Wild West road trip - day 11 - Grand Canyon Village

[TrueBlue]

Day 11...

I woke up feeling pretty rough this morning. I didn't have a good sleep the night before as kept thinking of that scorpion and wondered if there'd be any in the room.

It turns out no creepy crawlies had got in (that i'm aware of) but it made me think of what else is out there in the wild that I hadn't thought about before coming

I must admit though that Monument Valley was definitely one of my favourite highlights of the whole holiday and we'd return again in a heartbeat.

We headed to the restaurant for breakfast. It's a set price of $12pp and you can choose from the buffet and also the menu. So this was great value.

We went outside for 1 last look of this awesome place before going back to the room to finish packing

We packed the car and went to reception to check out and pulled out of the car park at 10.30.

It was approx a 3 hour drive to Grand Canyon Village from Monument Valley and I didn't see very many places of interest along the route on google maps.

We had been driving for an hour or so and came across a view point of something which looked similar to the Grand Canyon but was definitely not on the same scale. We stopped off and paid a 'donation' to the local native american's for a look around.

There was some stalls set up where the locals were selling traditional jewellery. I would have bought some items but they were very overpriced. It was the same back at Monument Valley. They had various stalls dotted around the place but I refused to pay the price. Especially when we saw the same jewellery for sale in other shops along the way for a fraction of the price.

But anyway we had a look around , took some pics and carried on our way.

Before too long we were entering Grand Canyon National Park. We pulled up at the booths and showed them our annual pass and they waved us through.

We stopped of at one of the first view points. There is a large tower which your can go inside and walk up the stairs to the top for some great views.

We walked back down the stairs and headed outside for some more views.

There was a gift shops and a restaurant here so we decided to have lunch before we continued on with our drive. Again I found the prices to be very reasonable

At 2pm we arrived at our lodgings for tonight. We were staying in Grand Canyon Village at Maswik Lodge. We were fairly late in booking this so there was very limited availability.

We parked the car and went into the lobby for check in. A young girl called us forward (I wasn't sure if it was a male or female at first but it turns out she was a girl ). Anyway... I noticed her badge said she was a trainee. I smiled and said we were here to check in. She didn't smile back, just looked at us and snapped 'Name?' . So I gave her our surname. She said we were too early to check in but she'd do the paperwork with us just now and we were to return after 4pm. She was very rude! She put a form in front of me and just said "sign there, there and there" No smile, no eye contact - nothing. I was really taken aback as the other people behind the desk checking everyone else in where very friendly and chatty.

I couldn't believe that she was just training too. Not a very good first impression to give your clients.

Anyway, we toddled off and caught a shuttle bus to the visitors centre. We had a look around then went out for a walk in search of the Canyon. A few minutes later and we were there.

We had a look around and took a few photo's.

We walked around for a bit but to be honest I was a bit underwhelmed. Probably because we had been to the Grand Canyon on our previous trip. The last time we went to the West Rim. I just thought the views there was much more spectacular than the south rim.

Anyway... we caught a shuttle bus back to our hotel and went to check in to see if our room was ready it. It was and the lady who checked us in this time was soooo nice. A totally different experience to the other girl. She was really chatty with us and nothing was a problem. The trainee girl was also behind the desk checking in another guess and she was just as rude to them as she was to us.

We headed to our room which was on the ground floor. We had a small patio area with a couple of chairs. There was a railway line that ran directly behind our room and we were lucky enough to see one of the trains.

By now it was gone 7pm so we headed back to the lobby and went to the restaurant for food. There is a large food court serving various different food offerings.

We were only in for half an hour or so when the heavens opened up and the rain began. It was torrential and lasted for a good hour.

We headed back to the room and watched a bit of tv. There's not much else to do. You could go to the rim and watch the sun set but there was no chance of that with the rain.

I crashed out about 10am as I was still shattered from last nights lack of sleep

Tomorrow we had to Vegas

[Melbatb]

You have certainly been so spoilt with all those views! I loved the views at the GC but have never seen all the other views you have this trip - so I can see why you would be perhaps underwhelmed!

[georgemac]

I think you are the only person I have seen saying they preferred the West Rim views - we loved the West Rim - but got a day of very poor weather - and I really want to visit GC NP at South Rim - and I think your photos and views are stunning and I'd still like to go there.

I would have went this year but could not get a room at any hotel within the park.

[orlandosgr8]

Some more lovely views, not sure I like that sign about reptiles though

[Guest]

Grand Canyon is just so spectacular. I love how it changes as the sun arcs over during the day. It certainly is a wonder of nature. Once went over it in helicopter - stunning views.