The Grand Canyon
The show was quite sly and knowing. The Society of Cretive Anachronism had clearly had a part in writing it. At one point a varmint was shot dead, then his killer asked him to get up and do it again, for the benefit of a tourist who'd failed to get a photo. The argument that sparked this shooting was caused by a cheat in a card game designed to win money from a tourist, in order to buy breakfast at McDonalds.
Our train carriage was presided over by the delectable Diane, who along with her sister Tori led us in camp-style singalongs,to keep the kids happy as we wound towards the Grand Canyon. The kids loved it, and um, we joined in for the kids' sakes. Yes, that's it.
Debbie wasn't too impressed that I kept eyeing up Diane...
We had three hours to look around the Grand Canyon, so we strolled to the visitor centre, got a shuttle bus back to the west end of the village, and walked down the Bright Angel trail into the canyon for about 15 minutes. The views were as spetacular as you would expect. Most of it looks like a backdrop painting, however, since at that distance everything is perceived as infinity.
Even after only a 15 minute descent, the return journey was exhausting.
The canyon rim is infested with tame squirrels, which have been fed too much by tourists. I could not believe how fascinating everyone was finding them - squirrels are dirt common and a pain in the arse everywhere, surely? It turns out several Arizonans catch Bubonic Plague from squirrels every year. You can rest assured we didn't feed any.
On the return journey, a cowboy on the train sang us "Ghost Riders in the Sky", to my delight. Oh, and some varmints on horseback attacked the train and "stole" a dollar from me, much to Diane's terror. She ran away and hid, under the pretence of finding the sherriff, who turned up from a different direction. The sherriff saved the day of course, but I didn't get my dollar back.
We were tired out when we got back to the motel room, so we vegged out and watched a new Simpsons episode. Worst episode ever.
For once, we walked to get some food, and found Rod's Steak House - recommended in all the books, and now also by us. The steak was fantastic, and as pedestrians we could enjoy some wine for the first time in weeks. It was a nice Californian Merlot. We were intrigued by their enormous tabletop corkscrew - it worked a treat, but so does something you can fit in your pocket.
We're back in the motel room now enjoying some Sam Adams Pale Ale bought from the petrol station next door. We got asked for ID for the first time sice Chicago. According to the proprietor everyone else has just been lax - there's a $5000 fine for failing to card anyone under 30. On your second offence it comes out of the individual's pocket, not the business's.