Train Ride
The Grand Canyon 06/29/2022
The Grand Canyon is a river valley in the Colorado Plateau. It is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and attains a depth of over 1 mile. The Canyon was formed over millions of years through erosion by the Colorado River. Native Americans have inhabited the Grand Canyon for thousands of years. The first recorded visit by Europeans was in 1540 by the Spanish. Theodore Roosevelt visited the Canyon in 1903, and it was established as a US National Park in 1919. Visitor attendance last year exceeded 4.5 million people.
We chose to travel to the Canyon aboard the Grand Canyon Railroad. We saw a wild west show before boarding the train in Williams. Samuel was impressed with the gun fight. The train ride was 2 hours and 15 minutes, We were provided commentary throughout the trip with historical information on Williams, the local history, and interesting details about the Canyon itself. We left Williams at 9:30 am and returned about 6:00 pm. A fun day for all of us. We stayed in Williams for dinner before returning to our quarters. I will let the kids tell you their perspective.
In his own words…Samuel
We got up and went to the train station where we watched a cowboy show. Then we boarded the train and got our picture taken. A lady sang songs. Ethan and I got a root beer float. Along the way I saw bones and cows in the fields. Just before we got to the Grand Canyon, I saw some animals’ skulls. Once we got to the Grand Canyon, it was like a huge hole in the ground! We went to a gift shop and I got a 7 tools in one toy. On the way back a guy sang songs. We saw some wild mustangs along the way. There was a train robbery, but it wasn’t as good as the gunfight. It was funnier though. Michael, the leader on the train, told us cow jokes. It was a very cool day.
In Ethan’s words
This morning we left at 8:00 am for the train station. When we got there, we watched a cowboy show that was really funny. From there we took the train to the Grand Canyon. The scenery was awesome. When we got there, I found out that the Grand Canyon was way bigger than I thought, and that was just a small part! I got so many incredible pictures. At the end, I really did not want to leave. I think I got the best souvenir. Riley got a magnet, Samuel got a little flashlight with a compass, but I got a lot of pictures and a copy of The Amazing Kolb Brothers book. Then we took the train home, ate pizza, and went back to our rented house.
In Riley’s words
Today we left the house at about 8:00am to go to the Grand Canyon Railway. Once we got to the train station we watched a funny cowboy show before we boarded the train. After we boarded, we all sat in our assigned seats. I sat by Ethan, my mom sat by Samuel, and Granna and Granddaddy sat next to each other. A person came around to take our photos. She moved all of us together so we could have a family photo. Once she finished all of them, a guy named Michael started talking. He was the PSA of our train car and he went on to explain about the food, drinks, what we were going to do, etc. Our train ride was about 2 in a half hours. During the train ride, a girl with a guitar started to sing some songs for us to pass the time. We were riding through a desert almost the whole time. We saw mostly cows, but there were a few wild horses that we saw. Inside the national park there was a rock that was hit by lightning 2 times in the same spot. We got to the Grand Canyon and got out of the train and went up 48 stairs. When we got up there, we went to the edge and the Grand Canyon looked unreal. It was so much bigger than I thought it would be. We took some photos and then we went into a gift shop. We looked around a bit and I saw a magnet that I wanted. I wanted to start collecting magnets for my magnet board so I got it. Mama also wanted an ornament, but she had brought no money with her so I had to get it for her. When we left that gift shop, we looked in more of them. Once we finished that, we left to find a restaurant to eat. We ended up going through 3 restaurants before we ended up eating at the El Tovar and we all got beef and pork chili. By the end of the Grand Canyon trip, Ethan got a book and Samuel got a 7 things in one toy. Before we left it started hailing and raining, but only for a minute or two. When we got back on the train, Ethan got me a root beer float, but I gave him the root beer and I ordered a coke to put in it. When we were close to the train station 3 cowboys came on our train and “robbed” us. We got back to the train station, and we ate at Italian Bistro. Mama and I shared a chicken parmesan. Once we left there we went back to the house. Ethan, Samuel, and I got into the hot tub for a while. We ended up seeing some lightning while we were in there. We got out and I went to my mom’s room. I finally got her to watch Stranger Things with me. At about 9:30 I went to sleep for the next day.
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