Flight of the Condor

Monday, July 15, 2013
Grand Canyon

Neither of us has slept very well and we're both up easily before our alarms.  We dress quickly, skipping things like make-up and stretching, and arrive in the Bright Angel Lodge lobby in plenty of time to meet Sandy, our bus driver and tour guide.

It is just starting to get light as our small crew boards our big bus.  Lots of room to spread out and be comfortable.  Sandy says we will be making three stops and can leave our belongings on the bus.  The first stop is just the very beginning of sunrise and I play a lot with the settings on my camera.  After all, I probably won't be up this early again!

Stop two is at Hopi Point and we stay here about twenty minutes so that we can see the play of the changing light on the magnificent and varied rock layers.  No words - just pictures!

 Sandy is a wealth of knowledge about the park and its inhabitants, two- and four-footed!  She points out an old dormitory for the Harvey Girls who used to work in the hotels built by Mr. Harvey along the Sante Fr Railroad line from Chicago to Los Angeles, and tells us the there are between fifteen hundred and three thousand employees depending on the time of year.  Many of the short timers are from other countries, which we had also observed in other parks on other trips.

Stop three and we are starting to look for animals.  WooHoo!  There's a deer and several elk!  There's a young buck in his velvet, a calf and a female.  Sandy circles around so we get several chances to see them and take pictures.  She says that her old bus didn't scare the animals and her passengers could actually get out for photos.  We have to shoot through the windows;  but we are getting to see elk!!

We are deposited back at Bright Angel and go into the restaurant for breakfast before our growling tummies arouse suspicion!  Bis from Bulgaria is our wait person and what fun she is!  Of course, we're ready to be fun, too, so it's easy for all of us!  We're turning over our coffee cups before she can even ask if we'd like some and that tickles her, which tickles us!  And it goes on from there.  Breakfast is good and too filling!  After our last cups of coffee we learn how to use the paper we received at check in to charge meals to our room.  That will help with our record keeping!

Did you notice we have internet access?  That's different from when we were at the North Rim!  I guess people just can't get along without it!  (Actually, we lost it before I could post this!  But we had it for a while!)

Back to the room to gather our stuff for some more canyon viewing.  Marilyn has asked the front desk to have someone fix the window in our room (there is no air conditioning in the lodges) and we hope he comes while we're out - or at least before we go to bed.  It would be wonderful if we could get it colder in here tonight.

Marilyn's tummy is giving her a fit and we both think it might have been the gyro last night.  Mine isn't too happy either;  but not as bad as hers.  She decides to hang around the room a while and I go off exploring.  Not too much later I get a text!  Se's looking for me but before I can answer I get another that says, "Found you!"  She is waving from the trail above me and is feeling much better.

We walk the trail while trying to decide what to do first.  There is the Kolb Cabin right in front of us and we check out the adventures of the Kolb Brothers who made the first motion picture in the Canyon!  The photos of their harrowing experiences are enough to turn your hair white!  Amazing people our forebearers!

A little further down a lady asks if we want to see a California Condor.  Gee, let's think about that!  Are you kidding!!  Sandy had told us that just a couple of decades ago there were only twenty-two of these huge birds left in the world.  They were captured and put into a captive breeding program which has been unbelievably successful.  Four sets were released in the Canyon and other found homes in California and Mexico.  Since then six more sets have been added here and the current count is between seventy-three and seventy-five, depending on who you ask.  Each bird is numbered and has a radio transmitter attached so they can be traced as they travel.

Down the path a ways and there is a black spot behind a tree.  Hmmm.   A little further on and a man says he thinks the bird has flown away.  BUT even further down Bright Angel Trail here she is!  She is trying to eat an orange traffic cone, which is quite upsetting because it will make her sick.  She also tried to eat a bottle and a wheel.  They just aren't programmed to tell the difference between trash and carrion!

