The Grand Canyon, Valley of Fire, and Las Vegas, Part One

THE GRAND CANYON

We finally got a late winter road trip (after flying and picking up a rental car).  We took off for Vegas on Thursday morning with Southwest Airlines and picked up a Ford Escape to drive to the Grand Canyon for two nights.  Our first stop was at one of our favorite breakfast spots, the Coffee Cup Cafe in Boulder City—

they make the best pork chili verde omelet.  From there the rest of the drive is rather boring.  Seventy miles from Boulder City to Kingsman, 129 miles from Kingsman to Williams, and then a final 55 miles to Grand Canyon.  

We drove right to Mather Point on the South Rim for our first Grand Canyon sunset.  

Weather was a little cloudy and we had missed the early sunset, but still got to see the effects of the falling sun on the canyon.

After a pleasant night at the Best Western Premier Grand Canyon, we drove the six miles to the Rim for our first Grand Canyon sunrise—

not very spectacular because of heavy clouds, but the weather was to improve during the day.  

There is a person sitting on the ledge in front of the person standing where neither should be.

     Breakfast was back in town at RP’s Stage Stop, a cafe/coffee shop/gift shop, which made nice bagel breakfast sandwiches and lattes.  

With breakfast out of the way we went back to the Canyon.  

We got views from most of the south South Rim vantage points—Moran, Navajo, Lipan, and Grandview Points. Each of the lookouts had a slightly different view than the next, although at some point the rocks began to all look the same.  We spent some time at Tusayan Village and Museum (Ta’-sa-in like “just sayin’”), 

an ancient Native American stone village. We also spent time at the Desert View Watchtower, designed by

famous woman architect Mary Colter.

The last of our day at the Rim was spent in Grand Canyon Village, the old main area that Anne remembered from the 60s with Bright Angel Lodge (1935),

Lookout Studio (another Mary Colter design),

Hopi House, a nationally registered historic building from the early 1900s,

and the famed rail station.   Our light lunch was an expensive and forgettable Wendy’s burger back near our hotel.  Good or interesting restaurants is not a strong point of the Canyon area.

After a little rest in the hotel, we went back to the Rim for our second sunset. 

This was quite spectacular.  With clear weather we could get the full effect of the play of light and shadow on the cliffs and bluffs of the canyon. 

       Then in the morning we got a fantastic show again with clear weather.

The temperature at 6:00AM was about 25ºF (that’s minus something or other C for our Scottish friends)—cold and clear. 

Again the light did an increasingly bright dance in the canyon—just the opposite of the night before.  

Fortified by another breakfast at RP’s we made a quicker trip back to Vegas—I just kept up with traffic, 85mph most of the way—in plenty of time to check into our Worldmark Las Vegas Blvd. Resort, our home for the next week.

Got to work on this Selfie thing.

The story of the rest of the week in Las Vegas will be the subject of the next post.

Old Stories and Photos--Hopefully New to You

A Few Antique Cameras

It’s difficult to write a travel and photography blog when I’m not traveling and I haven’t had the camera out for a month.  I do have a couple of stories and some photos from past travels that I’d like to share.  I will have some new material in a few weeks—when we get back from Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and Zion.  Until then, I hope you enjoy these:

Local residents, Amulree, Scotland.

Woody

In the far northwest corner of Scotland, this gang of ducks pecked our car until I got out and paid ransom.

Sleeping In

Our Scottish niece, Ailsa (adopted by us after living with the B&B family since she was three years old), has the good habit of working hard on her studies and thus being tired often.  She also has the bad habit of not being easy to wake up.  Jim and Elizabeth often stay and run the B&B when Ailsa’s parents are away on a trip.  This particular evening Jim was teasing Ailsa about missing the school bus (a bus from her private school picks her up in front of the B&B six days a week—rigorous school program) the last time her folks were gone and he had to drive her the forty minutes to school.  She promised, promised, promised that she’d be on time for the bus in the morning.

