February 1986: Phoenix, AZ, Grand Canyon

When I was told last November that I would have to travel to Phoenix to teach some classes to Postal Customer Service workers it seemed like a difficult trip. I was pretty busy throughout January, and was originally thinking about a long, busy week. Didn't turn out that way.

The course ended up spread over 7 days, and those days straddled the Presidents' Day weekend. Looked promising! After I talked with Kim, the coworker who was going with me, I called the Grand Canyon Lodge organization, and made reservations for Friday and Saturday night at Bright Angel Lodge.

Monday night I flew into Phoenix, and we spend the week training the Postal Customer Service folks on the system we had developed for them! This was the end of a project that had been really important in my career development. We ate at some excellent restaurants, including the Pinnacle Peak Patio, where they cut off the tie of men who come inappropriately dressed up. I was wearing jeans, so I had no problem, and enjoyed a delicious steak. Since I eat light, even the smallest steak was about three times the meat I allow myself, but the beef was pretty good. We also ate at some lovely places in Tempe. It was great to be eating outside in warm weather in mid February.

One evening I met up with "Ye Wilde Ryder" from the rec.motorcycles newsgroup. He took me on a ride on "the monster," his ZX-11 motorcycle, up the twists and turns of South Mountain. The view of the valley was great, and the Saguaro cactus were impressive. We looked out at the lights of Phoenix for a while, then headed back to town.

The REAL trip, though, started when we got out of class at 5:00 on Friday. We hit the rental car and started driving north. It took us about 5 1/2 hours to get to the Canyon, although the first hour and a half was in traffic in Phoenix (and getting off the road and getting some dinner while waiting for it to die down.) Where we were was the south of Phoenix; where we were going was up north. We arrived, after a long ride through lots of wilderness, at about 11:00 at night, and there was just a big dark space where the canyon was.

Bright Angel Lodge is a great place. We were in a cabin out a bit, in big, rustic style rooms. No TV (Who wants TV at the Grand Canyon?) but all the other amenities provided.

We set up wake up calls for 6:00 AM and were out on the edge of the canyon for sunrise. Sunrise was glorious. I took three rolls of film that morning. I cannot describe the Grand Canyon, any words cannot do it justice. Even pictures, and I try to get some pictures here, cannot do it justice. Being at the canyon is so spectacular it is almost spiritual. Maybe it IS spiritual. You sure feel a sense of how small you are in the presence of the universal!

We went to the dining room at El Tovar for breakfast. El Tovar is the luxury hotel at the canyon. We were, after all, on an expense account. I had a whole wheat and seed waffle, with berries on top and pistachio butter. Kim had something egg and chorizo sausage-y. I don't remember what it was, but she loved it. We were seated right next to the picture window, and jokingly complained to the headwaiter that he was forcing us to look out at that "hole in the wall!"

I really wanted to hike into the canyon, more than anything, and had planned to do Bright Angel trail. Someone in a gift shop convinced me to take the Kaibab trail, which I was very grateful for. Kim preferred to do the history tour of the Grand Canyon village, so she dropped me off at the Kaibab trailhead, with a promise to pick me up in four hours. I started down the Kaibab trail, in the warmth of an unseasonably mild February day. I was wearing a turtleneck, a flannel shirt, jeans and a backpack (with water and lunch in it.)

Almost as soon as I started down the trail I met a family on their way down. Mom, Dad and two young ladies, one of which took a shine to me and was glad to be my hiking partner. This was a very welcome situation for me, as I enjoyed sharing the beautiful vistas I hiked down into with these young ladies and their folks. We talked about our lives, about our families and about how easy it is, in a setting like this, to believe in God. I reached the end of the day hike about 20 minutes before them, but we walked out together.

The day hike down the Kaibab trail is 1 1/2 miles. The whole trail is 9 miles or so, to Phantom Ranch at the River below. Still there is a big altitude difference, and I went from being comfy in my jeans and turtleneck to envying the people climbing down in bathing suit tops and shorts. I had not brought any shorts (It was February, and the travel books all talked about snow on the canyon!!) and in the mid 60s temperatures that day, I wished I had!

The Kaibab Trail (I'll try to add a picture) switches back and forth, but always provides great vistas for the hiker. At 1 1/2 miles there is a mule stop and a sign, warning hikers that they should not continue on past that point if they do not have water, or if they intend to return the same day. It's a great day hike. Next time I go to the Canyon, though, I'm going down, spending the night, then returning.

It took about three quarters of an hour to go down the Kaibab trail, with the family, and a couple of hours to come out. I was early for my ride, so I hiked on out to the main road and waited. I was feeling really good, although my hip and my legs bothered me for several days thereafter. Probably a result of the list of the trail, up and down. When Kim picked me up we headed out the West Rim Drive, Stopping at each overlook and reading from a guide book. We watched the sun set, but the point we picked was better for sunrise. We shopped at the end of the trail, then returned to Bright Angel Lodge, for a delicious dinner in the Bright Angel Restaurant. Can't remember what Kim had, but I had fajitas!!

The next day we again got up early to go to see the sun rise. After another delicious breakfast looking out at the Canyon from El Tovar's dining room, we continued East on East Rim Drive, toward the Painted Desert, and the Navajo reservation.

The tower at the Desert View is really neat, painted inside with all sorts of Native American symbols. Since we were headed into the rez, these put us in the mood for the rest of our trip.

