Adam's Blog July 17th, Day 12!
We get up early to make sure that we have time to get some postcards to hopefully get them posted in the Grand Canyon. Breakfast was good and we do manage to get to the gift shop before the wild west show which is some preboarding entertainment. Again I am worried that the show is going to be hoaky, take itself too seriously or just be scary for Gideon. Thankfully it is none of these. The main characters are actively joking with the audience, there is some audience participation and there is even some eye candy that Court gets to enjoy. That is until he took off his hat. I guess balding is better than blond with some serious hay hair.
It's now time to board the train and we head in. The car features a set of four chairs, two pairs each facing each other. It is a really cool experience to be taking the same line that people have been taking for over a century to get up to the rim. Our car had its own attendant who shares information about the area and mans the bar in the car. During the ride we get a banjo player that came through the car and dang some songs for us. He was very impressive with his picking skills.
After the ride we get to Grand Canyon Village, which I have seen on the maps but I had no idea housed so many people. It even has its own school district! We hop on our tour bus and head off to our lunch at one of the lodges. Not an overly impressive spread and it looks like the people that are paying a la carte for their lunch are getting a better deal. After spilling some soda on the table, we wrap up and head back to the bus.
The views from the rim are a lot like yesterday and again my words will fail to capture it so I am not going to attempt. On our way back to the train we stopped at a quick spot where the bus driver said he sees California Condors. On the way we see one circling bit it is really far out over the canyon. We get to the point and there are four of them circling around. A few get really close to us as they circle. It was really cool to get such an opportunity. We get back to the train a little early so we mail the postcards and watch part of the Hopi tribal presentation including some songs and the hoop dance.
On the ride back we had a Native American playing guitar and singing some Navajo songs for us. Most of the way back we get robbed by the bandits from the wild west show in the morning!
It's a fun act but Gideon doesn't get it and as soon as they come in the car he starts yelling " Here is my dollar". The guy played the part well and joked around a bit as well. After arriving back I walked to downtown to get a picture of their clock and walk around a bit. I came across a historic marker for the town brothel which apparently had a two story outhouse. I am still having trouble imagining how that would work. Dinner and then off to bed again.
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