Day 20: Grand Canyon to Kingman

Got up at 6:30 am so as to see the sun rise over the Canyon. Not as cold as expected, but had to watch for ice when walking around the rim. I noticed that crampons were recommened when venturing down the Bright Angel trail.

Sunrise was well worth the early exit from my snug and warm bed. After breakfast we packed up, left our bags with Regan and Kerry, they are slow starters in the morning. Checked out and caught the free bus out towards Hermits rest. Driving in Grand canyon is detered. They offer free shuttles (that run every 15 minutes) and stop at all vistor points as part of the entrance fee. We got off, looked and said WOW a number of times, before arriving at Hermits rest and the beginning of a trail. We worth the effort. This place has an interesting history, people in the late 1890's making money from tourism, mining etc. In the 1950's and 60's there was an uranium mine operating with in the Canyon. Thankfully the government of the time brought them out aand since then have spent millions of $ cleaning up the mess.

Got back to Bright Angel Lodge around 11:20 am. Decided to buy lunch in Williams, so off we went.

We know Williams well (having spent a couple of nights here in 2011, with our Lounge Lizard youngest son, which I must commend for shaving off that rather suspectmoustache. No longer looks like a lounge lizard).

Drove on I-40 to  Seligman ( a rather interesting little town that rallied to save Route 66 in Arizona). It was just full of Rte 66 artefacts and buildings. Ate lunch on the side of the road. After looking around Seligman we drove rte 66 towards Kingman.

Had one final stop: Keeper of the Wild wild life sanctuary. Another incredible place. Would recommend this as a place to visit. (go to www.keepersofthewild.org). They had 21 tigers, a couple of wolves, bob cats, coyotes, racoons,monkeys (many species) and a grizzly bear called 'Bam Bam" This organisation rescues exotic animals and allow to spend the rest of their lives free from hunger, abuse and neglect.

I thought the grizzly and the wolves were the highlights.

Continued on to Kingman (about 25 miles from the sanctuary) and checked in at the Ramada Inn (very Rte 66 themed (murals and memorabilia). Lovely room, lousey meal, there appear to be a number of trains per hour that rumble through. Regan and Kerry finally bit the bullet and brought 2 further bags (to put all their Christmas shopping into), got them at K mart down the road (K mart here is the same as in NZ and the red sheds).

Tomorrow our Rte 66 ends at Oatman. Then it is off to sin city (Las Vegas) for a couple of days.

Next topic I think I will air my views on will be tipping. Tipping ruins this country. Adding 15 or even 20% to the bill is outrageous. Why don't the employers just pay their workers a living wage and increase the food prices. I will spend more time on this later.

As someone in our group said, "when putting together a budget for this trip I didn't count on paying 15% tips. Especially when you got the US$ at 65 cents to the NZ $.

End of topic. Off to have a sleep or help with washing clothes.