Day 19 - Flagstaff to Walnut Canyon to Williams, AZ

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Weather:  Sunny and mid-70’s - YAY!

Steps: Shaun - 12,969, Shannon - 10,782

We had a noon appointment to fly over the Grand Canyon which was about 90 minutes away, but we just HAD to see one more ruin near Flagstaff so we were up and out with the sun and arrived at the Walnut Canyon National Monument before it opened. We started like we always did, at the Visitor’s Center, and we watched an interesting movie with very dramatic (and distracting) music about the history of the canyon and the people who lived there, called the Sinagua. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to hike down into the canyon and walk among the ruins, but we walked the Rim Trail and got a good overview of the insane way these people lived over 800 years ago.

The rugged terrain in the Flagstaff, Arizona area was home to the Ancestral Puebloans from whom the present day Hopi are descended. Known by their descendants as Hisatsinom, meaning people of long ago, the Hopi ancestors lived in this region for more than 800 years (from 600 until 1400 CE). Although they were not the first to inhabit the Flagstaff area, the Hopi ancestors were the first residents to establish permanent dwellings in a 20-miles long, 400-feet deep, and ¼-mile wide canyon. It was a very worthwhile stop.

I don’t know if it's been said yet, but the Grand Canyon was our #1 priority on this trip because Shannon had never been there. When we were deciding what excursion-type arrangements needed to be made ahead of time, we considered whether we should splurge on a helicopter trip or not, and of course Shaun’s answer was “hell yes, it’s only money!”  After doing our obligatory research, we decided to go with Maverick Helicopters, which turned out to be a great choice.

We arrived 45 minutes early, so we were able to see other copters arriving from the ground, which was cool for us uninitiated flyers. The lodge/hanger complex was very comfortable and run like a well oiled machine. Our pilot was named Daniel, and we rode with 4 other people; Daniel and 3 others in the front and then Shaun, Shan, an empty seat, and a very large man in the back. Daniel was pretty young but had a classic rock sensibility, and he had created an awesome playlist for our ride. As we lifted off, we turned right (away from the canyon) to get a running start with the theme from the old Batman series playing in our headsets. It was the perfect song!

We were a few miles from the canyon, so Daniel used the time to give us a heads up about most people’s reaction to going over the edge of the canyon since it typically freaked people out when they went from 100 feet above the ground to a mile above the ground in 10 seconds. He cautioned us that any swearing and screaming like girls would be preserved for posterity on the trip CD. He was definitely a crack-up (in a reserved kind of way). I will admit that that first drop-off was my favorite part of an absolutely amazing trip.

Here’s the sequence as best as I could capture it:

The trip was a total of 45 minutes, and we got to see places we had been, like the east side of the South Rim (on 5/19, with the Watchtower) and the North Rim (on 5/18) from the air, plus new sights, like the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers. Shaun really liked this part of the trip because the color of the water was really weird coming in from the Little Colorado such that it looked white against the blue/green of the (big) Colorado. Check it out:    

Once we’d cruised through the south side of the canyon, we flew over the rim and thought the trip was done. To our great surprise, we were just changing directions and flying over the North Rim, which is very different in geology from the South Rim, partly because it’s a much higher elevation but also because it receives a much higher rainfall so it's greener. Daniel said it was actually his favorite part of the canyon.

By the time we got back to the airport, we had been serenaded with Danger Zone, Mission Impossible, Magic Carpet Ride, Indiana Jones, Sultans of Swing, Jurassic Park, and Wanted Dead or Alive. It was awesome! We’re so glad we took the time and spent the money to see the Grand Canyon in such a special way. It was a fortuitous accident that we had seen the North Rim and the Eastern side of the South Rim before we flew over it because it was familiar yet brand new in the best way. I will say that there was a bit of shimmy shaking both on the way out and back from the canyon, so both Shan and I felt a little sick, but there was no pukage, so we called that a win!

Once back at the terminal, we checked out our picture with Daniel and of course decided to buy it.  We also bought the DVD so that we could re-live the experience over and over since it was so awesome, and we were able to share it with family and friends once we got home as well.

We were absolutely starving, so we went to lunch right outside the park at a pizza/pasta place that was pretty good. Next up was the National Geographic Visitor Center where we saw an IMAX movie about the history of the Grand Canyon.  It was a bit hokey, but there were beautiful visuals and a fun 1st-person view of the rapids taken from a helicopter flying really low that we loved.  The store was also very cool, and I bought a fry cake mix so that I could re-live the beloved treats we’d enjoyed so much in the Navajo Nation. I even got inside tips from a Navajo women for the way her grandmother and mother cooked fry cakes. It was a very worthwhile stop.

Next we headed south to Williams, Arizona where we would stay the night tonight, get on a train back to the South Rim tomorrow, and then take the train back down to Williams the following day and spend the night at the hotel run by the train folks. Williams is a very “Route 66”-centric place, and the hotel we stayed in was a significant step down from the beautiful AirBNB in Flagstaff. Luckily, it was for only one night because we had to climb over the bed to get to the bathroom!

We were really excited to visit a “Native American Art Gallery” in town (and hanging out in the dismal room wasn’t an option), so we headed down Route 66 on foot and checked out the kitschy shops along the way.  We ate a wonderful dinner at a place recommended by our travel book called Red Raven Bistro, were disappointed beyond belief by the art gallery (which was really just another in a long line of kitsch shops), and found a wonderful local artist shop. We loved so many things there, but we ended up behaving ourselves, and all we bought was a very unusual painting of a blue-eyed lynx for Shannon. The town definitely came alive after dark with its preponderance of neon lights up and down the main drag. It was actually a pretty cool place, but one day there was plenty.

Since we were taking the train the next day, we had to reconnoiter our luggage so that we only took what we’d need for two days. We’d have to leave the rest of our stuff in the car in the lot at the depot, so we spread everything out in our tiny room and got ‘er done.