When I left Albuquerque I was going to Williams, Arizona where I was going to stay for the night after visiting the Grand Canyon. I had planned to visit the Canyon on the way to Missouri but when I got in touch with Kristy she told me they were in town and would be around that night I decided that I would rather drive on to Albuquerque and visit.
I had been to the Grand Canyon twice before. The first time was in 1989 I think when Jackie, Stacie and I drove out to visit my Uncle in San Diego. The second time was in 2000 when I saw the Canyon from the river for 18 days when we rafted 216 miles of the Colorado. My first thoughts upon arriving were, "my god it's worse than Disneyland" and "I can't believe that I drove here for this". The traffic to get in was unreal. There was a sign that said, "Commercial traffic must use the right lane". It didn't say that others couldn't use the right land so I drove past literally hundreds of cars and wow was I abused. Then people realized that it actually was an open lane and I led a parade. It was ridiculous. The sign didn't say, "Only commercial vehicles in the right lane". I literally saved myself at least an hour in line because I understood the English language. (That's not a criticism of the tourists who didn't but of the loud mouths and low lifes who yelled at me as I drove past).
Anyway back to the Canyon, after driving around through four parking lots and finally finding a space I joined the line for the restroom. Then I followed the signs and the crowd to the Rim Trail and all the negative feelings I had disappeared as soon as I saw the beauty of the canyon again. I'm not even going to waste time trying to describe it I'm just going to show some pictures.
The beauty made the trip all worthwhile and the negative seem pretty insignificant. Would I go back to the Grand Canyon? Absolutely! But as I tell my grandkids, "You've got to have PATIENCE!"
The final highlight of the trip to the Canyon was seeing this guy as I was pulling out of the parking lot to head back to Williams for my final night on the road.
Friday morning I left for the drive home and on the way I drove through a couple of different parts of old Route 66. This final picture is of the approach from the east to Ludlow as well as scenery around Ludlow. We lived there briefly when we were in grade school while my Dad was working on a pipeline through the desert.
People have asked me if I would drive rather than fly again after having done it and my answer is absolutely. We live in a beautiful country and I'm blessed to have that opportunity to see so much of it.
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