a couple of tours for the next day, we set off to find a room for our second night. Bright Angel Lodge sits next to El Tovar on the rim, but no luck there. We next rolled up to Maswik Lodge and hit paydirt.

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