12 October 2015, Monday
Today we again reorganize – backpacking gear stowed-check, car camping gear
semi-organized-check, motel stuff filed away-check. We have several
goals for the next couple of days. First, we return to El Tovar for
breakfast. I have to try their brie and raspberry jam stuffed french
toast before we depart. It is delicious!
After we have packed the car we head immediately to Mather Campground to
secure a tent site for two nights-job done! Now we must go on a hunt
for a t-shirt for O that I had seen another tourist wearing when we
first arrived. It says “Grand Canyon – 2 billion years of
history” on the front. On the back it reads “Erosion Happens.”
We stop first in the El Tovar gift shop and O asks the cashier if she
has ever seen this shirt. No! But, another tourist overhears and says
she saw this shirt at a gift shop near the tower at Desert View 25
miles away. We search at least three more shops at Desert View before
we discover there is actually a shop in the tower at this area.
We go in and search again. No T-shirt. Then I spy one
XL shirt hanging on the wall. O asks the woman working in the store
if there are other sizes. Of course! She is all smiles. She can tell
we are smitten with the canyon and guesses we are Grand Canyon
Association members. We are! Since this is one of their stores we get
a 15% discount. Yea! While in the tower, designed by Mary Colter, we
climb four sets of stairs to the top for an even more spectacular
view of the canyon. Our major goal for the day accomplished, we
celebrate by sharing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Hazed and Confused ice
cream for lunch. We decide anyone who has hiked rim to rim deserves
at least a half pint of ice cream!
Next we explore the Tusayan Museum which has native artifacts,
explanations of ancient agriculture, a timeline and an extensive
excavation of an ancestral Puebloan dwelling site. I learn that
ancestral Puebloan is now the proper term to use for the ancestors of
the Native Americans in this area, rather than Anasazi.
By the time we finish touring the museum it is getting late in the
afternoon. We still want to see the Geology Museum but we will go
there tomorrow. We drive to the town of Tusayan where we purchase
tickets for the National Geographic Imax film on Grand Canyon. Before
the show we have a light dinner at Sophie’s Mexican Restaurant. We
don’t need much food after our ice cream lunch. We also replenish our
fruit and yogurt supply for breakfast in the morning.
We view the National Geographic film. The scenery is awesome but the
information, especially concerning Native American history in the
canyon is quite dated. The movie was filmed in 1984. Attitudes and
knowledge about the native people have changed considerably in the
last 30 years!
We return to our campsite in the dark and I journal by lantern and
starlight. Despite some surrounding lights from fellow campers, the
Milky Way is brilliant. The night is quickly cooling so I retreat to our tent.