Day 7: Saturday 20th June 2010: Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon (Miles to Date: 1538)
We'd forgotten how noisy Vegas can be and we all had a very fitful night's sleep. Mark woke up at 2:30am and thought it was morning; it wasn't! The bright lights outside our room's window just made it look that way! Anyway we had planned an early start as we were off to the Grand Canyon. This is another place we had been before but we really wanted to have one more look at this “wonder of the world”, albeit a brief encounter on this occasion. So purposeful was our mission that we did not even stop to admire the marvellous Hoover Dam (we had also visited this a couple of time before). It takes about five hours to reach the Grand Canyon, and almost by chance we reached the frontier town of Williams, the gateway to the south entrance of the National Park. Before travelling we had consulted our trusty guide to eating well and cheaply, the “Road Food” book..jpg)
It told us of a place in Williams called “Old Smokey's Restaurant” which sounded the ideal place to replenish our energy for a trip to the Canyon. We were not disappointed, although they had stopped doing the speciality breads mentioned in “Road Food”. We stuck to the breakfast special, even though it was lunchtime, which turned out to be both filling and tasty. Fully satisfied we head on for the last 70 mile leg of our trip. We quickly checked into our hotel and headed off to the National Park, and soon as we could we pulled into a parking lot to get a view of the Canyon. However many times you go there the sight of the Grand Canyon takes your breath away. Captivated we stare in awe for several minutes, before deciding to head off to see a Park Ranger talk at the Lodge, which is located in Canyon Village, five miles or so from the Park entrance. This talk was on the Californian Condor which was re-introduced into the Canyon several years back. At one time this magnificent bird colonised the whole of the United States, but in recent times its range had become limited to the lower Western States, and the numbers had fallen to extinction levels. With only 22 birds remaining in the wild the bold step was taken to capture all of these and start a captive breeding program. This was highly successful and many Condors have been released back into the .jpg)
wild. There are now a total of 365 Californian Condors, with 176 living in the wild in Arizona and California. Now these birds are big; they can weigh up to 25 pounds and have wing spans of 9 ½ feet. Big is not not always beautiful and the Condors are prime examples, they are incredibly ugly to look at (it's hard to believe even their mothers would find them beautiful!). Having said that when they are in-flight they are majestic creatures, soaring on thermals for hours on end. Coming back to the talk by the Ranger. She was fantastic and her presentation was both entertaining and informative. The children were fascinated by the facts, especially the one about urinating on their feet, which acts as a sunscreen. After the Ranger programmes finished we decided to head back to the Visitor's Center so Jack and Emily could do their Junior Ranger activities and get their badges. As it was near the end of the day the Ranger in the Center was keen to shut up shop, so he didn't spend any time checking the work Jack and Emily had done and more or less handed over their badges and certificates. Never mind- we were in and out, and on our way quickly.
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It told us of a place in Williams called “Old Smokey's Restaurant” which sounded the ideal place to replenish our energy for a trip to the Canyon. We were not disappointed, although they had stopped doing the speciality breads mentioned in “Road Food”. We stuck to the breakfast special, even though it was lunchtime, which turned out to be both filling and tasty. Fully satisfied we head on for the last 70 mile leg of our trip. We quickly checked into our hotel and headed off to the National Park, and soon as we could we pulled into a parking lot to get a view of the Canyon. However many times you go there the sight of the Grand Canyon takes your breath away. Captivated we stare in awe for several minutes, before deciding to head off to see a Park Ranger talk at the Lodge, which is located in Canyon Village, five miles or so from the Park entrance. This talk was on the Californian Condor which was re-introduced into the Canyon several years back. At one time this magnificent bird colonised the whole of the United States, but in recent times its range had become limited to the lower Western States, and the numbers had fallen to extinction levels. With only 22 birds remaining in the wild the bold step was taken to capture all of these and start a captive breeding program. This was highly successful and many Condors have been released back into the .jpg)
wild. There are now a total of 365 Californian Condors, with 176 living in the wild in Arizona and California. Now these birds are big; they can weigh up to 25 pounds and have wing spans of 9 ½ feet. Big is not not always beautiful and the Condors are prime examples, they are incredibly ugly to look at (it's hard to believe even their mothers would find them beautiful!). Having said that when they are in-flight they are majestic creatures, soaring on thermals for hours on end. Coming back to the talk by the Ranger. She was fantastic and her presentation was both entertaining and informative. The children were fascinated by the facts, especially the one about urinating on their feet, which acts as a sunscreen. After the Ranger programmes finished we decided to head back to the Visitor's Center so Jack and Emily could do their Junior Ranger activities and get their badges. As it was near the end of the day the Ranger in the Center was keen to shut up shop, so he didn't spend any time checking the work Jack and Emily had done and more or less handed over their badges and certificates. Never mind- we were in and out, and on our way quickly.
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