Day 18 Sunday 11 June 2017

 We leave for the Grand Canyon today and we cross the upper reaches of the Colorado River. Today, all he passengers in the bus received a letter.  Essentially it said because the bus did not have adequate leg room we have been given a $500 voucher towards our next trip, free alcohol at our farewell dinner and our rooms will be upgraded at the Bellagio.   Woohoo!

The main game for viewing the Grand Canyon is from the South Rim. It is windy and cool today which is really good. The views were good but we didn’t know that this viewpoint was not the main game.  One of the evident themes in the park, is the turn of the 19^th century architect, Mary Coulter who designed many of the iconic buildings, including the Desert Watchtower.  The images above show the exterior and interior which is decorated with native art.

She was unusual for her time, given the lack of opportunities and she was very gifted. One entrepreneur who was sick of poor service created his own tourism experience. His Harvey Girls all had to be university educated to be tour guides. We walked to the rim, to look at the sunset at the canyon but it wasn’t that spectacular. We found out later that there were better spots but they require a shuttle bus. It is quite cool here because of the elevation.