February 18, 2011--Falgstaff and Grand Canyon

Winter Wonderland---Yes, that is what we have in 1 hour and we can only see 30 feet around our home.  This is Saturday at 1:30 pm and the snow storm has moved in. We are at 6500 feet and the weather man says it will be worse in the higher altitudes.

Well back to Friday. Walt went to mass this morning in the smallest chapel he has ever been in. He said there were about 8 people in the chapel. Mass was at 9 am so we did not get started very early yesterday. We drove the 30 miles to Flagstaff (Flag as most locals call it) and the Odegaard's Sewing Center and Quilt Shop. It was a very good shop for notions and sewing machines. The fabric collection was varied and pretty good. The shop was large and very neat.

After leaving the quilt shop we turned north on route 89. After we left town there was 52 miles of very flat barren land. As we approached the Navajo reservation we saw more dry and rough desert land. That seems to be the pattern. The government gave large amounts of land to the Indians but it is the worse land available, except for the Indians in Texas and New Mexico because they can have the mineral rights with the land.  Natural gas was the answer for them. Other reservations may have casinos as their life blood.

When we came close to the little town of Cameron we turned west on route 64. As soon as we turned west we immediately saw the Little Colorado River Gorge. We could not get close to it but we could see how deep it was. I do not think the camera can ever show the depth of the gorge. Here is my only picture that is the best picture I have. It was like a miniature grand canyon. The sun was not shining so you cannot see the color or depths. We could not get closer because it was the Indian Reservation.

Our main goal for the day was to see the Watchtower at Desert View and finish the South Rim Tour of the Grand Canyon. The tower was designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter for the Harvey Company. Months of research by Mary Colter preceded the actual construction in 1932. The tower was built of the same color and type of stone as the Grand Canyon so it looks like it has been there forever. The tower is a primarily an observation station and convenient rest stop for visitors to the Grand Canyon.



When we were at the tower the sun came out and the colors of the canyon  were just amazing. When we were there on Wednesday we did not have any sunshine and we thought it was beautiful but that was nothing to what we saw with sunshine. I have a group of  pictures which I have taken from the 202 pictures we took yesterday. Here they are three pictures taken at the tower-----

We finished the day by stopping at 5 more observation points and these are the pictures from those stops.

We ended our day by watching the sunset over the canyon along with about 75 Japanese Students were arrived on a bus. They apparently were members of a band. The students were not scared of the edge and were sitting with their legs dangling over the edge. When the chaperon spoke loudly to them they reluctantly moved back. Here are the sunset pictures---

More news this evening--Hope the snow stops soon.