USA

The Big Ditch

The Grand Canyon, carved over the past six million years by the slow, never ending wear of water, is a 277 mile long gash across the northern part of Arizona. The Colorado River, which was the carving hand of the canyon, runs through its centre on the way to the Gulf of California, more than a mile below the rim of the canyon. Standing on the rim, it is anywhere from four to ten miles across to the other side.

I visited The Grand Canyon this past weekend. A visit to a site like Grand Canyon doesn’t really generate a coherent narrative that has a beginning, a middle and an end. Instead, I present vignettes of my visit, a series of short scenes to give a flavour of the trip.

The Day Before

The Grand Canyon is often described in tourist literature as “one of the seven natural wonders of the world.” The literature always seems to fail to mention the source of this claim, or list the other seven wonders of the natural world. In truth, there is no list of the seven wonders of the natural world. Calling the Grand Canyon that is just marketing spin.

I like to think I am above getting excited about such things. I’ve seen canyons, waterfalls, empty plains, tall mountains and many naturally wonderful things. I like to think that I have travelled enough that I can demonstrate a certain amount of blasé attitude towards such things.

Not so for Grand Canyon. Instead, as the clock ticked by the hours on Friday, I found it harder and harder to concentrate on work. Instead, my brain kept jumping to thoughts of being at The Grand Canyon, and I found my excitement level rising by the hour. I wasn’t the jaded, experienced traveller. Instead, I was the giddy, excited child, about to experience wonderment and awe.

I kept imaging myself standing on the rim, looking out over the canyon.

The First Look

I arrived at Grand Canyon Village, parked the car and wandered up to the rim. There it was, stretched out before me. Excitement and awe weren’t the feelings that found me. Instead, it was a feeling of being small, and young. Standing beside something so big, so old, you can’t help but put things in perspective. Our time here on the earth is so short and so insignificant that it doesn’t even matter. You have neither the longevity of the canyon nor the power of the river that carved it. You are a speck.

Of course, returning to work on Monday, all the perspective is lost, and all the problems that seemed to shrink away on Saturday return to their regular size.

But for a few moments, it was nice to lose those problems in the depths of canyon’s deepest crevices.

Pictures Fail Me

I try and take pictures of the canyon, but it is often too big to fit into the frame. Even when I find a place to fit it all in, the picture that comes out doesn’t seem to capture it.

It is big. It is grand. It is constantly awe-inspiring. I can describe it with a million words, but I can’t get a picture of it.

So instead, I present this. I try and film it, and put it to music to capture the grandeur of the place. I am not sure it is much better than the pictures, but it is probably a little bit better at capturing the place.

If you can’t see this video, go to to view it at Youtube

Sante Fe Railway and Fred Harvey Shape The Grand Canyon Village

On the south rim of the canyon is Grand Canyon Village. Now the primary spot to see the canyon, it cemented this honour in 1901, when the Sante Fe Railway came to town, making this the easiest place to get at the canyon for early 20th century visitors.

The railway depot was completed in 1909, and is built of logs. It is one of only 3 existing railway stations in the USA that is made with logs.

Though most visitors come to town on bus tours or via car nowadays, the train still comes into town. Today it is a tourist trip of 2 hours from Williams, Arizona up to the Grand Canyon Village, offering various classes of service, including a observation car.

Many of the prime buildings in Grand Canyon Village were commissioned by Fred Harvey. Mr. Harvey opened a number of restaurants along side railway stations and water stops for the stream trains in the late 1800s. As the stops were short, Mr. Harvey’s offerings were offered quickly, feeding an entire trainload of people in 30 minutes. Despite the fast food, the restaurants were clean, the food served on fine china by beautiful young ladies known as Harvey Girls. The restaurants were a success, and spread rapidly, leading to the first restaurant chain.

When the Sante Fe Railway came to the Grand Canyon, Fred Harvey came with them. He commissioned the El Tovar hotel, a beautiful stone and log building that mirrored the architecture of the area. The hotel still operates today, and provides rooms that are just steps from the south rim of the canyon.

Across from the El Tovar hotel is the Hopi House, typical of the Pueblo buildings in the area. When it opened, it sold curios and had the local natives performing ceremonies and traditional dances. Today, it sells native crafts.

Grand Canyon Village is small, with very few human residents. There are a few non-human inhabitants.

