Monday, September 8, 2014

Western Scenic Tour 2014, Day 2!


Oh, wow, oh wow, oh wow!  What a day!  

Let’s start at the beginning.  We all awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and walked to breakfast at the Pine Country Cafe.  Wow--the service at this restaurant is top-notch.  With a large group of 28, this place was as efficient as could be, and breakfast was delicious, from oatmeal, to pancakes, to bacon, sausage and breakfast burritos.  Yum!

From breakfast, we walked to the Grand Canyon Railway, under some threatening gray clouds.  We all carried umbrellas/raincoats due to the rain in the forecast.  The staff at the Grand Canyon Railway was wonderful.  Pre-arranged group tickets were available immediately at the ticket window.  We were entertained with a short shoot-out show in an outdoor “theater”.  It was cute and good for a few chuckles.  We then boarded the train.  From its yesteryears of transporting ore through the wild west to present-day journeys in the heart of the canyon, the Grand Canyon Railway is absolutely enchanting.  It was a romantic journey in comfortable restored cars, listening to the rhythmic sound of the train wheels on the track.  With the exception of a few passengers in the front of the coach, the car was just our group. Now, I say this with the utmost affection, we have quite an eclectic group, and I think we  probably entertained our helpful PSA, Doug.  There was a wonderful guitar player, singing and playing a harmonica to entertain us as we rolled through the Kaibab Plateau.  It was a very pleasant ride.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon, and after a short walk, we were awed by the views at the South Rim of the Canyon.  And as to the rain?  NO RAIN.  But what we did have were spectacular cloud formations creating colors that were breathtaking:  blues, whites, grays, reds, all softened by the billowy clouds with rays of sunshine cascading over the canyon at random intervals, creating an ever-changing perspective of the vista.  It was amazing, just amazing.

We enjoyed lunch and some of us walked the rim, while others rode the shuttle bus.  We had 3 hours and 15 minutes before we had to catch the train back to Williams.  

And what a train ride back THAT was!  We were entertained by another singer.  Our group started a conga line that danced up and down our car and even into the car behind us!  Hilarious and big fun!  We then decided to turn the tables on the train robbers who rode up on horseback and hopped into the train cars.  When the robbers burst into our car, our group proceeded to jump up and finger shoot them with a loud “bang, bang, bang!”.  The robbers were stopped in their tracks and speechless!  They proceeded with their “skit”, and it really was all very entertaining as we rolled back down to Williams.  

After we left the train, we walked to dinner for some pizza and gathered at the Lodge for our nightly meeting.  Doug went over details for tomorrow’s drive and talked about plans for the 2015 tour.  Terry and Mary had put together some wonderful gifts for each of us.  Those two are awesome!  And Jim and Cathy provided us all with some Minnesota goodies.  Also awesome!  Thank you so much!

So...this tour is shaping up to be an action-packed, humorous, awe-inspiring, sharing, gracious and entertaining year.  And this is only DAY TWO!

Tomorrow, we hit the road, and head to Lone Pine!

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