Reconnaissance

Currently in Cottonwood, AZ
Moving on to Southern California

Our former next door neighbors and good friends, the Webers, are going to spend their Spring Break with us in Cottonwood.  So Johnny and I went on reconnaissance to the Grand Canyon so we can make the most of our time there.

Here is our first look from the Watchtower at Desert View.

The Watchtower itself is pretty cool. Architect Mary Colter, who was also the architect of many other buildings at the Grand Canyon, designed it in 1905.  Pretty rare for a woman at that time.

At the top of the watchtower, you are 7000 feet above sea level!

There are so many cool views of the Grand Canyon that our iPhones can't possibly capture.  Here are a couple of our favorites.

They have a really cool shuttle system now so you are fighting for space on the roads with all the other visitors.  It worked great for us as we got to the different vistas pretty easily.
Other things we saw:
The Grand Canyon Railroad used to bring folks to enjoy the Canyon.  Now it runs was a commuter train from Williams, AZ

El Tovar Hotel - where said people above stayed in the early 1900's as well as today!

lobby

outside

enjoying a hot chocolate

Hopi House - more cool architecture.

We took a quick hike on the Bright Angel Trail.  Hope to see more of it with our friends.

We can't wait for the Weber family to join us here!

Johnny and I also heard that the ghost town of Jerome is fun.  So we checked that out too.  It was an old copper mining town in the late 1800s that went the way of some other towns we have seen on our travels.  This town reinvented itself and attracts a lot of tourists.
Since blast furnaces are close to my heart, I loved looking at this old one.  Quite a story about getting the necessary coke up the mountain including mules and the railroad!

Lots of old buildings here - each with there own story.  Two of my favorite are the hotel and the postoffice.  Both are still in use!

We hope to go with the Webers to the Haunted Hamburger since it has a great story and a beautiful of the Verde Valley.  In the meantime, we settled for a restaurant that is 5,280 feet above sea level!