A Canby jay

     So, the bus pulls up the next morning at 7:00—we can see it out our bedroom window—and waits for about three minutes.  No Ailsa, the bus drives away.  Two minutes later Ailsa screams, “Oh, no!” and hurries downstairs and out the front to no avail.  Jim had an early appointment, so this time Elizabeth had to take Ailsa to school.  Believe me, Liz was not happy about it as she was supposed to be fixing breakfasts for the guests.  The only thing that saved Ailsa’s hide was that Anne and I and our friends the Gordons were the only guests and we were okay with fixing our own breakfasts.

Ailsa made me promise, promise, promise not to tease her about sleeping in.  I’m just terrible about keeping promises.

A Fur Coat and a Winter Snack

Osprey, Cullen, Scotland

I think this is Mrs. Jay.

Anne at Gurnsey Broch in the Orkneys.

Defending the Dinner Table

Anne and I had had a full day of touring in southwest Scotland.  We’d played 18 holes at Stranraer GC, visited both Corsewall and Killantringer Lighthouses (thirty miles of single track road), and wandered the seaside village of Portpatrick with its own old lighthouse.  We stopped in at the Crown Hotel for a beer and some writing time.  

Exterior of the Italian Chapel in Orkney.

Interior of the chapel made by Italian POWs in World War II.

Dueling Spires, Minnesota

     The Crown Hotel’s pub, we discovered, had been recently named Seafood Pub of the Year by one of the foodie magazines.  We felt good about our drinks and writing, the menu looked very inviting, and the kitchen smells were extremely enticing.  It was still too early for dinner and the restaurant didn’t take reservations, but we did want to eat at the Crown tonight and we didn’t want to give up our great table. Anne devised a killer plan—time killer, that is.  As she worked on her journaling and nursed her most recent drink, I wandered the village for some photos.  When I came back to the table and my by now rather warm ale, Anne walked to the car on the other side of the village to get more for us to work on.  With fresh drinks after she got back we worked a while longer successfully filling enough time to be ready for dinner at our window-side table.  

Sunset at Portpatriek harbour, Scotland.

The Town Hornblower (Ripon, England): a horn blower has signaled that the town's night watchman is on duty for  the past more than 900 years.

The Crown Hotel lived up to its awards.  Dinner was fantastic.  After a shared starter of bacon wrapped scallops, I had a beautiful fried mackerel (I guess it’s okay to call a dead fish beautiful) and Anne a wonderfully prepared North Sea Cod.  It felt sort of gladiatorial to have had to defend our table for dinner.  Veni, vidi, vici!

Horsetail Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

A replica of Stonehenge on a hill above the Columbia River in Washington state.

The Real Thing

Stories and People

     This first post of 2016 goes back to some travel stories and photos of interesting people we've met in our travels.  As always comments are very welcome.  Have a Great New Year!

Portland Highland Games

Portland Highland Games

Blackford Highland Games, Perthshire, Scotland

Bachelor Party at Deacon Brodie's in Edinburgh.

If It’s For Sale, Don’t Go

It was early in October when we had a couple of nice days on the Isle of Skye in the northwest of Scotland.  This day we had already driven up to the Quiraing which in Old Norse means “Round Fold.” It’s a series of tables, pinnacles, spires, and escarpments that are part of Meall na Suiramach, the highest mountain in this area of Skye. We’d also visited Flora MacDonald’s grave; she is famous for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie (the Young Pretender) escape from the British after the Jacobean defeat at Culloden. We were definitely looking forward to having lunch in Uig on Skye after fighting 80-100 mile an hour winds at Castle Duntulm, a much ruined McLeod castle on the point of the Trotternish peninsula. The ferry terminal village of Uig (ferries to the Outer Hebrides) faces Uig Bay and has a pottery shop, a brewery with gift shop, a pub, a restaurant, and a couple of tea rooms.  I talked Anne into going to the Tea House because we only wanted a quick sandwich or soup.  Bad choice!

