Gretchen's Blog

We got up early and planned to repeat McDonalds for breakfast on the road. Where two highways intersect on our map appeared to be the best chance but we were getting close and no fast food to be found. I pulled into a lone gas station, filled up just in case (this would be my smartest move of the day, which tells you how the rest of my choices went.) I asked the attendant if there were any fast food places on our route and he shook his head no. Breakfast was going to be from a gas station mini-mart. I told A to pick whatever she wanted. She got a packaged Danish that looked to be a month old and a bag of Cheetos. I got cheese and crackers.

We followed the website directions to Grand Canyon West. I must have missed the part where the last 14 miles was a rough, windy, rock road. I felt lucky if I got above 20 mph; puke is the word that comes to mind. I almost turned back but we had come so far anyway, I forged ahead.

We got to the main terminal and there was obvious chaos. The first thing we did was buy a skybridge package. I could tell it was going to be a hard day for the Huapai Indians and tourists because their normal 200 visitors per day looked like it would top 2000. We went immediately to the skybridge, it just so happened they got the official camera working on the bridge 2 minutes before we got to that spot and it quit working about 5 minutes after.
They wouldn’t let you take personal cameras or anything on the skybridge fearing you would either drop it on the glass and scratch it or throw it over the edge and it would drop far below.

After the skybridge, we grabbed the next shuttle bus to Guano Point to check out the view and the food. The line for food was wound around so far we gave up that idea and bought Indian Jewelry instead (this is a stretch as the only thing Indian was the sellers. My earrings broke the first night) and waited for the next bus. We changed buses at the main terminal; A in her hurry forgot her $14.95 mini flashlight that shown a picture of the skybridge. They didn’t sell any more of those at other trading posts but it wasn’t worth trying to find it or buy another.

We got on another bus which was basically a large horse trailer with seats to the Hualapai Ranch where we hoped there would be a shorter food line. People complained about the dust and I thought… where do you think you are? We got to the Ranch where a guy with black teeth and a real gun felt he had to give his spiel, we were only interested in the food but since he had the gun we waited for him to say his part and then hightailed it to the food line. The food was OK at least the line was reasonable, A hated it, we hurried back to the bus stop to get back to the main terminal to get the hell out of dodge. We stopped at their trading post to grab snacks for A since she didn’t eat the food. She found Cheetos and Jelly beans… there’s a theme going on here.

We peeled out as fast as we could and were amazed that cars were still coming through that horrible road. At least we got out of there early. As they were streaming in, all I thought was “suckers!”

The only part that was enjoyable was the skybridge but I would wait a year or two until they get a road in place and the kinks ironed out.