Train Ride to the Grand Canyon

On Saturday we went to Flagstaff to get hair cuts and see a little more of the town.  They were having a second chance dog rescue and adoption event downtown so there were people walking dogs everywhere. 

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 is our train car

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.

 The hat came in handy later.  I like it.  It works for seeing canyons or safaris.

 

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.

 



Our first night in Williams, AZ.

Last night after we got settled in and took care of the dogs we decided to go into Williams to see the downtown area.  Well, we are certainly glad the rv parks in Flagstaff were booked up and we had to get a site in Williams.  This little town has many stores, shops, restaurants, and bars that are really hopping in the evening.  We sat outside and listened to live music for quite a while before moving on to other spots.  It does start to get cool in the evening but they light the propane heaters to warm things up if you want to sit outside.  We ended up at a restaurant getting something to eat for a late supper and got home at about 10-11pm.  The town is on the historic route 66 which they play up in a big way.  It would be a great place to stay in a motel if you want to be in a smaller neat city and want to see the Grand Canyon.  I believe Williams is the closest city to the south rim of the canyon.

This morning we decided we are going to take the Grand Canyon Railway train to the south rim of the canyon on Sunday.  We also decided since we will probably only do this once in our lives we are going in the luxury observation car so we should be able to post some nice pictures of our 65 mile, two hour and fifteen minute ride.  The train leaves Williams in the morning at 9:30 and arrives at the south rim at 11:45am.  They serve fruit, pastries, snacks, drinks on the train.  The train then departs the canyon in the afternoon at 3:30 and arrives back at Williams at 5:45.  We are taking the rv park up on their offer to walk the dogs.  The person we spoke to who is one of two people who do this was previously a dog trainer and said the other individual is very capable also and would take good care of our two furry ones.

Today we needed a few groceries and other odds and ends so we decided to drive the 32 miles to Flagstaff.  You can get there fairly quickly since the speed limit on most highways out here is 75mph.
Flagstaff was nice but we are still glad we are in Williams.  Didn't spend too much time there so I am sure there is much more to see that we missed.  We did stop at what some said is the best authentic Mexican restaurant in Flagstaff but we found it to be only so so.  I think we are too accustom to non authentic Mexican food.

Here are a few pictures from the last day or so.

 

I can't take her anywhere. 

 

No dollar bills papering the walls in the world famous Sultana Bar.  Only stuffed animals and little metal signs with sayings. 

I couldn't find what they were world famous for.  Huli said a guy at the bar said it was because it was the oldest bar in Arizona.  I said how does that make you world famous.  I doubt people in Singapore know about it or care. 

 

I can't tell if Huli is singing to this guy or demonstrating her latest karate moves.

 

This is in Flagstaff at the "best" authentic Mexican restaurant in town.  To us authentic means the taco shells taste like they are stale but they're not.    Oh, Huli reminded me scissors could also trim beards.  Now I need my hair trimmed but we gave up on finding a place today.