bt3.com/Baz's 1992 USA Holiday
California and the Golden West.

Where and how?

Day 4: Saturday September 26

The USA. As I mentioned at the time you clicked the link to this page?

To be precise, a fully escorted coach tour, starting in San Diego CA and thence stopping in Phoenix Arizona, Williams AZ, Las Vegas Nevada, Visalia, Merced, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo before finishing the tour in Anaheim near Los Angeles (all California).

Marvellous.

No, better than that, the Holiday of a Lifetime.

Do yourself a favour, and navigate through this holiday using the hyperlinks scattered throughout the text. If you want to go back to the start, or feel a need to go to my site homepage, well, by now you should know what to do? :o)

Today's journey of 350 miles from Phoenix to Williams promised to provide one of the highlights of the holiday, a visit to the rim of and a flight over the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. However, the first point of interest along Interstate 17 was the appearance of a number of brightly coloured hot air balloons rising in the cool early morning air. Further up the interstate highway, we passed the Arcosanti experimental community, with its radical ideas on architecture, the brain-child of Paolo Soleri. Not much can be seen from the road, but Hilary passed round leaflets explaining about the ideas behind the project.

Leaving Interstate 17 for highway 279, we headed towards the artists colony of Sedona, passing by the majestic Red Rock, a magnificent bell-shaped, well, red rock near to the road. Sedona, a seemingly rather sedate town of 5,300 inhabitants, seemed to be mainly geared up for the benefit of the tourist trade, the shops selling everything from rare stamps and coins to native American wood carvings. A tour trolley runs around the town and excursions can be taken to the vortices, places of mystical powers around the Sedona area. After a freshening-up stop, we had a wander round the town, the tiny shopping mall opposite where the coach had dropped us off giving a brief respite from the heat, along with the covered board-walk along the opposite side of the street. After buying bottled of water from a delicatessen, the time came to re-board the coach for the journey to the Grand Canyon. Hilary provided our packed lunch for the day, there being no shops local to the Travelodge in Phoenix, being on the northern fringes of the city.

The route to the Grand Canyon Airport, along Interstate 40 and US180 / highway 64 didn't provide much in the way of interest, being straight for much of the way, and eventually we arrived.

Upon arrival at the airport, and due to some rude people pushing in front, mum and I had to split up onto two seperate flights. Understandably nervous, mum didn't wish to go but I insisted!

We went out to our separate 19 seat DHC Twin Otters, modified with extra-large panoramic windows, and, after a brief introduction from the pilot took off and headed over the massive gorge. At first, before reaching the south rim of the Grand Canyon, the speed, as viewed from my seat just behind the cockpit, seemed fairly reasonable, at 90 knots and 1000 feet above the South Rim, but, passing over the lip seemed to slow the approach of the North Rim to a crawl. Words cannot describe the gigantic proportions of both the width and depth of this natural rock carving, produced by the inexorable forces of the Colorado River and nature's might - so I won't try. During the flight, our aircraft passed over the just-visible pinprick of a helicopter way down towards the Canyon floor.

We passed over forests and dry, barren land, over the mighty Colorado River and the Little Colorado River, over massive rock formations, in short, the Grand Canyon exceeded all expectations - and then some. Following being given a certificate to commemorate the 50 minute flight, I had a quick look around the displays in the airport entrance whilst waiting for the second flight carrying our tour party to land.

Mum's plane landed. Not sure if I'd ever seen as big a grin across her face as on that day.  Marvellous!  No, better than that ... worth every penny paid for the entire holiday!  :o)

After a short drive over to Grand Canyon Village, population 1,300, where, given the alternatives of alighting early for a 1/2 mile walk, or going the whole way n the coach, we chose the comfortable option. The easy walk to the South Rim provided, in my view, the most effective demonstration of the size of the Canyon, and after a couple of photo stops taking shots of the Canyon and the squirrels being fed by the tourists, headed to the shopping area, to browse amongst the souvenirs. In the event I purchased a water canteen, to be used to carry water to reduce the effects of the heat later in the holiday.

On the way south down highway 64 to the town of Williams, we paused at the IMAX Theater to watch a film about the geography, geology and people who lived in the Canyon before its discovery by the white man, and its history since. We passed Bedrock City (Valle) on the right, an amusement park depicting television's Flintstones. Parallel to the right hand side of the road runs the steam train line from the Canyon to Williams.

Arriving in Williams, population 2,200, and after noticing Union Jack flags, we were informed of the presence of two English hoteliers, one at either end of town. If one hotel is fully booked, the hotelier will direct the tourist to the other end of the town. We got down from the coach and retrieved our cases.

By this time I was really tired, mum was ok, but, after an abortive attempt to go for a meal in the heaving, and a noisy country and western music oriented restaurant up the road, we decided not to bother eating, and have an early night, to try to be fresh for the following day, and with an appetite for breakfast.

To Day 5

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