9 Sunday
Got off to an early start at 7am for our day at the Grand Canyon. Headed north on highway 64 passing through two small towns on the way and another $20 entrance fee at the Park border. We went to the principal lookout points and gazed in wonder at the canyon and of course took heaps of photos. This is the canyon - one of the Seven Wonders of the world - which Russell described as "just a hole in the ground".  The canyon itself was absolutely awesome to look at.  We would have to agree with all the superlative descriptions that have been written about this immense gash in the earth's surface which has been created be river, rain and wind over millions of years.

Views from the Lookouts

After we had finished studying the Canyon from many different vantage and lookout points and having walked along the rim trail for part of the way, we had a look around the Grand Canyon village itself and then visited the Information Center. Like all the National Park Centers we have seen, it was very well presented with lots of information about the park and canyon, and what the NPS was doing to conserve the areas and to present the park to visitors.  We had some coffee at inflationary prices and then drove west along the canyon rim stopping at many vantage points until we got to Desert View, some 20 miles away, which was the last point at which we got good views of the canyon.

These two views show wide variation in coloring of the canyon walls.

From there we drove east along the rest of highway 64 to Cameron which is inside the Navajo Indian reservation area and then turned south on to highway 89 and on to Flagstaff.

(This turning southwards represented a major departure to our original plan. Originally we were going to go north then west to arrive back at San Francisco taking in more canyon country like Bryce Canyon, Zion NP etc. The alternative which Sally came up with was to head south and tour the Sedona Valley and then go for a change of scene by going across to the Pacific west coast and travelling up the coast back to Silicon Valley.  To do this we would have to back track part of the way and then head for the coast just above Los Angeles).

While inside the reservation area we passed many sites where the indian people were selling jewellery and tourist treasures from makeshift accommodation to passing travelers.

At Flagstaff we had just got our room organised at the Super 8 motel when I locked the car keys in the car.  !@#$%^&*(?)+_.   What an awful sinking feeling that is.   Stress levels rose, Sally imagining the worst, the only good thing was that we had already secured our room.  After a stressfull half hour I managed to call the rental company who contacted roadside assistance who contacted a local locksmith who arrived and broke into the car in 15 seconds flat.  So much for car security. The Alamo car rental company were really efficient in getting things organised and it only took about 40 minutes for the local Flagstaff 'emergency lockout' van to arrive. So that was an interesting way to arrive in town. Humidity at Flagstaff today was 15% according to TV weather news. It is very easy to build up static electricity charges and we both are having to be very careful, particularly in getting out of the car. Passed InfoMagic on the way into Flagstaff. This location is, I think, their principal office, but the building was nothing flash, just a single story on the roadside similar to all the others we had passed selling trinkets to passing tourists. A far cry from Silicon Valley.