Grand Canyon

As has been our pattern for this trip, Monday, we packed up the car and headed out early. I liked the Super 8 more so than the Travelodge. And for breakfast, they had waffles in addition to all the other items. Mmmm.....
Anyway, so we headed out making our way to the Grand Canyon. I typed two blogs on this trip and I think Bob was a little unhappy with that but, it's when I had time and a half-way decent signal. Plus, that way, I'm not waaaaaaaaay behind. Like I am now, again!! LOL There's never enough time when you get back into the swing of things.
So again, we're on our way to the GC. I was pretty surprised by the surrounding areas on the way there. Cameron, was one of the only established towns on the way. We stopped there to shop for souvenirs and fortunately they had a post office so I bought more stamps and mailed off what I had so far. While we were shopping, Alex got separated from us and became very upset. She normally wanders around without any issues but for some reason she thought we were going to leave her somewhere on our trip. Like that could ever happen. The car would be quiet and we would know something was wrong instantly. At the store, Alex bought a Dream Catcher. She had been talking about one for some time and I thought a handmade one from our trip would be more memorable than one bought up here. So, she found a medium sized one and the rim is purple.
It took us about 3 hours to get to the main entrance of the Canyon. Mikki's tip for the Canyon was to wait until you stop at a point to look at the scenery. As hard as it may be. It was very worth it as the first full view of the Canyon is breathtaking. We took some pictures (if you can believe that) and Bob hiked down a nearby trail for a short distance. He really wanted to do a lengthy hike but I knew Alex and I would never make it back up. When he returned he was huffing and puffing, but he was still willing to try if we wanted to. He's crazy. We then drove to the Visitor's Center. We were hoping to find a picnic area along the way. The only area with picnic tables was completely unshaded. Whew! It was too hot for that. When we entered the parking area for the visitor's center we found a picnic area between two parking sections. And, it wasn't even that busy. Alex ate her left over pizza and Bob and I made sandwiches to go with our chips and cookies. Yummy. After lunch, we went to the center and looked at the displays about the sediment levels in the Canyon walls. Next, we went to catch a shuttle to another shuttle transfer so we could go all the way to the end of the Canyon. We encountered the most interesting group on the shuttle. Yes, that was sarcasm. They were so unprepared for a hike all the way to the bottom of the canyon, it was almost funny. One bottle of water and no food for the 7 people will not work well for long. Morons.
The shuttles in the GC were very different from the shuttles in Zion. Here they just wanted to shove as many people as possible onto the bus. The drivers still tried to talk about the stop points but you really couldn't hear much because of all the noise. We got off the bus at the Hermit's Rest point. It is at the farthest end of the canyon. It was pretty but by this time I was done with the GC. WAY DONE!! It's nice but it doesn't change from one angle to another. So, we made our way back to the transfer point and then waited and waited and waited for another bus to come and let people on. I was so annoyed by the people walking up who disregarded the line and just hopped on the bus. Rude. So, we waited some more and as we were at the front of the line now, I was ok with telling people walking up that there was a line. At this point the only thing helping me make it through the annoyance of the shuttle was the fact I was going to get to shop at the VC. Except we went to the main VC and that's not where we needed to be so, we hopped in the car this time and headed over to the store. We bought some shirts and magnets and shot glasses but nothing really grabbed up like Yellowstone. Probably because we loved our trip to Yellowstone so much and this wasn't the same. A great place to visit nonetheless but really only a half day is needed unless you're going to hike. So, the night before I had been checking out options in Vegas if we decided to cut our stay here short. The hotel in Williams, AZ was about an hour from the GC and I had it reserved for 2 nights. We would have been able to stay at any of the Harrah's properties for free so, I started eyeing Caesar's only because I didn't want to stay there for a long stay but, if they were going to comp it...... we should stay there once. Plus, they have 7 pools and it would be cool to see Alex's reaction since she thought the Orleans was the fanciest place in the world.
We headed towards Williams about 6pm. Williams is located on historic Route 66 and was a pretty interesting little town. They had some events down the main drag the night we were there and everything looked very busy. We checked into the hotel and told them we only needed to stay one night. They were nice enough to not make me pay for both nights. That was a nice surprise. I then set on the mission to find internet in the hotel. Nada. Next I tried to log in with my phone. No luck. So, I called Caesar's and told her the offer I had seen the night before, gave her our players card numbers and asked what she was able to do. She said no problem and found a room for us, comped. Sweet!! We were starving at this point and Bob finally decided on a Steakhouse. Wow, it was amazing. Bob and I had steaks while Alex had chicken nuggets that were made with real chicken and not chicken parts. They were super also. Bob said it was the best steak and Au jus he had ever had. By time we were done with dinner, it was late and we were tired. Back to the hotel for the night.