NEVERMORE! (That was for any Poe fans out there)

Hiking the Bright Angel

On Saturday, I hiked the Bright Angel Trail. Bright Angel is a trail that runs down into the canyon from Grand Canyon Village. The trail runs down into the canyon for 8 miles before encountering the Colorado River. In those 8 miles, it drops in elevation from 6,860 feet at the trail head to just 2,480 feet above sea level at the river.

I wanted to make up for my rather slow plod up Camelback a few weeks ago, so prepared myself for the hike with a good breakfast with a mix of proteins and carbs, and a pack loaded with water, Gatorade, granola bars and raisins. A round trip of 16 miles to the river, or even 12 miles to the look-out at Plateau Point, seemed over ambitious for a single day, but a trip down and back to 3 mile rest-house seemed doable, so that was the plan.

The trail switchbacks back and forth down the canyon as it descends.

Being inside the canyon provides a different view of the canyon, from the outside looking in. The walls rise up above you, straight up, shear and bright in the sunlight as you hike in the shade.

After an hour, I arrive at 3 mile house. I rest up, throwing back a bottle of water, a box of raisins and a granola bar to make sure I don’t suffer the same fate as my hike up Camelback where I felt faint. In the hour that it had taken to get down, we had dropped 2,000 feet in altitude. Climbing back up would require a climb to reclaim those 2,000 feet.

No need to worry this time, even though it seems like I am moving slowly, I fly back up in 2 hours, and arrive back up at the top.

Still feeling energetic, I head out along the Rim Trail, hiking two miles along the rim before returning to Grand Canyon Village. Along the hike, with the sun slowly sinking in the sky, I catch some beautiful shots of the canyon.

Vertigo: Legs of Cement (A Vlog)

As I walked along viewing the Grand Canyon over two days, I kept wanting to get pictures of myself in front of the canyon. Part of it is to try and provide some perspective on how large the canyon is by giving a point of reference, but another part is the fact that I am just an egotistical jerk.

Walking along at one point, I saw a really nice rock outcrop, and decided that it would be a perfect place to grab a photo of myself. So I handed off my camera and headed out onto the outcrop. I’ll let the video explain the rest.

If you can’t see this video, go to to view it at Youtube

Williams, Arizona Welcomes Christmas

I stayed in Williams, about one hour south of the south rim. It’s a convenient place to stay to visit, providing both a short ride in the morning, but not pricing itself out of my price range.

As I mentioned earlier, it is also the Southern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway

I have recently discovered Priceline and Hotwire as a place to get a cheap hotel. The only problem is that you don’t know what you are getting until you book. As someone who spent the last 10 years travelling for business as a Marriott Rewards Platinum Elite member and constantly booking Marriott hotels, it is a shift to book a hotel blind. But my first experience with the blind booking worked out okay with my hotel in Flagstaff a few weeks ago, so I thought I would give it another try.

Unfortunately, I got a rather downtrodden hotel. On offer was a drab room off a hallway that smelled like the bottom of an ashtray with a window overlooking the highway. The free breakfast consisted of doughy muffins and cereal. Every time I walked into the hotel, the maids had been in to turn off the heat, and when you are up at over 5,000 feet in December, the weather outside is cold, so the room was always like a freezer.

In fact, I would have called the hotel a flea-bag motel, except that the lack of heat in the rooms meant that any insects attempting to live in the place would be frozen to death. Perhaps that was the maid’s plan.

Outside of the hotel, Williams itself is a nice little town. Like Flagstaff, it sits on the historic path of highway 66, the same of the famous song.

While I was at the Canyon on Saturday, Williams celebrated the coming holiday of Christmas. Returning to town, I saw a number of people walking around in pyjamas.

“Am I in a town of mental patients,” I wondered.

Turns out that no, I was not. As a tradition, the folks of Williams dress up in their PJs to watch the Santa Claus Parade. Meant to emulate waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve night, I think.

To celebrate the Santa Claus Parade and the upcoming season, the town was decked out in all its holiday finery.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night…

The Little Colorado River

Heading east out of Grand Canyon National park, highway 64 parallels a side canyon that holds the Little Colorado River. The Little Colorado meets up with the Colorado River before entering the canyon.

Despite the diminutive name, the Little Colorado has done a pretty decent job carving its own canyons.

The View of the Desert From Desert View

Back in Grand Canyon National Park, some 22 miles east from Grand Canyon Village, is Desert View. Desert View provides some of the best views of the Canyon, I think. Shame that Sunday, when I was there, the sun was refusing to come out at all. Even so, I got some nice views of the Colorado River and grabbed some good shots.

It is called Desert View, I suppose because you can see the desert.