Tea Room Conversation, Kirriemuir, Scotland

The Tea House advertised itself as a tea room and B&B.  The insides it could have been described as quaint, but really a better description would be tattered and sparse. Only one other couple was in the tea room and they were just getting ready to leave—it was a clue we missed. We had to wait quite a while to get any service—that was another missed clue.  We ordered a ham and tomato toastie to share and a coke each.  The cokes came in their cans with no glasses or ice and the sandwich came shortly after.  The sandwich was barely toasted bread with two ultra thin slices of tomato (one in each half) and a similarly thin slice of rubbery, tasteless processed ham--no condiments or sauces.  Anne described it as an ”ugly sandwich.”  We each drank our cokes, nibbled on our sandwich halves, and left the Tea House as soon as we could.

School work bored him to death!

     It was on the way out we noticed the For Sale sign on the property’s fence.  Damn, I couldn’t even review the Tea House on Trip Advisor.  I made up for my poor lunch choice by taking Anne to dinner at the Harbour View Seafood Restaurant in Portree (one of the best in town).  From now on I look closely for those For Sale signs.

TV actress in a feature filming at Stirling Castle.

Bar keep pours a round for a tasting at Famous Grouse in Crieff.

Piper busking at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Study in Red and Black in Oxford.

Beware the Mead

On our trips to Ireland we kept seeing ads for Medieval Castle Experiences at Bunratty Castle, Knappague Castle, and Dunquaire Castle.  Finally, we decided to give in to the ads and take in a show—unusual for us because we generally steer clear of things that seem too touristy.  We visited Dunguaire Castle in Kinvarra Village (near Galway) in Co. Clare just outside the Burren (interesting geological area).  We toured the 16th century tower house castle, named for King Guaire, a legendary king of Connacht, and then purchased tickets to that evening’s dinner show.  

In the evening we drove about a half hour from our B&B in Galway to the castle.  The evening’s entertainment consisted of a medieval dinner (soup, chicken, potatoes of course since we were in Ireland,veg, and pie), music, songs, storytelling, and poetry (Yeats, Shaw, O’Casey, Synge).  

Anne, with the pitcher of mead right in front of her, she couldn't resist.

     The star of the show, at least for Anne, was the mead (a fermented honey and fruit or herb drink) that was served before and during dinner.  I had a small taste, but since I was driving I stuck mostly to water.  Anne, on the other hand, had her before dinner cup of mead and mine and more at dinner—she thought it was very tasty.  It was strong as well—mightily strong!  Anne fell asleep in the car on the way home to the B&B and it was lucky the directions back were simple—with my lack of sense of direction we could have ended up in Limerick instead of Galway.  The next day was a slight fog for Anne; she ate lightly at breakfast and can’t recall too many details of the golf we played later that day.  So be warned: Beware the Mead!    

One of Edinburgh's more colorful characters.

Street performer in Edinburgh.  Bet nobody messes with him.

In a small pub in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, we visited with a gentleman who had played many of the same courses we had.

This is so wrong for many reasons! (Rockcliffe in southern Scotland)

Free Is a Good Price, But You Have to Wait for It

Recently when we have an early morning flight, we’ll stay the night before at a Red Lion Hotel near the Portland airport (the Best Airport in America) which offers a park’n’Fly program—stay the night and leave your car for free for up to ten days (avoiding airport parking charges). On one trip, after checking in at the hotel, we drove to a nearby mall to eat at Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Q.  The meals at Dave’s aren't gourmet, but they usually are tasty, plentiful, and reasonably priced.  On this occasion the place was quite crowded.  We were given a beeper and told the wait would be about 15 minutes.  The bar had room for us to have a drink while we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  After about 35 minutes I asked the manager to check on a table for us.  He came back and told us that we weren’t checked-in.  I showed him the beeper.  Sputtering now, he said he’d check again.  We got a table in about a minute with the manager’s apologies for “losing us.”  After we ordered, the manager said that our dinners were on the house with more profound apologies.  We had to wait for it, but a free dinner was a great way to start a week of vacation in Las Vegas.

The Master of the Tables in the dining hall in Oxford.

Jim Craig, famous Scottish footballer (soccer player). visiting at Merlindale B&B.

Oregon Poet William Stafford at a conference on the Oregon coast in the early 80s.

Just your average visitor to Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands.