Tag Archives: Grand Canyon

Native American Journey’s Tour

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Up bright and early we met the Native American Journey’s Tour at reception at 7:10am. At least they are picking us up so we don’t have to make that drive again today. I will be able to sit back and enjoy the scenery too.

They were right on time. They had already picked up two couples from the Sedona Pines resort. We were traveling in a van. Our driver and guide’s name was Joe. He didn’t appear to be Native American but the web site was a bit “iffy” on that. As long as he knows the history as promised that will be fine.

Our drive took us through Sedona and up RT 89A through Oak Creek Canyon. In all my travels up and down this road I had never seen the bottom of the gorge. If I had I would have been in it  (Ha Ha). Now sitting high in a van I could see well into Oak Creek Canyon. WOW! I think maybe it was a good thing I didn’t know how steep and deep it was when I first started driving this road.

Joe is a bona-fide “rock hound”. I have never seen anyone get so excited over rock formations! He would pull the van over to the side of the road, pull out a white board and start writing information on  it while he explained what we were looking at, just like a geology teacher. He had a pile of different colored sponges that he had cut to represent a fault so he could demonstrate the way the earth shifts when a fault line moves. He would have made a great teacher.  

As we passed Flagstaff Joe told us a story of how the city got its name. The story goes that the early settlers were going to have a big party to celebrate the 4th of July. So that everyone would be able to find the location they picked the largest tree and stripped off all of its limbs then hung a flag from the top. They told everyone to come to the celebration where the Flag Staff was standing.

It was quite a long ride part of which was on the famous RT 66. I’m not sure I could find my way back on my own even though Joe said you can get a permit without going with a tour. The section of the Canyon we were going to and the road that would take us there is on a Reservation so we had to stop at Peach Springs at the  Visitor Center for the Hualapai Tribe to pick up the tour permit. We had a brief rest stop while we were waiting for Joe. There was a gift shop and rest rooms.

When Joe came back waving the permit we all clambered back into the van but we didn’t head out right away. Joe said we had “bookkeeping” to do. He handed out all of the charge slips. As he did he said if we didn’t sign them he would leave us at the Visitor Center so we could find our own way home. I don’t know if he was joking or not but turns out that it put me in an awkward position.

When I tried to make the reservation several months ago, I had my tax refund money in the account so I used that card. When the charge never went through I called them back. They told me they were just using the card # to “Hold” the reservation and wouldn’t charge it until the trip. ( This was actually my 3rd call as I had wanted some more information before I booked the tour and there had been 1 email. ) Before we left for the trip, I wanted to consolidate everything in one account so I could keep track of my expenses. I made my 4th call to them at that time. I said since they hadn’t charged the card yet, could I change the one I was using. I was told yes, just email the new card #. I started to protest that it wasn’t safe to do that but finally gave up and complied. I also asked for the “Bottom line” as the ad said $179.00 per person plus tax and tip and I was getting a AAA discount as well.

I was told the real cost of the tour was now $229.00 plus tax and tip per person. I protested and said I would cancel as that was not what was advertised and that in spite of numerous requests, no one had been able to give me a final figure for the tour. They back tracked quickly and said ..Oh that’s right you saw the web page plus we can give you the AAA discount. He threw a number at me as he said he had to go to a meeting. I wrote the amount down and sent off the email with my card #.

Now here we were in a van in the tiny town of Peach Springs on a reservation miles from Sedona and the tour guide is saying I have to sign the charge slip or get out. My charge slip was for the wrong credit card( bank account) and over charged by $40.00. Since I was in the back of the van I couldn’t discretely speak to the tour driver. I had to yell it out so everyone could hear.

Joe told me to go ahead and sign it and call Dave, the owner /manager later after the tour and he would straighten it out. That didn’t leave me with many options if I didn’t want to walk home. I had a feeling the damage was already done anyway and the signature was just a formality for the tour operator so I complied and resigned myself to having to deal with that after the tour was over. Since there was nothing more I could do now, I might as well relax and enjoy the trip down, especially if it was going to be more expensive than planned.

With that out of the way (for now), Joe pulled the van out onto the road and our journey to the bottom really began at that point.

Now I don’t want you to think I always have these financial difficulties. This was the first time I’ve had so many things messed up over money. I always travel on a very tight budget so I must have all my little ducks in a row or there’s no way I can go on these vacations . These issues from Payless Car rental to Native American Journey’s are the exception, not the rule. They just happened to all come up on this trip. I have tucked the experiences away and will now be even more diligent before I book a tour or reserve a car.

More Grand Canyon

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There is way too much to show and tell about the Grand Canyon for one post. So let me try to fill in some of what I skipped yesterday.

