13.6.-16.6.2023
When we left Blythe a bit before noon, the temperature had already risen to +38C. Fortunately, thanks to the efficient air conditioning, it was not hot in the car, although the highest temperature outside reached 108 Fahrenheit (=42C). We had checked in advance that the journey should take about four hours, but of course there were roadworks on the way, which slowed us down by an hour. The scenery was just as dry as the day before, but as we got closer to Williams, there was a bit more vegetation. Mostly ponderosa pines. The temperature had also dropped to a comfortable +20 degrees.
In Williams we stayed in a caravan at the campsite. It was a little more spacious than the campervan we rented in New Zealand. Our caravan in Williams had two bedrooms, two toilets and a combined living room/kitchen. You could get extra width for the caravan with walls, which slid outwards on the side of the caravan. The caravan’s dining table, sofa and beds were located in this extra space.
In the evening, we went to the Williams self-service laundry to do our laundry. At the same time, we also did some grocery shopping. When we returned to pick up our laundry, the road to the laundromat was blocked because there was a Wild West show going on in the middle of the street. A local theatre group was there depicting life in the late 1800s Williams. It seems to have been a lot of guns blazing and booze drinking back then, at least for some people. Ronja didn’t appreciate the show very much and stood in the audience covering her ears most of the time, muttering that yet again the whole trip was ruined.
The night was surprisingly cool. When we woke up in the morning, the temperature outside was only 12C, and it wasn’t very warm in the trailer either. Fortunately, there was a gas fireplace in the trailer, so we clicked it on and soon everyone was comfortably warm again. Immediately after breakfast we headed to Williams train station to see if we could get tickets for the 1923 train that would take us to the Grand Canyon. Luckily, there were still some tickets left, and we bought combination tickets for the same day. In addition to the train transport, the package included a buffet lunch and a 1.5h tour of Grand Canyon. The whole thing cost us 502 dollars, including park fees, so it wasn’t cheap at all.
Before the train left, there was a short theatre performance in the open-air theatre behind the platform area. The same guys were banging their guns as the night before in the street theatre show. Again the sheriff managed to shoot the thugs, and so we were safe during our train journey. Ronja thought that we had once again ruined her life by dragging her to watch and listen to the show, but she agreed to have her picture taken with one of the thugs at the end of the show anyway.
We travelled the 2h15min journey to the Grand Canyon in Pullman class, the cheapest of the travel options. It was the cheapest because there was no air conditioning in the carriage. There were fans in the ceiling, and the windows could be opened, so the temperature in the carriage was quite comfortable, especially on the outward journey. We also had a PSA (passenger service assistant) in our carriage, who explained the history of the area, told (bad) jokes, and entertained us passengers by chatting with us. There was also a violinist in the coach who played a few songs for us.
Once at the Grand Canyon, we were directed to buses, and the first stop for our bus was a buffet lunch. It wasn’t exactly a gourmet lunch, but it was enough to fill your stomach. After an hour long lunch break, we finally went to see the canyon itself. Marko was getting a bit anxious, as the driver drove around the Grand Canyon village (where 2000-3000 people live permanently), showing us the school, library and other buildings. After all, we had come here to see the canyons, not the buildings.
Finally, however, we arrived at our first stop, Yavapai Point. There would have been a geological museum there, but we didn’t go there, preferring to look at the rock formations outside. Jaana had been to the Grand Canyon once before, but the sheer size of the place still amazed her. The pictures do not do justice to how stunning the Grand Canyon is. At its widest point, the canyon is about 29km wide, and even in the narrower parts it is almost 19km. The canyon is up to 1.8km deep with an average depth of about 1.5km, so it’s certainly grand! It would also be interesting to visit in winter, when there can be up to 1.5m of snow on the south rim, and even more snow on the northern rim. Now, in the thirty degree heat, it was a bit hard to believe, though.
Our second stop was at Yaki Point, where Risto had had enough of looking at the rocks and decided to take a nap on the rim. He said the tour was a bit boring, and he had left the binoculars on the train. The rest of us kept on admiring the scenery despite the scorching heat. The temperature on the Grand Canyon plateau was just over 30 degrees Celsius, so we didn’t for a moment feel like going on a hike to the bottom of the canyon, where temperatures stay in the mid-40s day and night. At least on the plateau the temperature drops considerably at night, and cools down nicely.
The bus finally brought us to the train station. There we stopped at the canyon rim for a third time. After that we made a quick stop at the souvenir shop, where the children received a free activity booklet, and a Junior Ranger badge for successful completion of the booklet. The tasks should have been completed first, and only then should they have gone to take the oath of the junior ranger and get the badge, but as our train was about to leave, an exception was made for Ronja and Risto. They took the oath and got the badges beforehand. We adults promised to make sure that the tasks were completed on the train on our way back to Williams.
On the way back, our train was attacked by bandits. From the train windows we saw bandits riding next to the train and forcing it to stop. To Ronja’s horror the bandits were also shooting with their guns again. (Our train was not going more than 40km/h, so it was easy for the bandits to catch the train and stop it.) Three of the bandits climbed aboard the train, and they walked through every carriage. They also tried to ask Risto for money, but luckily they believed him, when Risto said he had no money at all. It was the same gang of bandits that the sheriff had shot earlier in the morning, so apparently it was some kind of miracle of resurrection. Or maybe the bandits of Wild West had nine lives, like cats.
On Saturday, we all slept in late, and didn’t set off until a little later in the morning. This time we didn’t head out to admire the scenery, but to the delight of the kids (and a little bit of us adults) we went to visit The Grand Canyon Deer Farm. The farm was nowhere near the canyon, despite what the name might suggest. It was very near our campsite, so it was no more than a ten-minute drive there.
