Grand Canyon

July 3, 2008

"Life is not made up by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

We both realized we were indeed holding our breaths when viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. It is truly majestic in its scope, variations of color and pattern. Mere words can never express God's majesty in this place. Ya gotta see it to believe it!

We were up early this morning and headed out about 8:15 am. We dropped Pooh Bear off at doggie day care and headed for the Grand Canyon. We had reserved seats on the dome car of the train. The train runs from Williams sixty five miles to Grand Canyon Village. The trip took about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The Grand Canyon Railway Train runs on tracks originally laid in the very early 1900's. Passenger service to the Canyon stopped in the late 1960's. A husband and wife invested their life savings in buying what was left of the railroad and in five years, the train was running again. It runs two trains each way every day. The cars are beautifully restored as are the engines. The on-board service was exceptional. We were entertained with musicians, very personable attendants who told corny jokes (What do you call a cow with no legs?... Ground Beef. A mushroom walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender says, "We don't serve mushrooms here." The mushroom says, "I'm not a mushroom, I'm a fun guy. " ---Think about that one for a while :) They also had complimentary continental breakfast on the early train and snacks on the evening ride. We were served a drink called a "Woo-Woo". You have to hold your hand up and act like you are pulling on a train engine cord while you say loudly, "Woo-Woo! " Another chance to make fools of ourselves. It consists of vodka, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice.Very Yummy! We were "robbed" by armed train robbers who rode up along side of the train. The train stopped and the robbers got on and of course everyone played along and gave up their dollar bills while holding hands up in the air. Everyone in our dome care was sharing a bit of their lifestories on the ride back and it was interesting to see how far people had come from around the globe to see this Natural Wonder of the World.


Arriving at the Grand Canyon Train Depot we headed out for our motor coach tour along the rim of the Canyon. The coach took us to several overlooks and "kodak moments" galore. We took a plethora of pix which we will gladly share to anyone who wishes to see them on our return. But the camera can never do justice to the actual visual image. I sang "How Great Thou Art" to Sue at the Mohave overlook. One grandmother stated to her granddaughters that I was serenading Sue. They wanted to know what serenading meant. Probably the closest they could identify with would be John Cusack holding up his boombox in the movie, Say Anything. Once on the coach again, I was requested by the entire bus to sing it again and they all joined in on the chorus. This was an overwhelming and unique experience for me. I have never done anything like this before and I was asking God to help me with each breath. There were 33 people on the coach. The Driver also sang a verse from "Shall we gather at the River" with particular emphasis on the "where bright angels' feet have trod as he told the story of one early explorer. There is now a lodge called "Bright Angel." God's presence was everywhere in what we saw and experienced. Neither of us was ready to leave and believe that we will be forever changed by this experience.



We spent about 2 1/2 hours walking the rim and enjoying the diverse population of tourists before heading back on the 4:30 train. We were both exhausted but in a good way. This was an experience we will repeat in a few years...after we leave the workworld behind and can spend more time RVing.