Trailing Spouse Visits the Grand Canyon

PICTURES - Mt Humphrey over 10,000 feet south of Canyon - El Tovar Hotel on Canyon edge - Inside El tovar Hotel - The Grand Canyon for our hotel


They call it the high desert for a reason. The south rim of the Grand Canyon is 7000 feet above sea level - and gets very little rain or snow. But we got just enough snow to put a sweet icing coat on the rim.

It is the slow time of the year at the canyon - we were able to book a room in the El Tovar Hotel on the rim. The El Tovar was built in 1905 by the Santa Fe Railroad when railroad were the only mode of transportation for tourists. The hotel is a large log cabin with 100 guest rooms. It hangs right on the edge of the canyon.

The Grand Canyon is spellbinding no matter what time you visit. It has taken 2 million years to form and it looks exactly the same now as it did in 1977 when we visited. Then - you had to fight the crowds along the rim trails - but Lulu and I were able to walk the edge with no one else in sight. The colors of the layers of rocks in the canyon are pretty - and they change from hour to hour due to the angle of the sun. Since we werte on the south rim - the sun was behind us - great for pictures. We experienced the canyon at sunset and sunrise when the shadows are greatest and the colors are the reddest.

I am guessing the hotel was 1/4 full. We went to dinner - and they asked did we have a reservation. I said no - and she asked our name - she wrote it in the book - and then gave us the best table in the house - right by the fireplace.

We had two nights left in Arizona - so Lulu and I got back into the car - and headed south.

In Sedona - we did not experience any vortex forces - but we did feel something - terrific head colds. As we climbed up to the canyon - the 7000 elevation compounded our stuffiness - and made us pretty lethargic. so our next stop will have to be someplace lower.