Jack, Deane and Dennis left us here to return to their homes in Albuquerque, so after thank-yous and goodbyes, we were on our way to the Grand Canyon, Just the two bikes once more. We headed out of Page on Hwy 89 and climbed a great range or red rock, then through the other side there was a scenic pull-out, overlooking the vast plain below. We could see the great crack appearing in the plain - the start of Grand Canyon. Also parked side by side in the pull-out were several tables set up with Navajo Indian jewellery for sale to the passers by. The local Indians are great jewellers and craft some fascinating pieces. Most of the ingredients are purchased by them so their part is the design and manufacture. We got a couple of nice pieces before continuing down the range, then turned up Hwy 89A which took us over the Navajo Bridge on the Colorado River.
The road then travelled alongside the great red mountain where we saw and stopped at a couple more Indian vendors. They didn't have anything we wanted, but were very nice people and happy to just chat. After a while the red range petered out and we started up another range. This was much less red and we climbed up for quite a while. On one of the very twisty bits, a truck had gone over the side and was quite a mess. By the looks, the cabin was pretty much intact so hopefully he got out of it. We were rather surprised that this area was pine covered hills rather than desert as we expected for the Grand Canyon. But apparently the northern side is different. At Jacob Lake, we turned onto Hwy 67 and headed south, still climbing. We went up to over 8000ft, which is about 4000 above where we had crossed the Colorado at Navajo Bridge.
Pretty suddenly, we came upon the Canyon. This was to be a special place, as John had gone to great trouble over a year ago to phone through in the middle of the night to get us a reservation. He was successful and got us one of only four cottages that are perched on the edge of the canyon. There is a large lodge house, built in 1927, as well as plenty of other cottages, but we have the best. We wandered around the complex, had a bit of lunch and generally just hung out for the afternoon, sitting on the rocking chairs on our porch, admiring the views of the Canyon. We can see the South Rim where we will be tomorrow - 10 miles away.
In his exuberance, John had also booked us a window-side table in the restaurant which is part of the lodge house and overlooks the canyon. Great idea, but the booking was for 7:45pm. Yep, it was dark outside. However, we had a very nice meal, at surprisingly reasonable prices.
We are now back at the cabin, sipping coffee and me typing away. Won't be able to send this tonight, no internet here.
You know you are going to get some great pics from today - here they are:
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| Charleen attempting to get MMbear to eat vegetables. Deane can see it won't work. |
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| The nice view from our motel window. Not quite as good as yesterday's and definitely not as good as the next. |
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| How's this for a breakfast? I didn't mean to order that much - honest!! |
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| I did - but with just an egg...... |
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| ...and maybe a little sauce, like the New Mexicans have. |
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| Jack finds a small oil leak. Hope he gets home OK. Let us know Jack. |
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| Novel taxi idea. Would you use it? |
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| In the supermarket, MMbear wins another heart. She even gave him money. MY money! |
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| This bridge over the Colorado right outside Page looks like it was welded in to the rock. On the left of the pic is the dam wall for Lake Powell |
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| They make some big cutaways in places. |
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| Our first view of the Canyon. See the large crack in the valley floor? It is at least 500 ft to the river from there. |
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| Table set out with Indian Jewellery. |
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| Some roadwork trucks for the truck watchers. It is a Mack |
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| Lots of red hills |
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| This set of walls starts to peter out. |
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| But across the river another starts. This is the Navajo Bridge. |
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| MMbear takes a close look at the old bridge. |
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| and down to the kayakers on the river. |
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| More red walls, and the canyon is there in the middle foreground. |
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| They make great photos |
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| Another Indian roadside stall, under some rocks. |
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| Obviously, Journey Management's services are badly needed in this country. John is thinking of branching out. |
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| Winding up onto the big uplift. |
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| The roads up here are fantastic. Look how smooth it is. |
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| Look a the angles we can get. Yee hah. |
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| We got here. |
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| Sitting on the rocking chair on the front porch, with a little scenery behind us. |
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| John is more of a Gentleman - lets Kaz sit. |
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| Views from the Lodge, which is a 15 second walk from out cottage. |
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| The North rim is further away from the river due to the sloping nature of the uplifted land., but still spectacular. The South Rim village is directly over there. |
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| Let's go down to that look out. |
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| And look back at the lodge. Out cottage is on the right in the trees. |
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| Here's the happy couple again |
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| and again |
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| ...and again. Enough already!! |