brjcreative.com Blog

This is getting tougher and tougher each day. Keeping this updated, especially with pictures, is definitely a chore. We’ve been doing our best to do it nightly, but sometimes we are just exhausted from the days activities and/or traveling. We got a good night’s sleep last night..I think I got a bout of dehydration yesterday. I guess the beers at Poncho McGillicutty’s didn’t help, especially that early in the evening. Should’ve drank water. All was well this morning though, and we awoke to a beautiful morning. Yes, we succumed to the tourist trap that is the Grand Canyon Railway, but had a very enjoyable time. We were treated to a “gunfight” before we boarded the train to the South Rim, and the first class car was definitely worth it. The Steam Engine Bloody Mary was excellent, and the ride up was relaxing and scenic. Even had our own in car entertainment…Colonel Jim Garvey serenaded us with traditional country tunes. We arrived at Grand Canyon Village a little after noon, and promptly boarded the bus to get our included lunch. One thing I dislike about guided tours is the time schedule we had to keep. I’ll also mention that Heidi and I were probably the youngest adults on the bus! Next time we’ll do the train, the hotel..but we’ll definitely get down into the canyon. We were thinking a hike down, spend the night, white water rafting, spend the night, hike back out..Paul, Melissa, Bryce, Karen, Mike, Michelle (and any others!), whatcha think??!! We should start planning that now, because we heard it’s at least a year wait to get into the lodge down there..although I guess we could camp. The scenery was breathtaking. We spent a grand total of 3.5 hours on the rim, about half that in a bus! Don’t get me wrong, it was fun, just think next time we’d do it a bit differently. The train ride home was equally pleasurable, and were even treated to an old-fashioned train robbery..this little girl was in tears as her mother was trying to force her to give the “bad guys” a dollar! Felt bad, but it was a little funny. We’ll be up and out of here late morning tomorrow. They move the steam engines into service tomorrow for the summer season, and we want to stick around and see it leave the station. Suppose to be somewhat of a spectacle, and apparently some type of celebration for the engine..anniversary, birthday or something. We’ll spend the night in Mesa, AZ (outside Phoenix) at my good friend Gavin’s place, then we’ll head for Carlsbad, NM early Sunday. We may alter our plans slightly and do Tombstone, but we’ll see.