The Grand Canyon Experience

Trip Start Jul 07, 2007
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Trip End Jul 29, 2007


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Flag of United States  , Arizona,
Saturday, July 14, 2007

I'm sitting in the back seat of a rented Ford Taurus in the parking lot of an RV Park in Williams, Arizona, USA. It's 6AM and I've been up most of the night. Behind me is the office building for the RV Park and a pet kennel. To my left is a children's playground. Ahead of me across the street is a steakhouse shaped like a barn. Why? Why am I all alone at sunup in a parking lot sitting in the back seat? Wi-Fi... that's the short answer. Our hotel doesn't provide internet access, but recommends the capability of hooking up through the RV Park next door. But there is not one table. Not one electrical plug. And rather than struggle with juggling this laptop as I stand, I've chosen, after multiple attempts at loging on, and using, then charging, then using the battery herein, to try this. I'm going to hit 'save' now just in case I lose power, or connection, etc..

OK! Now, on the the primary purpose of going through all this, which is to update you regarding our travels.
We flew out of DFW on Wednesday the 11th into Phoenix, then on to Flagstaff, Az. where we picked up the rental car in which I now sit and met up with Elaine's parents and her brother David. We all drove to Williams, where we registered with our hotel and had dinner. I'll try to just hit the high points here and let you fill in the details. The next morning we got on the Grand Canyon Railway and made the two and a half hour rail trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This was an altogether wonderful trip and I would recommend it to anyone! Lots of fun and interaction with the staff, with each car having their own PTA (Personal Travel Assistant). They especially cater to families with children and make it lots of fun for everyone.

We had a great and educational time at the canyon, the boys got sworn in as "Junior Rangers" and got their patches, certificates, and pins. When I have more time and better access I'll insert some pictures, of which there are many, to be sure.

We stayed overnight at the canyon, then the next afternoon, yesterday, we headed back to Williams on the train.

I'm sure you'll forgive me for being brief from this point on today, due to the aforementioned circumstances and the fact that everyone will be packing up in a few minutes for departure on the next 'leg' of our trip. After breakfast we'll be driving back to Flagstaff, then heading north to Zion National Park. We've been out of service area for our cell phones for the whole of the Canyon trip also, I forgot to say, so I had to use a PayPhone (HORRORS), to call my sister to wish her a happy birthday yesterday!

Hopefully, by the time we settle in a hotel tonight we will have internet access (and yes, cell phones too?) so I'll have more time to do a better job here. We want to thank you all for reading and we especially appreciate your comments.

More later,
Quinn
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