Day 8: Nevada to Arizona and Grand Canyon West

After a good night’s sleep, we headed towards Arizona on Monday morning. The weather was still hot, but far more tolerable than the last few days; however, we still made frequent breaks along the way to cool down and hydrate. The better weather also allowed us to enjoy the beautiful landscapes we passed by and we were more inclined to stop and take pictures.

 

 

We arrived at the Grand Canyon West at around 2:00 PM. From their selection of tour packages, we chose the Legacy Gold since we wanted to do the Skywalk and it included a meal, which the Legacy Package with Skywalk at $10.80 less didn’t include. The meal turned out to be a glorified sandwich from a little stand trying to pass as a cafe and a bottle of water.

We took the bottle of water, but passed on the meal and opted to eat at Sa’ Nyu Wa restaurant at the second stop on the tour. The prices were surprisingly cheap (three tacos, guacamole, and chips for $10!) and you eat sitting down in a nice restaurant with a great view of the Grand Canyon. Sometimes, the cheaper option on the brochure is the better option.

 

Another interesting observation made was how adamant the security is about not taking any cell phones or personal belongings on the Skywalk to prevent anything from falling. I had left my SPOT tracker in my pocket and when going through security, I was asked to take out what was in my pocket. When I showed my tracker, they let me go through. Same thing happened with Phil and his wallet.

I guess “personal belongings” are limited to cell phones and cameras because if people started taking their own pictures to capture their own memories, how would the tour company charge them $16 for a picture? Damn tourist traps.

Also, about 10 minutes after we left the Skywalk and were seated in the restaurant for lunch, the bridge was empty so it looked like they stopped letting people go there. The sky was getting gloomy so we concluded it was for the fear of rain.

We did enjoy the magnificence of the canyon from the various viewpoints that we stopped at. It is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen, by far.

 

 

 

 

We left at around 5:00 PM and stayed the night in Kingman, which is about an hour’s ride away.