At our first stop we could see the Colorado River winding its way through the canyon floor.

Our  guide pointed out the rapids. They didn’t look like much from where we were standing but he said they are CLASS 10! He went on to tell us that the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon is the only place where rapids are rated on a scale of 1-10. Everywhere else the maximum rapid is 5. He said several other rapids in the canyon are rated class 8. WOW! Anyone up  for a white water rafting trip?

This is a marker from the last survey of the Grand Canyon.

 It was done with volunteers and the assistance of the Boston Museum of Science and the National Geographic Society.

With Sandy waving in the foreground, you can get some perspective of the hugeness of the Canyon. Just awe-inspiring! This was also the stop where the biologist was tracking the Condors.

Railings and walls are there to keep us safe. Even so, we saw a mother take her young son over the fence and right up to the rim. Crazy!

Once back at the train we climbed up to the Visitor Center so I could secure my National Park Stamp. There were a couple of pieces of petrified wood on display. I am hoping we’ll have time to get to the petrified forest this trip. I missed it last time.

 

While there we walked over to El Tovar. The Hotel is the premier lodging in the Grand Canyon National Park. It first opened it’s doors on 1905. It was most recently renovated in 2005.

We also stopped by Hopi House which is another National Historical building. It was created to allow Native Americans to sell their authentic Native American crafts.

Then it was time to climb back down to the depot.

We’ve stretched our visit long enough for this time. We’ll be back in the morning to go into the Canyon so it’s time to load onto the train for the return trip.

It’s about 3:15 so the railroad serves a snack buffet  to First Class and Dome car passengers on the return trip too. This time it’s veggies and dip and cheese and crackers. A nice touch and certainly appreciated.

Just outside of Williams the train slowed to a stop. We spotted the Cowboys galloping along side only now they were bandits here to rob the train! All in fun we handed over change and dollar bills. I presume it is their “tip” for the show this morning.

Grand Canyon Railroad

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It’s a chilly morning out there but the sun is shining so it will probably warm up as the day progresses. We’re on our way up 89 A, through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff and then on to Williams to ride the Grand Canyon Railroad. I guess it gets light earlier in May than it does in October because I seem to remember this drive in October as being dark and cold. This time it’s a bit chilly but the sun is up.

We arrived with time to spare but boy was it windy. By now it had warmed up enough that when the wind didn’t blow it was comfortable with a light jacket but that wind was powerful and cut right through you.

We picked up our tickets and wandered around the gift shop and grounds while we waited for the Wild West Show to start. Eventually we headed over to the Wild West set to try to find seats that might be a little protected from the wind.

One of the cowboys was already on the set with a couple of horses.

 The horses looked like all they wanted to do was take a nap. 🙂

 Can’t say I blame them. Pretty soon more tourists started to arrive and fill up the bleachers. The other “players” came onto the set and the show was underway almost before we knew it.

 It segued from the cowboys chatting with the audience right into the show. People were picked out of the crowd to participate and jokes (really bad jokes) were tossed out right and left.

For example when one of the cowboys asked “Where are you from?” His hapless victim said “Canada”. The cowboy paused for a moment and then asked  “Do you know how Canada got its name? We’ll start with C, eh?” Groaner Ha Ha…and it continued along those lines. One cowboy kept getting shot” and then revived to play a different part.

 I think they did that about 3 times. It was fun and ate up the time we had to wait before the “All Aboard” rang out.

We are traveling in the “Dome” car or Observation car for the ride north to the Canyon.

Our return will be in First Class. A simple buffet of Danish, muffins, coffee and juice and some fruit was put out for the passengers in the dome car and first class.

The Dome class is neat because it has a great view. The windows wrap right over the car so you have a pretty much unobstructed view. It’s quite a long ride so we are entertained along the way. The “PSA” ,basically the attendant assigned to the car, was a fellow named “Bobby”. He was very funny delivering his announcements with stories and jokes. We also had a singing cowboy for the ride north. He was fun too. He had a great voice and also had a good repertoire of jokes. It takes skill to deliver a joke and make it funny. We were lucky that both Bobby and the Cowboy had that skill.

Upon arriving at the Grand Canyon we were directed to the bus for the tour we were taking. Once on the bus we were told that we would have lunch first and then take the rim tour. That’s a switch from my last trip but it works for me. As the bus pulled out of the depot the driver told us to take a look at our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon.

