THE GRAND CANYON
July 26, 2015
Our reclining seats were plush and clean, a soft purple velour that replicated the original decor of the 1940's. The ride was quiet along the old railroad. The countryside offered an expanse of views of distant mountains and alpine vegetation. The Williams, AZ area offers one of the largest stands of Ponderosa Pines in the country.
Deer, Elk, Porcupine, Coyote, Fox, Rabbit and other animals can be found in this area. Several people reported sightings of these animals along our route today, but I did not see many.
The Williams town Sheriff was on our train. Apparently, train robbers were reported to be in the area and the Sheriff was concerned for the passengers' safety.
We slowed down as we approached Grand Canyon Village. This was the end of the line. After our Engineer turned the train around and backed into our parking area at the village station, we disembarked and walked the short distance to the Canyon Rim overlook and to the myriad of shops, lodges and eating places along the way.
The Grand Canyon is aptly named, as it is, indeed, GRAND. Debby and I were here more than 44 years ago. I didn't remember it being this spectacular back then. I guess I grew up and matured a little since then! Perhaps now I'm a little closer to the age of the Grand Canyon! Whatever it is, I was inspired by the awesome forces it must have taken to form this dizzying canyon.
We went from one viewpoint to another trying to take in as much as we could in the next four hours. There were many other tourists here today. The campgrounds, lodges and parking lots appeared to be full. People lined the Rim, snapping photos and trying to take it all in. I often overheard many foreign languages being spoken. This is a popular destination of people from all over the world.
Our four hours were coming to an end as we stepped into a long line for ice cream. Debby held our place in line as I, once again, eased over to the Rim for another look. A man with a telescope, camera and tripod was honed in on a lone California Condor perched on a distant rock outcropping. I sat down and braced my Nikon against my knee and extended my 42 power camera lens to almost capacity and snapped off a few pictures of this giant bird.
After getting our ice cream, we walked back to the station, located our car and sank down in our plush recliners. It felt good. On the ride back a small herd of Elk were spotted on the opposite side of the train. The sharp curves through the canyon offered complete views of this entire train as it slowly made its way back.
Once on the flat land, we spotted several men on horseback riding fast in our direction. Soon the train ground to a halt and we were boarded by masked Cowboys.
Our Conductor advised us to avoid resisting and to offer them a dollar as a token. I stuck a dollar bill on the side of my glasses. The robbers warned us they wanted all our valuables and if we cooperated, no one would get hurt. The first robber looked over at me and saw the dollar.
He quickly reached out and snatched the bill saying, "Gimmie that!" Luckily the Sheriff was coming so the train robbers quickly ran away!
After we pulled into the station, Debby shopped in the gift shop before we walked the two blocks into town. The pizza joint looked inviting so we decider to indulge. The Sheriff was trying to clear the street because a bad cowboy was in the loose. We hurried across and ducked inside for a pizza.
The shootout happened as we ate on the balcony. We had a birds eye view. We couldn't hear all of the ensuing conversation they exchanged but we certainly heard the gunfire as the Sheriff dropped the bad guy in his tracks!
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