THE GRAND CANYON – angels with bad people skills
Wednesday – a restful night after the big day yesterday but we are still a bit weary. After the morning showers where we are still shedding red dust we head down to breakfast – muffins, juice, fruit and coffee. Nice and light. There is always a great selection of cereals, bagels, sugared doughnuts and pastries and something called biscuits and gravy.
This is like scones and some sort of rather congealed white stuff they call sausage gravy. Yuk – no thanks – I’ll stick to the muffins that always seem to disappear as soon as they are brought out but I am aware of what goes on so I make sure that I do not miss out. Bummer that I did not bring the Vegemite but they have peanut butter – so that is OK. We stock up on lots of little packets just in case there is none at the next stop.
After brekkie we head back to our room to continue the big clean up from yesterday. No matter how hard we try at getting every speck of dust out of our cameras we seem to find more. Finally we think we have cleaned everything so off we go as today is our Angel Gate Tour.
I had booked this from Oz and we are really looking forward to seeing all the sights and being educated about the Grand Canyon. Their website shows great promise of a wonderful day which includes lunch overlooking the canyon and guides who are very knowledgeable and excited about their job. Little did we know – –
Waiting in the foyer of our hotel we are collected by our driver/guide who, for legal reasons so we do not get sued – we shall call Ms Gomer. The little bus is air-conditioned and after collecting some other people we head off. Ms Gomer tells us that she has to make a detour to pick up some more people who only just booked this morning and after collecting them it is not long before we realise that this day is going to be a bummer because the new tourers are a US forces man with the wife and daughter and Ms Gomer spends virtually the whole trip to the canyon talking about how she is going to join the military and exactly what sort of tips would he have to offer.
Personally I do not have anything but respect for all armed forces personnel be they Australian, British, US etc but on the other hand I don’t give a flying you-know-what about her future enlistment in the military and if I could have signed her up then and there we would have been free of her and Tyler could have driven the bus!
After a very uneventful trip to the Canyon listening to Ms Gomer ask Mr Military how she should fill out her application etc. etc. etc, we arrive at our first stop – Yavapai Point and Yavapai Observation Station. Here our guide offers us the chance of walking along the rim for about 30 minutes- without her – but she does give a safety talk about getting too close to the edge.
As the day is already heating up and we see some approaching storm clouds we decide to give it a miss. However, Mr Military takes up the offer and heads off. We could have arranged for her to take a first hand look at the floor of the canyon – but that’s going too far.
We are left to ourselves to discover parts of the canyon. When the group returns we head off to the point to get some good views of the canyon. Mr Military who in reality is sure to be slightly annoyed with her constant requests for advice on her enlistment has a bit of a rest while she gives a 5 second talk to us paying customers and a 20 minute talk to the non paying ones.
We the payers are given a 10 second look per person through a slide scope trying to find something to look at but it is Tyler who spots points of interest through the zoom lens on his camera so we decide that us three will stay together at the back of the tour and let the military brigade continue on their merry way. I am not too sure what the other family is going to do.
We are soon rounded up again to get back on the bus and the army talk resumes. Is she never going to shut her mouth? The other people on the tour do not look impressed either. Mr Military’s wife (who is the size of a tank let me tell you) doesn’t want to walk anywhere or see anything – we wonder why the **##** did she come along? Most probably to annoy the tripe out of the rest of us!
She along with Mr Military & family should have stayed at home! It is all too much. We have paid USD327.00 for the three of us to listen to nothing but army talk and how Mrs Military had to board the dog in a kennel because she couldn’t bring it into the park!!. I feel a rather strong letter being sent to this mob when I get back to Oz. Our next stop is the Hopi House.
HISTORY LESSON: designed as living quarters for Hopi artisans and as a place to sell Hopi crafts and souvenirs, this building represents the efforts of the Fred Harvey Company to revive Southwest Indian arts and crafts. Designed by Mary Jane Colter the building was modelled after part of the Hopi village at Third Mesa in Oraibi and retains much of its original appearance. This lesson courtesy of a brochure I picked up in the house – not Ms Gomer.
Hopi House is close to the El Tovar Lodge where we have a bit of investigation because Ms Gomer has taken off to buy more food items for lunch due to the increased military presence and she leaves us to our own devices AGAIN. We venture into the El Tovar Lodge where inside we find the rest rooms and a History Room housing an exhibition on the Harvey Girls and their start in the American West.
Thoughts of Judy Garland in the movie ‘The Harvey Girls’ waft through my mind along with a couple of choruses of ‘on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe’. Ms Gomer returns with supplies and it’s all aboard once more.
Our next stop is the Bright Angel Trail – another secret spot! At the top of the trail Ms Gomer gives a 30 second talk about the touristy mule trains who use this trail to go down to the canyon floor and how the tourists stay overnight before the return trip the next day and then it is back to Mr Military so we head off down the trail by ourselves and find the petroglyphs about which we have read.