We take lots of pictures and wait for her to fly.  We know she's a female because we can see her number, F3.  And we wait.  And we wait.  All the while we are pointing her out to other hikers and one lady knows a ranger and calls to report F3's predicament.  I don't know what the ranger can do. The cone is not very accesible!

Okay, so we've been standing here about an hour.  Wait!  What's she doing??  Spreading her wings??  She's taking off!  I grab some stills and Marilyn catches the whole flight on video!  We're giddy!!  We walk back toward the lodge and darned if another one doesn't fly right over our heads!  Again I try for stills while she follows the flight path with her video camera!  This one lands on a ledge that is so far away he (?) is only a speck and we give up.

Back at the room the maintenance man has just finished installing our repaired window screen.  It is beginning to rain and Marilyn takes a nap while I catch up my blog.  But before either of us could do those things we've GOT to look at our photos and videos!  Marilyn's footage is superb!!  My stills aren't too bad.  And we got to see a California Condor in flight!  TWICE!  Never dreamed that would happen!

We’re starving!  Our restaurant serves lunch until four and it’s only three-thirty!!  There is another restaurant in the Bright Angel Lodge, but it is “fine dining” and there is also a lounge, along with the gift shop and History Room.  We get a table near a window and our server, Ian, is another delight.  I decide to try the Supai Spinach Salad, with smoked trout, jicama, cotija cheese, candied pecans and mandarin oranges on a bed of spinach (hence the name!)  I’ve never had smoked trout or cotija cheese and they are both very good.  Ian suggests Serrano-grape dressing, something else I’ve never had, and it is a big hit!

Marilyn gets the Harvey Cobb Salad and it’s huge and she reports it is delicious.  Again we’re stuffed and before we head back out to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, we stop by the History Room to learn more about Mr. Harvey and his girls.  He started with nothing and decided that the best way to make money out west was in the food industry!  He had dining cars on the railroads and hotels  The fireplace in this room is another Mary Colter special.  It is made from rocks from each of the layers in the Canyon, in the correct order and relative thickness!

Outside we are heading for El Tovar and the Hopi House, a short walk from our lodge. One of the back lawns has about six squirrels feasting on it.  And the air is filled with the scent of pine.  We wish we could bottle it! 

There are grassed areas around each of the lodges and Sandy had told us that the elk consider these their personal dining areas!  Sure enough, there’s a young buck having his dinner, totally disregarding his adoring fans!  We get into a pleasant conversation with a family about children and travel and relationships and laugh away about fifteen minutes!

On to Hopi House, which has lots of beautiful Native American jewelry and crafts.  Mary Coulter designed this one, too, and she used the native architecture as her inspiration.  Marilyn and I take turns talking the other out of spending money.  I’m sure I need a sand-painting Christmas ornament and a raku horse and maybe even a t-shirt.  She needs more jewelry and another doll.  This one is a native woman at a loom with a partly-finished rug on it!  Maybe we don’t need them.  Maybe.

We’re thinking it would be a good idea to visit the main Visitors’ Center at the end of the Blue Line.  When we get there the center is closed but the National Park Association store stays open until nine!  Goodie!!  There is a memorial set into the walkway that displays the names of all the tribes that call the Canyon home and Mather Point is just a short walk away.  It is a grand place to see the sunset!  And there is a deer having his dinner and trying his best to avoid having his picture taken!

 The bus brings us home and we think it would be superb to have some ice cream!!  The little man is locking the door as we approach;  but there is bound to be somewhere to get dessert!!  YES!  Once again, for the third time today, we visit the Bright Angel Restaurant!  Marilyn gets a brownie deluxe which turns out to actually be two brownies with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge!  I have New York cheesecake with strawberries.  Hey, we didn’t have dinner, so keep those snide comments to yourself!

Bedtime!  Marilyn hates her pillow, so we swap;  I’m not a very picky pillow person!  With that all settled and the cold air blowing in, this promises to be a good night for sleeping!