From June 28th through July 3rd, I had the privilege of being on a raft on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. This was part of a family trip \u201cfor the guys.\u201d On a trip put together by my father-in-law Allan, his two sons, me (a son in law), my three sons, two other grandsons, one grandson-in-law, and one great grandson spent five days and five nights on the Colorado River. These blog posts are part of the story.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Monday morning June 28th – I finally decided that the town of Marble Canyon, Arizona is on California time. Arizona doesn’t go on Daylight Savings Time. The rest of the country is on this “special time” 7 1\/2 months of the year and standard time 4 1\/2 months (is the math right?).<\/p>\n
Anyways, I digress. While digressing, here is another digression – \u00a0I keep prefacing “Marble Canyon” with “the town of” as we spent two days in the actual canyon called “Marble Canyon,” but that comes later.<\/p>\n
I live on eastern time and go to bed early and wake early – 5 AM eastern time or 2 AM in the town of Marble Canyon.\u00a0I wasn’t sure when I woke that Monday morning. My iPhone (see the previous blog post) kept switching back and forth among time zones. The cafe opened at 6 AM, so I wanted to roll out of bed at 5, shower, pack, and eat. I rolled out of bed at a quarter to 5 according to my iPhone. I did a few morning things and waited until my alarm sounded at 6 AM. I went down the hall to wake my sons. They didn’t seem much like waking. I went outside and across the gravel parking lot to the cafe, but it wasn’t open. The lady in the motel registration room told me that it was 5 AM, not 6 AM. I think I woke at 3:45 AM local time. It was going to be a long day.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The Cafe and Store part of the Marble Canyon Lodge<\/p><\/div>\n
The next hour was the best of the day for me. I sat on a bench on the porch in front of the store and cafe. If you click on this photo you can see the benches. Another man and I sat on the porch, chatted much about nothing, and watched the occasional truck roll by on U.S. Route 89.<\/p>\n
It was cool, dry, and quiet on the porch sitting on that wooden bench. If I had a cup of coffee, it would have been perfect. I love sitting on a bench on a porch in the morning. It soothes my soul. I love the western scenery. A person can see for 20 miles. On the east coast and in the south, sight lines are limited by the trees and often span only a hundred yards. A porch, a bench, a conversation, and long sight lines – they make for peaceful gazing.<\/p>\n
At a quarter to 6, I was sure of the time by now, one of the Tour West guides walked by and asked if I had seen the bridge across the river. I thought the river was five or six miles away, but he told me that it was only a few hundred yards down the road.<\/p>\n
I stood quickly and walked east towards the river. In five minutes I was at the twin spans of the Navajo Bridge<\/a>. Wow! The first span was finished in 1929 and the second in 1995. I thought they both carried vehicle traffic, so I walked about a third of the way out on the south bridge. I felt like I was 10,000 feet above the river (actually closer to 450 feet). This was great.<\/p>\n I excitedly walked back to the motel and cafe to tell the others in my party. The cafe was open, so we sat down to a buffet breakfast. At $10 a person, it was a bit expensive for what they had, but pancakes, bacon, and coffee make a good breakfast. I told the others about the bridge and several of them made the short walk.<\/p>\n A side note – there were 11 of us at the breakfast table. We split the meal among four different tickets. I paid for myself and my three sons. It amazes me how much time and how many words are required to have this all straight with the waitress.<\/p>\n A final phone call to my wife, and we were loading a van for a trip to Lee’s Ferry<\/a> and the rafts.<\/p>\n