While neither one of us rose with the sun (5:20am) this morning the people behind us did and these cabins are not known for being quiet. I dozed until maybe 7:00, got a couple of cups of coffee under my belt (didn’t help much) and we were off by 8:30. Shoshone Trail is an easy 2 mile round trip hike not far from the lodge with an incredible view of the canyon at the end. They also tease you with the possibility of seeing elk on this trail – but we didn’t. There were some other hikers we encountered but not many – it’s not one of the “popular” hikes for some reason, which we were thankful for.
From there we drove the rest of the rim and stopped at the various points until we reached the eastern end. The Desert View area has large restrooms, a market place, shopping and the Watch Tower (built in 1932). We walked around and took in the views making our way to the tower. It’s free to go up to the top (donations appreciated) but they stagger the amount of people and times. It’s really cool once you start ascending. There are four floors and things to look at on each one before going to the next floor. The replicas of petroglyphs and pictographs fill the walls and ceilings honoring the lives and traditions of the Southwest Indians. It really is amazing.
When we came out of the tower it was time to find something to eat – which is no small feat in these national parks. We know this and do bring what we can to supplement as much as possible, but we are running low at the end of this part of the journey. We did find a little market place / cafe that actually made a handful of items fresh (instead of premade grab and go). We both ordered a grilled chicken sandwich that was actually decent – remember, our bar is pretty low when it comes to food in a park.
We had planned to stop by the Visitor’s Center which is not too far from the lodge and is a whole other collection of places we wanted to check out. The place was crazy busy! We couldn’t even find a parking spot without it being a long way away. My mind was blown at how many people were there. Not needing to fight crowds, we just kept on trucking and came back to the cabin where I fell onto the bed and took a 2 hr nap. This girl is whooped.
All too soon, it’s time to think about another flippin’ meal. We knew we didn’t want to drive so that left us with walking to the lodge and finding something there we could live with. After going through the few menus available we settled on the burger cafe style place and went early before everyone else and their brother went. Bob got fish and chips and I chose pot roast. Both were decent. LOL That’s all I got.
Time to shower and pack up again for pulling out in the morning. Heading to Tucson to spend time with family. Our niece is graduating high school so we’ve got some celebrating to do!
It's a Wonderful Life! 