Built at Desert View is this tower, which is based on a Hopi Indian tower. You can go up it and get some views of the Canyon from a bit higher vantage point. Though, when you are talking about a canyon 10 miles wide and a mile deep, getting up an additional 20 feet in the air doesn’t seem like it would make that big a difference.

Back from the rim and the tower are a few other replica Hopi buildings.

And, as everywhere along the south rim, views of canyon abound.

In Closing

It is a GRAND canyon.

I propose a toast. A toast to the 21st Amendment.

75 years ago today, on December 5th, 1933, the state legislature of Utah ratified the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, the 36th state to do so, and that passed the 21st Amendment into national law.

The Twenty-First Amendment did two things, and it is for that first one that I propose we raise a glass for. The Twenty-First Amendment repealed the Eighteen Amendment.

The Eighteen Amendment had been passed in 1919, and it expressly prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, into or out of the United States, and ushered in the period of time known as Prohibition. The ban on alcohol went into effect on January 16, 1920.

The Drunkard's Progress, a lithograph by Nathaniel Currier supporting the temperance movement, from Wikimedia Commons

For the next 23 years, it was illegal to sell alcohol in the USA. Despite this, alcohol flowed into the USA from breweries, wineries and distilleries in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean thanks to rum-runners and bootleggers and booze was available in speak-easies. While organized crime, including mobster Al Capone, became very rich, the U.S. government lost money both in the high cost of enforcement and the loss of tax revenue on alcohol sales.

The rise in crime and loss of respect for the law eventually led the tide to turn against prohibition, and by 1933 the American public was fully in favour of repealing the ban on alcohol.

On April 7 of that year, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen-Harrison Act, making it legal to sell beer with an alcohol content not exceeding 3.2%. Upon signing the bill, President Roosevelt said, "I think this would be a good time for a beer."

That wasn’t enough, though, and later that year after a three-quarters of the states had ratified it, the Twenty-First Amendment was passed, declaring:

The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

The second thing the 21st did was pass control of alcohol laws back to the individual states, and introduced what is now a dizzying array of regional alcohol laws in the USA.

So, even though the current number of laws mean that there are dry counties in Kentucky (including Moore country, home to Jack Daniels), only 3.2% beer for sale in grocery stores in Colorado and no booze available in Sunday in Mississippi, at least you can still get and enjoy a drink in most places across the USA, and for that, I raise a glass.

Jeers to the Eighteenth, dead 75 years today.

Cheers to the Twenty-first, alive, kicking and drinking for the past 75. Long live the Twenty-First Amendment.

ROAD TRIP!

On Saturday of the four day weekend, I got into my car and turned south-east. I drove 200 miles, and ventured 130 years into the past to the wild, wild west.

Tombstone, Arizona was founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin. He was in the army, and spent his spare time searching for gold in the area known as Goose Flats. He was told by his fellow soldiers that there is no gold in the hills, and that "the only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone."

Schieffelin never found gold, but he did find silver. Lots of it. Schieffelin became incredibly rich, and he renamed the town of Goose Flats, calling it Tombstone in honour of the jokes that his fellow soldiers used to make.

Tombstone became a boom town, with it's population rising from 1,000 to 15,000 within one year as miners, prospectors, business people and labourers came to town. The farmers who used the land for their cattle were soon at odds with the new immigrants, and violence was common.

Most famously, on October 26, 1881, there was a gunfight at Harwood's lumberyard where three men died and another three were injured. The local law, including Wyatt Earp, his brother Virgil and tuberculosis sufferer "Doc" Holliday faced off against local cowboys, including Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury. The fight lasted 30 seconds, with 30 gunshots ringing out.

The gunfight became mythic, and ended up being known by the name of the nearby horse enclosure.

The O.K. Corral.

The bodies of Clanton, and the McLaurys were taken up to the graveyard up on Boot Hill.

Once the silver veins dried up, the town declined, saved from becoming a ghost town by the fact it was the county seat for Cochise County and has the courthouse.

Today, Tombstone is best known as a tourist destination, and the Allen Street between Third and Sixth is maintained in a semi-historically accurate state.

There are numerous places where historical re-enactments occur, especially of the gun fights. I saw the show at the Six Gun City, which included a few different historical gunfights.

Out on Highway 80, the Boot Hill Graveyard still exists. Entrance is free, but for a $2 donation you can get a map and legend to those buried in the cemetery.

George Johnson was hanged after buying a stolen horse, though he didn't know the horse was stolen. Poor dude...