I'm a big fan of Tony Hillerman, a mystery author who writes about the Navajo people, and helps us, the white folks, understand the beauty of their way of life. After reading the books I wanted to do a few things: See Canyon de Chelly, see some hogans (at least from the outside), and buy a sandpainting with something that relates to the Navajo tradition, not just something that matches my living room. I managed two out of three.

We went through Cameron and stopped at the trading post. Here was the Old West as we remember it from westerns. A little seedy, a lot touristy, but some fun. We had hoped to eat there, but the cafeteria was closed so we continued on to Tuba city. Here there was a gift shop with a Hogan outside of it. I got some pictures of this hogan, since it was for show, and I would not be photographing anyone's private property. We saw a lot of hogans from the road, some old fashioned, made of wood and sort of thatch on top, and some others were more modern, made of metal. They were often out back behind more "standard" (to me) houses, and they were usually placed so they were far from the road, and behind the "standard" house. It seemed obvious that the Navajo wanted their privacy, so we did not intrude on it by taking pictures of these hogans from the road. We waited to get the picture at the hogan designed for that purpose.

In Tuba city, the first thing we saw was a sign for the Navajo police department. A real thrill for a Tony Hillerman fan. Then we stopped for lunch, where I got a Navajo taco, which consists of ground beef and beans in spices, lettuce and tomato on Navajo fry bread. A departure from my low-fat diet, but who cares??? It was delicious, and we shopped at the gift shop next door, where I found my sand painting of Mother Earth and Father Sky.

Time was dragging on, and we wanted to get into the Hopi reservation. We drove on and on and on. Indian country is very arid and fairly poor. When you've grown up in the lush northeast, the dryness is astounding. It's as alien as being on the moon. Hillerman writes well about this climate and how it affects the lives of the native americans living there. It is astounding to be there, and see the various colors of the rock and the beauty of the desert. Also, the indian people are not exactly rolling in money. BY contrast, however, their poverty is not as debilitating to them as is the poverty in inner city DC, and in rural Puerto Rico. They are poor with dignity, and many of them are middle class. I did not see any houses of rich folks on the rez. It makes me sad, since I know it is MY people who, to some extent, have caused a lot of this.

The Hopi people are more spread out. We drove through second mesa, and never really saw a "town" per se. We did stop at the Hopi cultural center and bought a bit of silver jewelry. Not cheap silver jewelry; as the indians know what their work is worth. I got lovely earrings for myself and my daughter, and a ring for my stepdaughter (She loves rings, and this one, a ZUNI ring, was really nice.)

As we left Second Mesa, it was obvious that we did not have enough time to make it to Canyon de Chelly (next time maybe?) so we headed south. In this move south we were exiting the old west and the mystery of the native americans, and entering American pop history. We spent the night at the Best Western Inn in Winslow Arizona. We picked the town based on the famous Eagles' tune "Take it Easy," and we made sure we also got our picture standing on the corner (though there was no flatbed ford available.) AND I got my husband a t-shirt about standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona! Cool. However, old Rte 66 also passes through Winslow, so we drove up and down the street to get a feel for that historic road. AFter a couple of long days, it was early to bed for us.

We woke the next morning, ate our breakfast (they had Cream of Wheat on the menu!!!) and left for Phoenix via Sedona. First we took the superslab to Flagstaff and then got on a long windy road to flagstaff (89A?). As you know I am a motorcyclist, and this was a great MC road. I hope I get to ride next time I am in AZ!!! If so I'll do THIS road!!

Sedona is beautiful, and visiting the red rocks was great. But its also all about selling something, something very "new age" and all. Lots and lots and lots of shops. We did have lunch at the most very "Sedona" of restaurants. It was a vegetarian buffet, with WONDERFUL food, and a set of new age tarot cards on the table. Very pastel. Also darn good lunch.

After Sedona we headed on to Jerome, AZ. Now THIS is the place I would like to live. Jerome is set on the side of a mountain, and "Main street" just hairpins its way up the mountain. Also had some famous bordellos in its heyday. Lots of folks have motorcycles in Jerome; parking is at a premium and the terrain is great for it. The shops here were a bit less self-conscious than the ones in Sedona; I enjoyed them more. Kim bought a lot of pottery, and I bought silver jewelry for christmas gifts.

As we left Jerome and headed back to Phoenix, I knew our Arizona adventure was at an end. We ate at the hotel and sacked out early Monday night, and Kim left for home after class on Tuesday. I taught Wednesday then went to a chuckwagon dinner at a nearby Ranch, the Rockin R Ranch.

I'd gone to the Flying J ranch near Ruidoso NM a couple of years earlier with Dad and Mark, and when I saw a flyer for a similar place at the hotel I decided I wanted to go. It was very much like the one we had in NM. First they feed you. Dinner here is very much like what cowboys on the range used to eat. Barbecued beef (they vary to chicken also to satisfy modern health concerns) a baked potato, beans, buttermilk buscuits and applesauce. The applesauce is placed on your tin plate first, so that your hand won't burn off from the hot food. Spice cake for dessert (ice cream is available for an additional charge.) You can drink strong coffee or lemonaid. The food is tasty and hearty, if not quite gourmet. I bought a jar of "rattlesnake sauce" to bring home.

After dinner is all et and cleared away (and the calories all counted) the owners of the ranch put on a show. This is the very epitome of wholesome entertainment; lots of western trail type songs, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and the like. This group brought in the kids, who were all amazingly talented. One of the younger kids is a down's syndrome child, and the moment with her was absoloutely wonderful. The evening finally ended with a shootout in the Rockin' R corral, which was fun. I headed back to Phoenix to go to bed, and then back to DC.