April 22, 2023
The day has finally arrived after 6 years of wishing, planning, praying, etc. The day is pretty much planned out for you when you ride the Grand Canyon Railway into the Grand Canyon. The train starts boarding at 9:15AM and departs at 9:30AM. At the train location is a small western themed area. At 9:00AM you can watch the western skit and then after the show, board the train. The trip north, into the Grand Canyon, takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes. You descend down to about 2,000 feet elevation and then climb up to 7,000 feet elevation once you are in the park. The return trip, southbound, takes about 2 hours. The train starts boarding at 3:00PM and departs the canyon at 3:30PM. There are musicians on board to entertain you. And the afternoon train has a robbery also.
There are six classes of railcars. Starting with the basic, you have Pullman Class, Coach Class, First Class, Observation Dome, Luxury Dome, and Luxury Parlor. At the various levels you have various amenities. Some serve snacks and beverages and then others have bar service, etc. The type of seats are different also. They also have a cafe car where you can purchase hot chocolate, and other assorted items.
Today is Earth Day. So in honor of Earth Day, we had a diesel/steam locomotive to pull our train today. Really cool.
We walked from the campground to the western theater. It was about a 10 minute walk. We found a spot on the metal bleachers and sat and waited. The actors were good and as people arrived they were interacting with them and one was on horseback and allowed people to come pet the horse. They did their skit about robbery and they did some stunt work. Unfortunately the sound system was not very good so it was difficult to hear the dialogue. At the end of the skit, we were ushered to the train boarding platform. We found our car and boarded. We rode to the Grand Canyon in First Class. It was very comfortable and included pastries, coffee, etc. During the two hour 15 minute ride, we were serenaded by Kelly. He was very good. It was a nice relaxing ride with beautiful scenery.
As you pull into the station on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon you can get your first look at the most spectacular view of Mother Nature. After disembarking, we walked up to the South Rim and took a good look at the Grand Canyon. This was the Number 1 item on Nancy’s bucket list. We finally made it. From our brief look we headed to the Visitor’s Center. We walked along the rim first one way and then another. We had about 4 hours to take in the views before having to board the train again for the ride home. We used our time to walk, rest, and take pictures. By the time we were back on the train it felt so good to sit down on a cushioned seat. We had seats in the Luxury Dome on the way back to Williams. Again, snacks and certain drinks were included. It was wonderful. We had a roaming musician again and this time, we were visited by train robbers and the Sheriff.
One of the neatest things about the trip home was that we could go to the rear of the train and stand out on the rear platform. It was really cool to stand on the back of the train and peak around the corner. While we were on the platform, the train stopped. This was to allow the robbers to board the train. Once the train started again, we saw a lone cowboy with a riderless horse. Apparently one of the robbers. We were toward the rear of the train and I wanted to get a picture of the engine so Wayne and I rushed to the front of the train. It was a very long walk. However, we made it. A very tiring and awesome day.