As the name suggests, there were a huge number of deer, which could be fed with pellets and corn grains bought at the ticket counter. Although these little guys had been fed just before we arrived, they were a greedy bunch. As soon as one of them spotted a human carrying a can of food, the rest of the deer rushed in in a big herd. If you didn’t give them food, the deer would also bite bags, skirts, shoelaces, shirt cuffs and shorts. At first, Ronia was not happy with the deer biting her skirt, but eventually she would push the animals aside if they tried to get too close to her clothes. Risto, a great animal lover, was thrilled. We bought another cup of food for the deer, which was available at a slightly lower price, it being a re-fill, American-style.
In addition to deer, there were also a bison, a camel, alpacas, llamas and reindeer, but you were not allowed to feed them.
After visiting these other animals, we drove back to downtown Williams to the local swimming pool. The entrance fee to the pool was cheap, we only paid $8 to get in. In the locker rooms, we were a little confused by the signs prohibiting nudity there. Swimsuits had to be changed in the toilet stalls, and you weren’t allowed to shower naked either. This seemed very strange to us, because in Finland they specifically tell you to wash without a swimsuit before entering the pool.
The pool area consisted of one large pool, about half of which was separated into a children’s pool. They also played music there, which was very loud. Ronja had to ask them to turn it down a bit. Otherwise, she would have spent most of her time there diving. The pool also had a climbing wall and a basketball hoop, so the kids had a great time there for almost two hours. We found out that they have a monthly movie-night by the pool. You had to bring your own floater for the movie experience. The latest movie had just been shown the weekend before. Too bad, because it would have been quite a fun experience to float around in the pool watching a movie. Probably this pool’s movie selection does not include Jaws or similar kind of movies.
We had initially planned to go out for dinner somewhere in downtown Williams, but we found such delicious fried chicken fillets at the local Safeway supermarket that we decided to grab them for dinner. For dessert, we bought a huge jar of chocolate ice cream, so we had a gourmet dinner on the patio, but at a much lower price than at the restaurant.
Jaana and Ronja had been talking with a local lady in the changing room of the swimming pool. She had told them that there was a rodeo in Williams this weekend. Of course, we had to go and see it. So after checking out of the campsite, we took a short walk down the main street in the centre of town, and then headed over to the rodeo grounds.
We all had probably thought that rodeo was just about riding a wild horse or a bull. But we soon discovered that there is much more to rodeo than that. The whole event started with the carrying of the American, Arizona and rodeo association flags into the arena. After that, all the riders participating in the rodeo rode into the arena as well. This was followed by the opening prayer, singing of the American National Anthem and a tribute to the members of the Rodeo Association who had passed away recently. During the tribute, family members of each deceased rode into the arena with a horse with only an empty saddle on its back. After the opening ceremonies, the public were seated and the actual rodeo began.
First up was the under 12s series, where competitors tried to ride a small calf. Some of the children fell off the calf immediately, but some of them stayed on for several seconds. All the children were wearing helmets, safety vests etc. while riding. When adult competitors rode their wild horses, they rode without any protective gear. It was crazy! In addition to the riding, the rodeo also had a series of different competitions, including lassoing a calf, lassoing a calf and catching a flag on its tail, lassoing and milking a wild cow, and lassoing and tying a calf. These last three were team competitions. We sat in the audience for a good two hours, but then we had to leave for the drive to Las Vegas.
Childrens rodeo was the first event.
The men’s rodeo was also pretty wild. In fact, it got so wild that an ambulance was needed for one rider. Fortunately it was only a minor fracture, nothing really serious.
This event was called “Milking the wild cow”.
Next up was flag-raiding from a calf’s tail.
The lassoing and tying of a calf as an individual event was more interesting to watch than the equivalent team event. You couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the calves though, as they were being pounded to the ground with quite a bit of force.
The drive to Vegas from Williams took about 4h. Without the stops, the trip would have been shorter, but we wanted to stop at the Hoover Dam on the way to admire its grandeur. First we walked to the 244m high bridge, from where we could admire the dam in all its glory. The wind was really fierce on the bridge. You couldn’t imagine wearing hats, and it was safer to hold on to your glasses too. Even when taking photos, you had to grip your cell phone really tightly in your hand to keep it from falling into the Colorado River below. After admiring the dam from above, we drove down to the dam, and over it. There would have been tours of the inside of the dam, but we didn’t have time to do them this time.
We arrived at our Las Vegas apartment sometime around eight in the evening. As the place was a resort and part of the IHG club, we were immediately seen as potential members. If we agreed to attend a 1.5 hour presentation, we could choose a gift. Either $150 in cash, just over $200 worth of food vouchers for our resort, or alternatively tickets to a show of our choice in Las Vegas. If the ticket prices exceeded $200, we would pay that excess out of our own pockets. We reasoned that 1.5 hours of listening to a sales pitch would be well worth it for us financially, since we had planned to go see shows in Las Vegas anyway. Now we only had to pay for one set of tickets out of our own pocket. So we said “yes” to the sales pitch, and we were booked to meet with sales guy the very next day.
By the time we got the registration and other things sorted out, we were all very hungry. So we decided to make a quick stop at the nearest McDonald’s. We took the car, because we planned on going to the grocery store afterwards. This was a HUGE mistake. The road to the nearest McDonald’s was completely blocked by road works (surprise!). When we finally got to McDonald’s, there was no parking in front of it at all because it was right in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip. So all we could do was look for a fast food restaurant a little further away from the center, and drive there. About an hour later, we finally arrived, and got some food. By then, however, it was already past ten in the evening. So we didn’t have time to go to the grocery store that night after all, because the two supermarkets nearby closed at 10pm and 11pm. After eating, we drove home (which took only 10min this time), and all went to bed a little after 11pm.