Margarita was a "dance hall girl," who was quarrelling with another lady of the evening over a man. Gold Dollar, the other girl, stabbed Margarita to death. Must of been a heck of a man to have two prostitutes fight over him in a town full of rich miners.

It was interesting to see Tombstone, but the whole thing is a little too campy and showy.

The town is still alive, and 1,500 people live there. Walking around, I kept wondering what the residents think of all these tourists tramping through their town, snapping photos of actors dressed up like cowboys, marshalls and madams.

After the gunfight show, I hit the road quickly and got back out on the drive.

Just north of Tombstone the highway was blocked off by the US Border Patrol. They were stopping all the cars heading north. No doubt this was to try and catch any Mexicans that had crossed the border illegally and picked up a ride north. Seeing me, the border guard waved me on without saying a word. Little did he realize that I am, in fact, a foreigner here to steal American jobs. Estupido gringo. Solidarity, my Mexican brothers.

I will point out, in case anyone from the US Border Patrol reads this, that I am here legally under the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), so I'm only stealing American jobs in a job category that has been identified as being one I am legally able to steal American jobs and with the appropriate documentation.

As I got north of Tucson, the sun set in the west, throwing up purple and red light above the mountains in the west, and a sliver of the moon came out. Flipping through the stations on the XM Satellite radio, I came across Don Henley singing "Boys of Summer." I crank up the tune and sing along.

Forget the destination, with the windows down and classic rock playing on the road, the best part about a road trip is the journey.

As I stated in my last entry, Thursday was the Thanksgiving holiday here in the USA, and Friday is a kind of defacto holiday as well, so I had a four day break.

On Thursday not much was open, and the skies were grey and threatening. It was not exactly a great day to do much, but I did manage to get out to see Lake Pleasant Regional Park. Lake Pleasant was created by the Waddell Dam, and as the closest major body of water to Phoenix, it is a very popular recreation area.

On Thursday, with the rain and the fact that it is winter, there weren't too many people on the water, but the RV Park was pretty crowded. Lots of folks were out grilling their Thanksgiving dinner. I've never really thought about doing an RV trip, but I must admit that the folks who had their BBQs out and had set up their picnic tables, it looked like it might be fun.

Waddell Dam, which creates the lake

I did a small hike, but the rain started moving in from the west, and so I turned back after only half a mile.

Cactuses are very big.

Here comes the rain...

On the way out of the park, some donkeys were hanging out at the side of the road. I assume they must be wild donkeys, as this is a park and as such a farmers grazing animals wouldn't be allowed in the park.

Friday is known as Black Friday here in the USA, and is one of the most important shopping days of the year. It is considered the start of the Christmas shopping season, and is called Black Friday because it is often the day of the year when retail stores become profitable for the year - moving from red to black.

It is a crazy day for shopping, and I avoid the malls at all cost. The crowds can be intimidating, and sadly, this year a Walmart worker was trampled to death when opening the doors of a store in Long Island, New York.

I avoided the crowds at the mall and decided to hike up Camelback Mountain. Camelback Mountain is in Phoenix, and is called such because it has two peaks.

Unfortunately, the hike is very popular, and it was pretty crowded climbing up.

It is an incredibly tough hike. The trail from Echo Canyon to the summit is only one and a quarter miles long, but rises 1,200 feet in that time. The trail starts with stairs, but quickly becomes a rough and rocky climb, including some areas where scrambling is required.

I wasn't sure I was going to make it. About a quarter of a mile in, I suddenly found myself very faint and felt dizzy. I had to sit down on a boulder to rest, drink a lot of water and eat a granola bar. I would have turned around right then, but until the dizziness past I didn't want to head in either direction.

After resting for a few minutes and gaining some energy from the food, I was ready to continue the hike up. It was very slow going though. It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to cover the 1.2 miles, a distance that I could walk in about 30 minutes on flat ground. I took a lot of rest breaks, and a few times I thought about turning back round, but continued on until I did reach the top.

The view from the top of Camelback is pretty impressive, as most of the rest of the Phoenix area is flat.

Despite the tough going, lots of people were out hiking the trail and made it to the top, so it was pretty crowded up there.

Despite the crowds, it is worth doing. The views are amazing, and there is a few bits of wildlife to see.

After the hike I decided to do something a little less strenuous and decided to walk around downtown Phoenix. Given what I have written about in the blog so far, you might think that Phoenix is all red-rock canyons and hiking, but it is also a modern city, with big tall buildings and major corporations in downtown.

