Tuesday at Grand Canyon National Park

September 25, 2018

We got a late start on Tuesday because we let Dutch sleep in.  He got up feeling better, so I made breakfast for everybody before we decided to go to see the Watchtower and the Tusayan Museum. and ruins.  We stopped at all the pullouts. Tracy was amused by all the  posturing the people getting their pictures taken were doing and insisted on having some of us doing the same. We are still not sure of the meaning - hope we are not treading on anybody’s toes here. 

A early view of the Grand Canyon

Tracy 

Dutch and me

Interesting formation

Photographer at Moran Point

Every view is the same and different

The shadows and highlights make the colors of the rock change constantly

Another view from Moran point

A tiny view of the Colorado River

A view in midmorning light

Then we visited the Tusayan Museum and ruins. A professional trip leader was there instructing his tour group.  We kind of tagged along within voice range and enjoyed his talk as he led us through the ruins. 

The Tusayan Museum

Artifacts found here

Stick art from the first peoples

One of the living spaces

The Kiva

Then we went on down to the watch tower. This was fascinating because it was designed by a women, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter. She was inspired by the architecture of  the Puebleon people. She successfully tried to make it look old and also incorporated a lot of quirky shapes.  I didn’t have the patience to try to find them on the tower.  Usually visitors can climb the five floors, but at our visit, the fourth and fifth floors were being repaired. The design incorporates a kiva room and decorations by an Indian artist. Another interesting feature were the reflectivescopes, black mirrors that are mounted in the walls outside the Watchtower to reflect the canyon.  

Watchtower

View of the Rio Grand from the Watchtower

Canyon View from Watchtower area

Viewing platform and view from in front of the Watchtower

It was Dutch’s turn to cook our main meal of the day. He planed to take us out to lunch so we could use the evening hours for more exploration.   Dutch wanted to take us to a fine dinning restaurant, but none were open for lunch. So we made do with chili for him and delicious salads for Tracy and me. We also got some poppers for an appetizer. 

Our evening foray was to go to the west side to watch the sunset. This required two bus changes and about 90 minutes of riding the bus. We ended up at Mohave Point. The sunset was mostly a bust. But we got a few decent pictures. By the time we had driven all the way back and changed buses again, it was getting past our bedtime. Dutch and Tracy still had to do a lot of packing, so they could get out early the following morning.  I  got to go to bed and read while they worked. 

Shadows rise from the bottom of the canyon

Sunset from Mohave Point

I saw some pastel paintings of the Grand Canyon and tried to emulate them in a photo

Another attempt

When we saw the evening star we knew it was time to leave

I'm having to work around not having wifi at my current house, at Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.  I can get it at the Visitor Center, about two miles away,  so I'm up there.  Yesterday I went to the staff meeting at Boca, the third refuge in this group of Refuges in the San Luis Valley of south central Colorado. The third refuge is Alamosa.  I spent most of the morning there, helping to get ready for the Kids Crane Festival which will take place this Saturday here at Monte Vista. I also collected the radon testers from all the buildings and got them ready to mail back to the lab. This is where I'll be living and working next spring/summer.