On Sunday we were at the train depot to board the train at 9:15 for our Grand Canyon excursion. One thing we didn't know until a few days ago is northern Arizona has a period from mid June to mid August that is the monsoon season. During this time the sun can be out one minute and then a huge rain storm will come through causing flash floods etc. This happened in Flagstaff a couple of days ago causing flooding and the closing of Hwy 40 east of Flagstaff according to a person on the train today. We experienced this monsoon for our first time today while at the Grand Canyon. We boarded the train at 9:15 and the ride was relaxing. We got to the canyon two hours and fifteen minutes later to the minute. We had about one half hour at the canyon before the sky turned black and it started raining and hailing like you wouldn't believe. Just a half hour before there was plenty of blue sky with just a few clouds. We saw it coming a couple minutes before and made it to the comfort of a front porch bench at one of the business establishments on the rim of the canyon and then just watched it come rolling in. It rained and hailed, about the size of a dime, for an hour which was ok with us because we used this time to eat the lunch we packed. After the storm the temperature dropped 15 degrees and off we headed to the gift shop to see what kind of jackets they had not on sale today. Shortly thereafter the sun came back out for an hour or so and we stowed the jackets we bought not on sale. Just before we were to board the train we had another torrential downpour which we just barely missed again by boarding the train early. We had a great time at the south rim of the canyon despite having to avoid the down pours. The train ride was relaxing but the scenery on the ride was not what we had expected but it was still nice.
Below are some pictures from Flagstaff and our Grand Canyon trip.
Kind of a corny cowboy scene before boarding the train in the morning. I think the kids enjoyed it though.
This was our seat by the food until everyone boarded and then we moved.
Got my ears lowered yesterday. If I keep this up I will almost look presentable. Oh, Huli hid my old bright colored tee shirts but I started buying new ones.
This is the train station at the canyon.
Our first view of the canyon that wasn't looking out the window of an airplane.
There were many people huddle on this porch who were totally soaked. We were fortunate and enjoyed our lunch while watching the people and the storm staying high and dry.
A few minutes later things were clearing up.
These buildings are in the middle of the picture prior to this one. It's funny how this camera can do this but can't take a good close up of an object sitting on a table two feet away or a bear in the Smokies six feet away.
I think this is a solar bathroom on the canyon floor.
This was taken in the lobby of the El Tovar hotel which was built in 1902. It is the main hotel and the best eating establishment at the south rim.
We boarded the train about 10 minutes early to avoid being caught in this. This is a river where there wasn't a river a few minutes ago.
We rode part of the way back on the back platform of the train.
Huli sporting her new jacket.
Another corny cowboy holdup on the train but Huli gets into this kind of stuff.
There is our train car as we got back and good for us it just stopped raining.
