4 February - Grand Canyon

Quote: “We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things.”

The Grand Canyon was grand. It is actually quite a sight, one of the most awe-inspiring I’ve seen, and beyond words really.

The drive up from Flagstaff was not bad - my first drive in the US, on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road. But it was all fine, easy even - as Flagstaff is hardly a city. But I did get lost, missing exits here and there on the Interstate out to the airport, where we were to drop the car and catch our plane. A kind police officer pulled us over, his siren blaring behind us, as we were driving down the Interstate, just to check whether we were okay. How thoughtful.

There is snow everywhere - lots of it.  Angus is loving that, playing in it, eating it, breaking icicles off windows, etc.

I don't think I've ever taken so many photos of one place.

Bright Angel Lodge at the Canyon rim, was a lovely place to stay.  Basic accommodation, roaring fires in the lobby.  Made of stone and logs.

We had a standout meal here: Corn Chowder at Bright Angel. Excellent, with snow piled up around the windows, in front of a roaring fire. I enjoyed a lovely Prickly Pear vodka and lemonade with it.

As we were waiting to leave Flagstaff, at the tiny little airport, in a tiny little cafe, a young guy of about 19 or so took out a guitar and started playing and singing, his own compositions. It was very cool. The two cops enjoyed watching as well, and chatted with him. Flagstaff seemed a very cool place overall.

Our flight to Phoenix was on a tiny little Dash 8, and poor Angus got very sore ears for the first time ever on a flight. Chewing gum helped.

Phoenix Airport was huge and a really nice airport employee took us for a ride on the airport transport device thing.

On the Phoenix - New Orleans flight, a guy sat next to me for the Phoenix - Tucson leg. Being Suuth West Airlines, there are no seat allocations - you set where there is a spot. He was a small business owner, in air conditioning. We chatted a bit and he asked me how the health system works in Australia. He’s worried that as a small business owner, he will have to pay huge health insurance premiums for his employees, if Obama’s health reforms are implemented. For his family right now, he pays around $800 a month - that’s for a family of four. And when he was in hospital for some day surgery recently, he was still $1200 out of pocket. Sounds like our health insurance companies, but with even less for the exorbitant fees. I want to see how medicaid works, and why people are so scared of Obama’s proposed new system (beyond the republican and other propoganda, if there is a beyond). I told him that universal health care seemed to work pretty well in Australia in principle, and that employers didn’t have to pay for it for their workers. It comes out of everyone’s tax. He was a thoughtful person, and intended to find out more about Obama’s proposal for himself. He was very interested in my opinion that ours works reasonably well alongside the private health system for those who can afford it. Basically, if it isn’t an emergency, you pay if you don’t want to wait for surgery; and if you want to choose your own doctor while in hospital, again, you pay. One negative of the private health insurance is it not meeting the full costs, but at least we don’t pay as high fees as in the US. And a quality doctor is available free otherwise.

I really liked what we saw of Arizona, and its people. They generally seemed much more relaxed and genuine than those we’d seen so far. I read a description of it somewhere as ‘a battlescape on mars’ and I can understand what was meant in respect of the mars-scape: the redness, the mesas, the mountains and desert, as well as huge lakes.

Things we’ve learnt:

B: If you miss an exit, don’t think you can try to find your way back by detours and general sense of direction. Reverse your steps and start again. Similarly, don't take shortcuts in places you don't know.

The Grand Canyon doesn't really make you feel insignificant, but it does remind you there are higher powers around.