July 15 & 16

Breakfast at Cliffdwellers (biscuits and gravy – a house specialty and I recommend it) then on the road again. Short driving day today, only about 4 hours of road time, but with all our side trips, I’m sure it will take us the better part of the day! Just before we left a Gecko ran up Kelsey’s leg and onto her head! She decided to call it "Geico the Gecko".

The cliffs, mesas and canyons around here are just too strange. This whole area is just lunar-looking. It is colourful too, reds, grays, greens, blues, blacks.

Went to Tuba City on our way to another of our legendary ghost town hunts. Disappointment prevailed when there were no tubas in sight. Never did figure out why it is called Tuba City, it’s not even a large town! Right next to it is Moenkopi. This is a little Hopi village that consists of lots of houses and buildings all made from local flat rocks stacked up to make walls. A sign at the entrance welcomes you, but asks that you respectfully refrain from filming, photographing, sketching, recording or taping anything. It is really interesting, but kind of depressing too, as are a lot of reservation towns. Lots of broken down cars, discarded furniture and dogs lying in the hot sun. Different attitudes towards landscaping I guess.

The ghost town we eventually found, Coal Mine Mesa, was behind locked fences again, and even more surprising was that it was probably younger than me. I’m not sure I like that. Couple of old trailers and a worn out gas station. NOT worth the drive at all, but keeping up our tradition of useless ghost towns!

We are in Cameron, Az right now, (105 deg, 4200 ft) headed west towards the Grand Canyon, our destination for two nights. Looking to the west and south there is a band of thunderheads! Bet we get a pretty good sound and light show tonight. (I’ll be sure to let you know, Lynne) Nope – they drifted off.

Stopped at a viewpoint (comes with the requisite tables full of mass-produced "authentic" Indian jewellery) and stood on the edge of an absolutely vertical 500 foot drop-off down to the Little Colorado river. The sun was high so there were no shadows, so it was hard to really appreciate the view, it all looked flat.

Little Colorado River

Made it to the Grand Canyon……I understand why they call it Grand. Sort of funny, I’ve seen pictures of it and film and read about it, but in real life it is beyond all that. Sort of like knowing all about Santa, but meeting him in real life would be extraordinary!

We checked out all the viewpoints, rode the tram to Hermits Rest viewpoint, ate dinner at the El Tovar Hotel (a B$G mistake) and generally enjoyed the two days there.

Grand Canyon