Thursday, June 2, 2016 ~ Our morning began by having to have our luggage downstairs at 8:30 am. The luggage is driven by van to the lodge in the Grand Canyon while we are riding the train.
After eating the breakfast buffet, we watched a wild west show and then boarded the Grand Canyon Railroad for our two hour trip to the Grand Canyon National Park. The trip was through farmland and forest and we were entertained by a guitar-playing cowboy. AJ and I saw a herd of deer and many cows and horses.
After arriving in the National Park, we boarded a bus for our Grand Tour. The first stop was another buffet:( The food was pretty bad but the staff was very personable.
Kelly was our bus driver/tour guide. She has been at the Canyon for about 14 months and has a lot of knowledge considering her short time there. We made many stops and I took lots of pictures. As much as I loved the Canyon landscape, I thoroughly enjoyed the native plants and animals.
After returning from the tour, I decided that we would take a sunset tour and again, Kelly, was our driver. Sunset was amazing, my photos do not do it justice.
We ate a dinner snack at the lodge food court and then stumbled our way in the dark to our room while observing the beautiful night sky.
Collecting Memories - Not Things, Summer 2016 ~ Paula, Jacob, and AJ
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 ~ We began the morning with a trip to the Verizon store here in Albuquerque because Jacob's iPhone died on Monday. Nicole was very helpful, but couldn't solve our problem on site and referred us to the Apple Store across the street. Our Apple Genius was very good, but it was determined that there had been a mixup on the phone's serial number and it would take several hours before it could be resolved. Since we didn't have several hours to wait, I decided to set up an appointment with the Apple Store in Las Vegas and we set out for Williams, AZ.
We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel and, much to our surprise (not), the food and merchandise are just like what we have in Florida.
While traveling along the interstate, we saw signs for the Petrified Forest National Park and decided to take time and explore the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Using my newly acquired Golden Eagle Passport, we drove right into the park. We were very overwhelmed at the beauty and vastness of the area. Jacob was delighted!
We arrived at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel late afternoon and were greeted by a very enthusiastic lady who took care of us and we were quickly in our room.
Our Grand Canyon package from AAA s all inclusive of rooms, meals, railway tickets, and tours. We ate our dinner buffet and went to bed early for our early morning train ride to the Grand Canyon on Thursday.
Collecting Memories - Not Things, Summer 2016 ~ Paula, Jacob, and AJ
