Day #9

Half-way point! Steve and I woke up with the birds CAWING overhead, and nothing but blue sky as far as the eye could see (which wasn’t far…we are in a forest!)

The two of us left the tent and got hot water brewing for some coffee. All of a sudden, I heard a giggle from inside the tent. We had put Peter in his Tigger sweats because I was concerned about the cold in the night (it never did seem that bad), and now we were seeing Tigger emerge from the tent!

Soon we had the other two up and we were going about the business of breaking camp. Once ‘broke’, we headed over to the main Village area (Done by 9:30 this time…we’re getting better!) There are so many people at the Grand Canyon these days, that they don’t allow people to drive the rim all the way along. They now have Natural Gas busses which you can take for free all along the rim. It has really cut down on the traffic. After a quick stop at the market again to repair the car-top carrier (My Man doesn’t know his own strength!) we hopped a bus for the west side of the rim. We decided to get off and walk part way because the busses were so crowded.

We walked the rim for a bit and were surprised to see what little distance we had gone (it felt like we were almost in Nevada!) It was getting hot, and Pete wanted to be carried (which is probably why it felt like we had gone so far yet done so little), and so we decided to just get to the next bus stop which would take us back towards the village. Andy, on the other hand, when he saw the Bright Angel trail which takes you down into the heart of the canyon said “Cool! Let’s do THAT!” I said that was fine as long as he was willing to carry Pete. Oh, and I reminded him that all the signs say that the canyon is 20-30 degrees warmer than the rim. The plan was quickly squashed.

Emily and Pete had to use the facilities, and they did have them at that next bus stop, so we went there first. I only include this tid-bit because when we got to the facilities, there was a woman who had walked into one of the two “rooms”, screamed and came running back out! We could tell she was from Brazil, because she sounded just like an excited Carla or Marla.

Turns out, there was a bat down in the toilet. Now everyone else was looking in there and going “Ew” and walking out. Emily, of course, had to be the next person to look, and she was immediately concerned. The bat did not look good. Would you?

Well, just about that time, a man came to clean out the bathrooms, and we all thought someone had called a ranger or something, but it turned out he was just there to do his job. When we told him about the bat, he called a naturalist to come and ‘rescue’ the bat. We then HAD to wait around to make sure the bat was okay. Pete sat on the edge of the wall and ate veggie puffs and drank water, so he was fine. The naturalist showed up and picked up the bat and then proceeded to clean him off with clean water (I swear this is what Emily will do some day) We all got to touch the bat and get a really close look. She said he was a Pallid Bat and that he was a male (she even showed us how she could tell…don’t make me explain it) She tried to wash the chemicals off of him, and then she said she was going to let him dry for a few hours, and then set him free.

It actually turned out to be quite an adventure. The Grand Canyon was cool, but we got to touch a BAT!

We headed back and had a nice lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge, and then the kids said that they were done! So, we walked back to the car (bad idea…there had been a bus we could have taken…”Come on” I said…”It’s not that far,” I said…bad bad idea)

Anyway, there was the blessed car once we finally made it back to the parking lot, and we immediately jumped in, and Pete immediately fell asleep. It was almost in record time. The drive to Williams, AZ is nice and quick. There is a Grand Canyon train that takes people from Williams up to the Canyon for the day or more, and so this town is quite alive. We checked into “The Lodge on 66”. What a nice place! They have taken this old motor court and turned two rooms into one, so there is a sitting room with a kitchenette, and two BIG FLUFFY BEDS and a nice bathroom with a large tub (yay for Pete!)

Everyone took a shower, and then I took the laundry (we were at critical mass) across the street and got it all done in about an hour. I met the nicest people there. One couple lives on a ranch just north of here and they make their own electricity, and they have an outdoor tub and outhouse. They have horses and llamas (I learned why there are so many llamas around here…they make great ‘watchdogs’ to keep coyotes, etc. at bay, they don’t eat even half as much as a dog, and they don’t bark. When they are content, they HUM!)

Anyway, I greatly enjoyed my laundering experience. Once back at the room, we dressed and went to a very nice restaurant for dinner (reminded us of the Red Arrow Roadhouse). After dinner, we went to ANOTHER restaurant for their great pie. We rolled back to the motel like Weebles, but not before stopping at “Pete’s Route 66 Gas Station and Museum.” It was so cute and quite appropriate to our trip.

So, now everyone is snoring and I need to go to bed. Tomorrow we do the longest untouched stretch of 66 in western Arizona (when they show the Route 66 map during the Cars movie, this is the stretch they show). I am very excited! But I am also sad to leave this motel. I think this is the nicest one yet!