The buzzing of the helicopters on their way to many Grand Canyon tours generally does not stop throughout the day… a pricey tour, around $250 for about 40 minutes… I know it would be worth it, most likely would make a great video. Sorry folks… my pocketbook and a condition called vertigo… will not see me up there! But they are fun to watch, specially those red ones that sounded more like a jet airplane than anything else…

I must have talked to just about anyone that had a big camera around their neck… I figured… most likely an ignorant thought… the bigger the camera, the better photographer they are.

Aren’t most tings in life that way? Why?… because all I have been doing is deleting all my Grand Canyon pictures! I finally met a man named Scott… he had a $6000 camera and his investment in photography is in the upward of $60000! Do you know how much fun we can have on two wheels with that amount of money? How many Vet bills and dog food that would buy… Photography?… great hobby however. So the bottom line?… wait till sunset or use mega filters, which I don’t have.

So the golden ones are sunsets… the others daytime! I even started using my old camera… I do have a UV filter and a Polarized one also for it, I dug it out… and it has helped, I think.

We stopped by the Tusayan Ruins, going East on 64 in the Park, on the right at about a dozen miles later. No one was there, everyone is too busy flocking the guard rails to see the Canyon or is it Canyons? An old Indian Village, with what is left of their home, storage facilities and even playground.

The picture of this young Hopi Indian girl has become my favorite. It is even my opening screen on my lap top. There is an eternal smile, containing all the ranges of emotions from sadness, to surprise, to maybe and hope a bit of joy… lots of wondering going on, many question marks, and makes me so much reflect on their History and outcome as a Civilization which no one cares to talk about too much.

So hard to imagine they lived just a few feet from the Grand Canyon… I read: “Hopi stories tell of coming into this world through a hole in the sky of the world below. That opening, The Sepapuni, is located deep within the grand Canyon”. Such belief toward the most incredible and beautiful Art Work from Mother Nature… and the ruins also going hand in hand with those thoughts will make a caring and aware person wonder… what really happened?… I always ask.

Back to the rim afterward, stopping at a new point of view everyday. None are alike if you really look, I said it before… this is huge and breath taking. I had a great discovery today which I was not aware of! There is a ranch down by the river called Phantom Ranch for those who hike down and up and would like to spend the night or a few I imagine! 14 employees… all doing all the tasks on a rotation basis, basic cooking as I understand, but good. Everything is taken down twice a day by mules, and amazingly they have phone and Internet!

I think it would be an incredible experience to work there a while… since I was told, and most likely is, that the one week rafting through the Canyon would be a lifetime experience, I am sure this would be also. I might check into it for next year, maybe for as much time as they would require… definitely would be a very unique situation.

And as naive as I can be sometimes, I finally found and read the sign regarding the haze… and my friends, to my surprise, which really should have not been, it is smog!!! Smog brought in by the Santa Anna winds as far as… Los Angeles, another source also being some industries south of here. Of course I also read that they are doing something about it… fighting the pollution…

You know, all that good stuff that we read on a daily basis… Figuring how it is today, I think you might want to come and visit like now, before you know it, one will not even be able to see the other side of the Canyon!… who knows, that in itself might be a new attraction for the crowds…

As the headlines will go… “Remember… plan to come and see… July 18 2027 you will have the unique opportunity to see the other side of the Grand Canyon due to some unusual atmospheric changes… a once in a lifetime opportunity… make your reservations now…”

For those planning to come here for a few days, keep in mind that inside the Park, not too fa from the Rim is a real Village, actually called Grand Canyon Village, with Post Office, Bank and a great Food Market, of course the Parks Motel with many rooms. I had done my provision shopping in Williams, about 54 miles south of here it was expensive as that town taxes everything, being told that Tusayan, another little town a few miles from here, was real expensive. I was surprised at the prices at the Grand Canyon Village, great deals, no price sticker shock… and the reason being is that all the employees of the Park live on the premises, they have to be able to afford their food.

Just so you know… there was actually no sense stocking up, all can be purchased at the Park…

I met a lot of people here. You can hear many different languages, some totally unknown to me.

I met a whole group from Barcelona, Spain, yesterday… They had flown in to Los Angeles, rented bikes and where riding route 66 all the way to Chicago! They were quite a lively group… having a blast! Many Foreigners from cities close by, here for a Convention, taking a quick trip to see the Grand Canyon, many French, Germans… you name it.

Another day gone by, witnessing the sun taking its break for the night, I have learned my lesson, I am fully clothed by then!… Spirit has his coat on as I look around and see so many in shorts and T Shirts getting caught by the temps dropping rapidly fast as soon as a bit of darkness comes upon us.

Never enough of the views, the sense are never full of seeing those rocks… ridges… colors…

How content the Natives must have been living right here… witnessing it all on a daily basis!

And I have to take a decision soon… as I will have a choice to go West or East… again.

I am so close to Utah… the Four Corners, Valley of the Gods and so much more… at the same time, East… Zion, Bryce, Snow Canyon, Vermilion… lets not forget Death Valley… and trying to be in the San Francisco area by mid April. I think it will be East and leave Utah for next year… as going North as soon as the weather warms up are in my plans. But I said that last time…

You be well… we are!

Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 9:14 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.