 It is as majestic as I remember but just as before it didn’t seem real. It’s so huge my mind insists it must be a mural! The bus took us to the Maswik Lodge where a hot buffet awaited. There was salad , spaghetti and meatballs, fish, chicken  soup and more. If anyone went away hungry it was their own fault. Lunch finished it was back on the bus for the ride along the south rim of the Canyon.

The stops were different from my last visit but no less interesting. I will say right here and now..the pictures cannot do justice to the canyon and I am not articulate enough to be able to describe it adequately. You just have to see it for yourself. Still if you haven’t been there, I will do my best to give you a glimpse of what it was like.

We made 3 stops in all. The first stop gave us a fairly long loop trail to take us along the canyon rim and then wind back to the parking lot and the bus. The high winds that the area has been experiencing was stirring up sand and dust so that it looked like a “mist” was hanging over the canyon but our guide said it was this dust.

The Canyon is spectacular enough alone but at the 2nd stop there was a biologist with a tracking device. He was tracking condors. Oh how I would have liked to see one of those magnificent birds. The Biologist was very gracious taking time to answer our questions. For example, he told us that all but one of the condors in the canyon are tagged so he could track them and know which bird he was tracking by the signal it was emitting. At that moment he was monitoring a female than was on a nest. The nest was on the cliff face  below where we were standing so we couldn’t see it from this angle. He said the bird usually flys about once per hour. Unfortunately it didn’t fly while we were there. The biologist also said we had missed about 9 condors that had been soaring over the Canyon in the morning. Just our luck!

Moving on to the last stop we found out that one of the other bus passengers had seen a Gila Monster at the previous stop and had the picture to prove it. The bus driver said that was unusual on the rim but that it certainly looked like one. Also at this stop we could see a trail along the canyon floor with hikers like little dots.

 It gives some perspective to the depth of the canyon. Too soon it was time to go back to the train for the return to Williams.

Classic Car update/ Sedona Trip Update

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Classic Car update

My sister sent my car picture on to a friend of hers who told her the car is a Buick…late 30’s early 40’s. My, my but I hope I look that good in another 10- 15 years!

Sedona trip update:

I got an email from the Native American Journey’s group. They are available to take us to the Bottom of the Grand Canyon on Tuesday. I’m calling them today to finalize the reservations and get the details.

That works out good because we’ll do the Grand Canyon Railroad and Rim tour on Monday and then go back for the Bottom of the Canyon tour on Tuesday.

That’s all I have time for today…I’m running late. I’ll get back to my New Bedford story tomorrow!

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Sedona Trip Update

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Good morning.

Yesterday I told you my sister and I would conference call for plane tickets. We did it! We got our tickets and the  flights aren’t too bad but I will tell you that it was one of the most challenging bookings I’ve ever done. I had both my desk top and lap top going to check the different sites. Twice we went to book a fare only to be told the price had changed. The fares were jumping up right in front of me!

I have Kayak.com set to send fare alerts for the trip and I didn’t get one until today and that one is still over $100.00 more than the flight we booked.  All I can say is I’m glad that’s done. We are flying Southwest. I haven’t been on Southwest in years but their  “got to getaway” online price was better than anything else I could find besides, “Bags Fly Free” on Southwest 🙂

While I had Sandy on the phone I reserved the rental car. We were in for a shock there. The base cost of the rental was reasonable but then the taxes and miscellaneous charges kicked in almost doubling the cost of the rental! I’ve rented many times before and don’t remember this. I’m not sure if Arizona has extra fees or if I just never noticed it before. This may bear looking into for future reference.

After that call I got back on the phone and booked the Grand Canyon Railroad. I tried booking online but it never asked if there were seniors  in my party and it didn’t let me add the Rim Tour so I called. I got a wonderful agent who applied the appropriate discounts, Senior and AAA and waived the National Park fee of $16.00 because I have a  National Parks Pass.

That done I moved on to the Verde Canyon railroad and the Blazin’M.

We lucked out with that call because they said they were running a special on first class on the train when you combine  it with the Blazin’M. The cost for first class and dinner was only a couple of  dollars more than the coach cost so of course we’ll go first class.

2  more tours to book.

I moved on to the Bottom of the Canyon Tour. I pulled up the reservation page on the Native American journey’s web page and filled it out. I haven’t heard back or paid anything. It seemed to me it was kind of  “up in the air”. I will give it a couple of days to get a response and it if no luck  I will call them. Since I don’t know if we got the day I requested I held off booking the trail ride.

It’s coming together.

I’m going to sign off for now. We have snow on the way and I want to run down to New Bedford to the Whaling Museum. I still need to collect my stamp from my last visit and it’s in the New England National Park Challenge so I can get my first stamp in the challenge. I’ll let you know how I make out in my post tomorrow.