Bright Angel Lodge, 8:15 PM local time
Feb. 12th, 2011 07:36 pmThe only WIFI here is in the lobby. I am parked on an awkward rustic bench that clearly had some sort of cushions on it at one time, because the back is too far from the front for any normal human being to sit on and be able to bend their knees....
Barstow is even less lovely by daylight. Lots of closed up store fronts and the vintage car collection at the motel are all junkers.
Still, the waitress at Denny's was friendly, fast and kept coffeeing me up. So much so that I had to stop on the road for more rest room breaks than I probably normally would. The drive was pretty painless. In fact, the Nameless Dread (TM) I experienced in January 2002 while driving this stretch in the opposite direction during my migration to California In The Name Of Love was nonexistent.
Made it to Williams about 2PM local (Arizona is an hour different from California) and had a genuine Greek gyros at a place called Jennifer's on the main drag. The decor was a weird mix of rustic Western festooned with touches from a Greek owned diner somewhere in New Jersey, but the gyro was all right, the tzatziki was quite good and the fries were excellent.
Rolled up 64 north for the last stretch to the Grand Canyon, decided to blow off the air museum as I drove past it - I think the one at Oakland Airport is probably comparable in terms of size.
Stopped in Tusayan to buy a large bottle of water to put in my day pack tomorrow, and found wooden souvenir pen knives for my nephews with their names lasered into them. They like souvenirs and they like personalized trinkets especially.
Drove out to Desert View and worked my way back towards Grand Canyon Village as the shadows lengthened. My photos do not do it justice. Flickr is not liking the WiFi connection here anyway, so I may not be able to do a big photo dump until I get back.
The temperature was dropping like a rock by the time I parked in front of the BA Lodge and checked in. Fortunately, my room is in the lodge directly next door to the main lodge building and it's literally about 10 feet from door to door. The room is bright, cute, comfortable, bathroom is down the hall. Had a salad and plate of fairly decent tortellini with mushrooms and broccoli at the Arizona Room next door, served by a nice young waiter whose name is Sky - and he's definitely not Native American. Big party of Japanese at the table next to me, seemed to be having a good time.
On that note, I think I'm going to shut this down and head back to my room to put my feeties up and read a bit of Wolf Hall before I drop my laptop on the rustic flagstone floor.....
Barstow is even less lovely by daylight. Lots of closed up store fronts and the vintage car collection at the motel are all junkers.
Still, the waitress at Denny's was friendly, fast and kept coffeeing me up. So much so that I had to stop on the road for more rest room breaks than I probably normally would. The drive was pretty painless. In fact, the Nameless Dread (TM) I experienced in January 2002 while driving this stretch in the opposite direction during my migration to California In The Name Of Love was nonexistent.
Made it to Williams about 2PM local (Arizona is an hour different from California) and had a genuine Greek gyros at a place called Jennifer's on the main drag. The decor was a weird mix of rustic Western festooned with touches from a Greek owned diner somewhere in New Jersey, but the gyro was all right, the tzatziki was quite good and the fries were excellent.
Rolled up 64 north for the last stretch to the Grand Canyon, decided to blow off the air museum as I drove past it - I think the one at Oakland Airport is probably comparable in terms of size.
Stopped in Tusayan to buy a large bottle of water to put in my day pack tomorrow, and found wooden souvenir pen knives for my nephews with their names lasered into them. They like souvenirs and they like personalized trinkets especially.
Drove out to Desert View and worked my way back towards Grand Canyon Village as the shadows lengthened. My photos do not do it justice. Flickr is not liking the WiFi connection here anyway, so I may not be able to do a big photo dump until I get back.
The temperature was dropping like a rock by the time I parked in front of the BA Lodge and checked in. Fortunately, my room is in the lodge directly next door to the main lodge building and it's literally about 10 feet from door to door. The room is bright, cute, comfortable, bathroom is down the hall. Had a salad and plate of fairly decent tortellini with mushrooms and broccoli at the Arizona Room next door, served by a nice young waiter whose name is Sky - and he's definitely not Native American. Big party of Japanese at the table next to me, seemed to be having a good time.
On that note, I think I'm going to shut this down and head back to my room to put my feeties up and read a bit of Wolf Hall before I drop my laptop on the rustic flagstone floor.....