Williams, AZ Days 1-2

Saturday - Sunday, 9/19-20/2015
Grand Canyon Railway RV Park
Williams, AZ

We faced a long driving day today - 218 miles.  We were not suppose to check into the campground before 1:00 PM so that was fine.  Only problem was that we forgot that AZ does not follow daylight savings time so we gained an hour when we entered AZ!  Luckily we had to stop in Winslow for fuel (no we didn't stand on the corner) and we stopped at a rest area for lunch.

Our view for the last couple of days has been the same, no matter which state we are in -

We pulled into the campground right at 1:00.  This is a pretty nice campground out in the desert.  I think it is priced a bit high but we were able to use our Passport America discount so we basically got 2 nights for the price of 1.  The one bad thing about this park is the train that comes through at about 3:30 AM and blows its whistle, waking everyone up.

site 223

After getting set up we walked over to the train station to pick up our tickets for the train.  It is not a bad walk.

I fixed ham and mac and cheese for dinner.  I am pretty much emptying my refrigerator in anticipation of getting to Hemet.  The weather was nice in the evening and we spent a little time outside.

We went to the hotel to use the hot tub but it was closed for some reason so we spent a little time in the pool.

Sunday morning came early with my alarm clock ringing.  We got up, got dressed, had breakfast and headed over to the train station.  We skipped the cowboy shootout show, having seen a number of them.  We brought jackets in case it was cooler up at the canyon.  Turned out we didn't need them.  The weather was nice.

Train Station in Williams, AZ

Our train

Steam engine they have

The ride was nice and about 2 hours and 15 minutes.  The train wasn't full.  We were in the air conditioned car but not one of the first class or upgraded ones.  I had a cup of hot chocolate and Bill had an orange cream soda on our way up.  The scenery was desert.  We did see a couple of cattle and antelope.

We did have an accordion player as entertainment on the way to the canyon.

Once we arrived we walked over to the Bright Angel Lodge for lunch.  Bill had a turkey sandwich and I had the angus beef burger.  They were both just OK.  Of course they were overpriced, this being a tourist attraction and all.  We checked out the various gift shops and sat on the porch of the El Tovar Hotel in the rocking chairs for a bit.

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

El Tovar Hotel

After about 3 1/2 hours at the canyon we headed back to the train station and our return trip.

Train Station at the Canyon

On our way back to Williams we were entertained by a fiddle player.

We also got robbed.  All in all it was a nice day.  After having leftover mac and cheese for dinner we went to the hotel and were able to use the hot tub.  That was really nice.  Tomorrow we head into Kingman.  Soon we will be back in Hemet.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.