Wandering Retirees

Petrified Forest National Park and Grand Canyon National Park

What a day! We covered about 300 miles today on a round about route from Gallup, NM to Grand Canyon Village, AZ on the south rim. We first stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park in AZ off Route 40. Taking some good advice, we stopped in the Visitors’ Center and approached Park Ranger Richard Ullman (Ranger Rick) for some advice. What we got was a veritable “data dump” (his words) on what to see in the park. And since he was stationed at the south rim of the Canyon for 12 years, he had so much to tell and advise us about both parks. He is such an enthusiastic representative! He reminds me of Ken Hartman and John Filippini. We followed the park road to several scenic lookouts, including Kachina Point with a view of the painted desert, the Route 66 stop with a 1932 Studebaker permanently parked in the sand, and Blue Mesa with its stunning view of Billings Gap and the desert resting places of many, many petrified trees. Our first “wow” of the day. We met a couple along the way, Menno and Lucie, from the Netherlands who were also on holiday in the Southwest. Interestingly, they were traveling in comfort in a rented RV. (In our experience, 90% of all RVs are rented by Germans on foreign tours, but I digress.) We earned some cred when they saw we were traveling by motorcycle starting in NJ. Have to hold up the reputation of the side!
We left the Park in the south by Route 180 toward Flagstaff and ended up in Winslow.

I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona with one special woman on my mind.

Had a great time mugging on the corner with others of the same mind. The corner is at 2nd and Warner and has a couple of bronze musician statues. There’s also a Great Wall to lean against. (See the accompanying pictures for a distinguished example.) It’s a façade, by the way. We then went to lunch at La Posada, at Ranger Rick’s suggestion, and had another meal to write home about. Connie had a lamb stew and I had a fried bread with lamb and salsa that leapt off our plates into our mouths. Lunch was so good and so generously proportioned that a siesta would have gone down well. The restaurant is a small part of a great old hotel first built by the Santa Fe Railroad to serve its customers in the heyday of rail travel. It had fallen into disrepair and was slated for demolition. But some intrepid investors took a chance and recreated its splendor as a hotel, restaurant and historic site. It’s fully modern, even having electric Tesla car hookups. It’s truly beautiful. So go stand on the corner and have some lunch.

Then off to the Grand Canyon, one of the focal points of our planning. We took US Route 89 north to the east entrance of the park. (Again, thanks to Ranger Rick.) coming in that way meant very little traffic and no wait to enter the park or village. The south entrance is much more heavily travelled. We stopped at Navajo Point for our first look of the Canyon; it took our breath away. Wow just doesn’t do it. The Colorado River was the tiniest ribbon of water about a mile beneath us flowing to the west. The grandeur of the Canyon walls and rock formations extending miles on either side eludes the power of description. We tried to wrap our minds around the sight of layers of beautiful sedimentary rock that were revealed over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Nature won that round: we were and remain awed.

We made our way to the village and checked into our cute little cabin. Connie’s magical planning made this possible. (It’s a duplex, if you can imagine.) It is comfortable and very nice, and located about 200 feet from the head of Bright Angel Trail. We unloaded our bags and took a stroll along the rim to see the sunset. We walked about a ½ mile over all, but stopped every few yards or so to stare in wonder of this sublime act of creation. (Tim, we think you can relate.)

We wound up settling at a beautiful scenic outlook to enjoy the waning moments of daylight. We met two wonderful young folks traveling from Norway. Chris and Anna both work with the same company in Norway that focuses on civil engineering projects (as best as I can relate). Chris is an American ex-pat from Minnesota, and Anna is a native of Poland. We had a great time sharing he pleasures of our travel experiences. They are on a 3 week holiday and we found their enthusiasm and kindness so engaging.

Okay. There is so much more to tell. But all the words in the world’s vocabularies cannot adequately describe what we are experiencing. You will just have to come to this wonder of the world and experience it for yourself. You will congratulate yourself for your wisdom.

Tomorrow we’re up we’ll before the crack of dawn to take a hike down the South Kaibob Trail to … wait for it … Ooh Ahh Point, to see the sun rise. Jersey prepared us for this how? So more tomorrow.