Chase Bank Building

Downtown Phoenix reflected in the glass towers

Bank of America Building

Arizona Republic, the local paper

Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Court Building

Statues outside Hergerger Theatre Centre, Downtown Phoenix

St Mary's Basilica, Downtown Phoenix

While downtown, I wandered by the US Airways Centre, an arena in downtown.

Turns out there was a NBA Basketball game on, with the local team - the Phoenix Suns playing the visiting Miami Heat. I went to a nearby ticket broker, bought myself a single ticket and went to the game.

...what was I talking about? Oh, right, the NBA game. Sorry, I got distracted there for a minute.

After snapping the above photo with the Suns' Dancer, I grabbed myself some good food and headed into the arena.

The Phoenix Suns has a few famous faces, including thespian, lyricist and sportsman Shaquille O'Neal.

The team also includes players from Brazil, France, Solvenia, the Virgin Islands and Canada. Steve Nash is a Canadian who was born in South Africa and now plays in Phoenix. Man, he gets around. Unfortunately, he wasn't playing on Friday due to a thigh injury, so the best I could get is this photo from a nearby poster.

I am not a huge basketball fan, and generally don't watch it at all. The games in person, though, are something else. More than any other sport I have seen, the NBA has a lot going on at all times. It is the only sport where they play music during the course of play, and there is amazing amounts of fan participation and entertainment during the breaks in the game action.

In Phoenix, they call their "universe" Planet Orange, which includes the players, coaches and all the fans. Entering the arena is coming to Planet Orange, and you, as a member of the audience, have a job to do. You are the sixth man, and you need to cheer on your team. It is not a game you are watching, but a mission - a mission for the Phoenix Suns and their fans to beat the Miami Heat.

The program, called "Free Throw," defines Planet Orange as "a world where the atmosphere is electric and the laws of gravity do not apply. It is a world where all the inhabitants share a common trait. They are all fiery, fervent and forever Suns fans, and every one of their attitudes is colored exactly the same. Welcome to Planet Orange. Are you a citizen?"

Photos don't really capture it, so here is some video clips of stuff that was going on during and between the action of the game, so you can get a feel for the level of excitement and entertainment during the game.

If you can't see the video embedded (mostly for Facebook folks), you can go to Youtube to see it now by following this link.

Unfortunately for the citizens of Planet Orange, Phoenix lost the game. That's okay, it is a long season.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. For most Americans, after a strenuous and aggravating day(s) of travel on the jam-packed roads, crowded airports and stuffy trains, they are now sitting down getting ready to stuff themselves with turkey and fall asleep watching football on the TV.

Football float from 2006 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

For me, I am having a bit of a lazy day lounging around my hotel room. After a breakfast of McDonald's Egg McMuffins, I am been watching TV, alternating between CNN with the India terror coverage, the Travel Channel with Andrew Zimmer eating weird stuff and surfing the internet.

One of the many blogs that I try and keep up with is On Our Own Path, written by a couple (Bessie and Kyle) who are travelling through Latin America. They've just passed their 300th day travelling, and Bessie wrote in a post on the occasion:

Settling into our Next "Home". Out of habit, I still call the places we stay "home", it's sort of like a blind person saying "See you later", but you know, it works.

That got me thinking of a conversation I had the other day with a coworker here in Phoenix when they asked what, if any, plans I had for the Christmas holidays.

"I am going home to Toronto for a few days to see the family, then I will be heading home to London. Well, it's five o'clock, I think I am going to head home to my hotel."

Like Bessie, I call my hotel crash-pad for the evening my "home," but I also call two other places home as well. Three homes, are you super-rich, Greg? No, I am not super rich with multiple homes. I am just flexible with the term.

At the end of the day of work, I go "home" to my hotel, the TownePlace Suites Scottsdale. It's a comfortable extended stay place that includes a small sitting area and a full kitchen, so I can actually do something other than eat out every meal.

I also find myself still calling Toronto home, even though I don't have a place there anymore. It was, of course, the place that I had "lived" for the past 35 years, even if for the past 9 years I spent more time travelling the USA and staying in hotels than back in Toronto.

And finally, my flat in London is home as well. The place I actual live and get my mail delivered, and the place that I am hoping to build a more complete life as time goes on.

So there you go. All within one sentence I can call three different places home.

"Home" art from the Guinness brewery, Dublin, Ireland

Home. It is many places.

To expand on the classic definition, home is wherever you lay your hat, your might lay your hat, you laid your hat in the past or you will lay your hat in the future.

Happy Thanksgiving.