All
Judging by the underwhelming response to my lack of posting I have decided
to change the format of my travelogue. It seems that most people are
interested in what the "foreigners" think of them and their country rather
than where I toddled to from day to day. There are a number of different
ways I could approach it e.g. "what I enjoyed" v. "what I did not enjoy",
topics, memorable moments/events/places, disappointments or a pure ramble
through all <g>.
The Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon was a bit of a disappointment. Because of the unfortunate
circumstances we had booked a package with the Grand Canyon Railway Company
where we stayed in Williams AZ for one night, travelled to the Canyon on the
train and then stayed one night in Maswik(?) lodge. We stayed at the Fray
Marcos Hotel which was probably the most expensive hotel on our trip. The
part which we found amusing was that the bar had been imported from a
"village" in England called Shepherds Bush. This "village" is part of the
city of London and probably has not been a village for well over a century,
if not longer.
The "theatricals" performed by the cowboys were done very tongue in cheek.
Having witnessed historical re-enactments on a similar scale in Wigan I
prefer the realistic sort. It was pointed out to me by an American that the
"Marshall" carried a revolver but had a mixture of revolver and rifle
bullets in his belt. Strangely enough, they were all revolver bullets on the
return journey <g>. The train journey was simply a method of getting from A
to B. It is not a particularly scenic route. No-one seemed quite sure how to
react to us. Quite a few of the couples got talking but weren't brave enough
to tackle these people with the strange accents <g>. The coach attendant was
a college girl who asked us where we were from and gaily announced, "Oh I
visited England". When we asked her whereabouts she seemed unsure of herself
and said, "Oh, er, Manchester". When pressed she seemed to know very little
about it <g>. In fact the whole thing with her seemed to be some strange
American ritual where she was polite to the passengers and with those who
were interested engaged in deeper conversation explaining what she was doing
at college and how she was trying to pay her way. At the end she reaped her
reward from those she had managed to gel with - we were not one of these as
her attention to the rest of the passengers had deteriorated somewhat! [Tip
for Duane - give up the banjo and start playing the guitar. The guitar
player got far more in tips <g>.]
We arrived and saw the Grand Canyon and WOW!!!! It is an awesome sight.
However, I must agree with the author of a book I am reading ATM, the Grand
Canyon is a place which should be enjoyed on your own but with 4 million
visitors and rising the chances of this are nil. The Grand Canyon is like
the United Nations. There were all nationalities and languages there.
Strangely enough we had no desire to talk to other Brits that we heard. We
wanted to guard our experience and not make it commonplace. As in a lot of
touristy places catering was not up to the usual standard (but still
superior to what you would get in Britain). We discovered later that prices
for goods were actually reasonable. I decided not to buy anything on the
principle that we could probably buy it cheaper in Albuquerque which turned
out not to be true and nearly caused a rift.
[Digression - when we returned to Albuquerque Ron and Lorraine took us
shopping in Old Albuquerque which, it seems, had changed tremendously from
the last time they had been and was now quite touristy and expensive.
Lorraine thought that I said that she had advised me not to buy anything at
the Grand Canyon because it would be cheaper in Albuquerque and got quite
upset. Apologies Lorraine. I was following English logic and it did not
apply in America. I was actually looking for a new belt and ended up getting
one at the shop/cafe at the high point outside of Albuquerque which was
cheaper than the town (which would not have been the case in England!)]
We had a coach trip included in the package and I was greatly impressed by
the coach driver who, despite probably having said the same things hundreds
of times, managed to make it sound fresh and exciting. Another observation I
made was that he seemed quite unwell and I wondered if he were working
because of the lack of public health care in the US. The funniest event at
the Canyon was the group of Japanese tourists. A tour guide kept trying to
organize them and get them together to give out tickets. There were some
heated exchanges between her and the people who kept wandering off or
turning up late <g>. The Canyon is very photogenic as most of our snaps
turned out well. It has also made me realize that the surreal lighting which
there seems to be on pictures of the Canyon is actually natural.. We had
provisionally booked a flight through the Canyon but forewent it to conserve
funds to pay for the extra car hire charges. As it happened the weather was
not good and we may not have flown anyway.
There was a hold up on the return journey to Williams - all part of the
package but I was surprised by how many of the Americans we told this to
initially assumed it was a real hold up. Chris thinks I gave a shock to our
return attendant. We were sat on the platform at the Grand Canyon Station
when the doors opened to 3 of the carriages and the attendants stood
waiting. "May we board now", I asked. "Only in these three carriages", came
the reply. Chris said he looked quite shocked when I got up and proceeded to
the carriage (I mustn't look like a first class passenger <g>).
More later.....
B.
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