These are very interesting but it would have been even more so if our ‘knowledgeable guide’ was with us to explain their meanings – but then again it most probably would have been something like ‘this is a warrior who wants to enlist in the forces!’ Tyler spots a condor which is great so we are excited about that but our guide is not with us – surprise, surprise, surprise. She is about 50 metres behind. So we walk down and then we walk back up and it is at the top of the trail that we also see the Bright Angel Cabins that we would have liked to have booked but we were out of luck so we are at beautiful downtown Tusayan.
At the top of the trail also is the photo studio of the Kolb Brothers. These two gentlemen would take the photos of the visitors as they came up to the top of the trail on mule back. They would then develop the photos and sell them to the tourists.
Pretty nifty considering that Messrs Kolb had to straddle a very precarious part of the canyon with cameras in hand so that some Grande Dame could get a photo of herself smiling on the back of a mule. But, apparently many people wanted the photos and the Kolb Brothers were very successful.
Back in the bus and we proceed to the Bright Angel Lodge. Coming out of the Bright Angel Lodge, Tyler turns his ankle on the path – ouch – so after making sure that he has not done any damage we turn our thoughts to lunch, however we notice a humungous storm on the other side of the Canyon.
Ms Gomer uses this as an excuse to have lunch under a shelter – along with all the tourists and people on phones. We proceed back to the main Park Headquarters and Tourist Information area and this indeed is another lousy experience and not what was promised. We can understand her not wanting us to be rained upon but lunch consisting of cold meat, salad and fruit served out of plastic boxes laid out on public seating and cans of soft drink or water and cookies or chips does not improve the situation.
During this break we take the opportunity to escape and visit the Information Centre Book Store where I buy some CD’s of Native American Chants and Pipe Music and Kylie gets an interesting book about the adventures of Glen & Bessie Hyde and their mysterious travels down the Colorado River onboard a sweep scow. It sounds like a very interesting story and we quickly mention it to Ms Gomer, who brushes us aside, packs up our lunch items and advises that our next stop will be the Tusayan Museum.
Ms Gomer has told us earlier that she is also a rafting guide (along with everything else) but back on the bus she admits to not knowing anything about Glen & Bessie and returns to Mr Military. Kylie sticks her nose back in the book with a look of utter disgust. Obviously if Glen & Bessie had been travelling along in an amphibious tank Ms Gomer would have been a fountain of information! Yes, definitely a letter will be written.
Next stop on our ‘incredible itinerary’ are the Tusayan Ruins. Arriving at the ruins and getting off the bus minus Ms Gomer we walk inside. The attendant – who seems more knowledgable that Ms Gomer – says that the museum and surroundings will provide an insight into the lives of the Pueblo Indians some 800 years ago. Ms Gomer is apparently not allowed to guide us so the attendant says. HA! She has a legitimate excuse this time so the three of us walk around by ourselves and discover the information. It is a very interesting place. Back on the bus and next stop Desert View. Ms Gomer stays in the bus this time with Mrs Military, telling us to be back in half an hour and we are left to again discover this place ourselves.
Our enthusiasm for seeing so many ‘hidden’ spots has thoroughly disintegrated and we wonder if the many, many tourists have discovered our maps so that they can view the hidden areas along with us.
The highlight of this place is The Watchtower.
HISTORY LESSON: courtesy of the sign boards – this tower was designed by Mary Colter after the Fred Harvey Company hired her to design a structure that provided the widest possible views of the Grand Canyon yet was in harmony with its surroundings. It was to be used as a gift shop and rest area.
The views from here are stunning and Mary certainly did a good job. The area inside the Tower is only small and there are a large number of tourists so we opt for the views outside which include the great views of the Colorado River at the bottom on the canyon.
This is our last stop on the tour. That’s the best news we have heard all day. We are so disappointed all we want to to is go back to the hotel. What started out as three happy tourists full of anticipation to enjoy a wonderful landmark has turned out to be a nightmare because of the lousy guide who did not do anything to enhance our knowledge or appreciation of the Grand Canyon. So far all we know is that it is a massive hole in the ground with a ‘hunk of rock’ as Ms Gomer said once.
On the way back to the hotel Ms Gomer keeps drawing our attention to the sign above the drivers window that says ‘Gratuities Appreciated’ and hinting that we should tip if we are satisfied with the service. This thrills us and the other family no end. She has got to be kidding right? Wrong. We arrive back at the hotel – Kylie gives her a couple of dollars – I refused – and we head inside very disgruntled. I am not totally adverse to tipping if I feel that a good service has been provided but for this ‘guide’ she should have refunded our money and paid us extra for having to put up with her.
Note: when we arrived back home we drafted a letter to send to this company and all they came back with was ‘well at least you saw a condor, and if you are ever in this part of the world again we would like to make it up to you!’ FAT CHANCE! They would most probably offer a discount on another one of their amazing tours to once again discover the hidden and tourist free areas of The Grand Canyon.
Hopefully tomorrow when we are in the canyon by ourselves we will be able to get a bit of enthusiasm back and enjoy the sights. We are all pretty down in spirits and K&T decide that they will go and do some laundry. When they come back we get some pizza for dinner – keeping with the mood of the day it tastes like cardboard! We shower, get into bed and pull the covers up over our heads trying to pretend the day didn’t really happen!
Highlight of the day: Tyler’s condor!