Friday, May 13, 2016

Today was a good day to have a good day.  We saw a squirrel, an antelope, a cow elk munching at the Grand Canyon National Park, two rabbits and some quail.

We left Page, Arizona, and drive to the Grand Canyon.  This year is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.  I don't know if that has made a difference in attendance, but the parking lots were full.  We found a spot in lot 3 though and went to the visitor center, and on to the viewpoints.  It's an amazing sight, for sure.  One of the ground squirrels almost ran over my shoes.  Made me jump.  Large Do Not Feed the Squirrels signs, but they are beggars.

As we walked past a tour group, we heard the park employee who was guiding them around say that they lose about 4 people a year because they fall over the canyon walls.  I wouldn't be surprised after seeing people lean way over to get the perfect picture.  Selfie sticks have made an appearance but not as many as I would have thought.

Lots of school groups there on field trips.  We went to the grab and go cafe for ice cream, and commented on the $6 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  But they know their audience because all the grade schoolers around us chose it.

From there we drove to Sun City in Phoenix via Flagstaff.  Traffic was quite heavy.  Luckily for us, the road construction was on the north bound lanes,  down to one lane and backed up more than 10 miles.  It was 80 degrees in Flagstaff and 104 here in Sun City.

Stella's sister and brother-in-law, Marge and Bob, are hosting us for the night.  They have fed us a great meal.  It's still probably 90 degrees out as I type this.  You should have seen us inching along on the street to their house.  It was late in the day, I was driving, Stella was navigator and we just couldn't seem to get the house number right or see it on the houses.  We almost got passed by two elderly gentlemen in a golf cart.  We pulled into the correct driveway in the nick of time, as a sheriffs deputy was just turning the corner, and I was pretty much in the center of the street.

So far we have had only clear, cloudless skies, and tomorrow should be the same.

Honestly, we should have a recorder running in the car because we are having a great time.  Lots of laughs because we pretty much make our own fun.  Stella has decided that the people watching so far is the best at the Grand Canyon and I can't disagree.

Oh, we also saw a cougar sign on the road to the Park.  One of those signs that just has the black outline of the animal.  That was a first one of those I've seen.  And I still have not seen a mountain lion in the wild.

Stay tuned, we are continuing the odyssey tomorrow.