On the contrary, BoW, I did enjoy reading your daily missals.
It's always interesting to hear how furriners regard us. Especially
how you feel about the real west in comparision to the rest of the US.
I just you figured that you were busy or had other priorities...
But I thought you would eventually finish your travelogue...
At 08:26 PM 8/4/99 +0100, Brian of Wiggin wrote:
>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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============================================================
Kenneth Komoto Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Information Rsrcs-Rsrch Park Phone: (530)757-8780
University of California, Davis Fax : (530)757-8778
Davis, Ca 95616
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