Tourists at the Grand Canyon

Yellowstone National Park, Summer Road Trip, 4 June 2008

We laughed about this photograph for a year and it instantly came to mind when we saw the most obnoxious group of tourists at the Grand Canyon.



They consisted of a group of approximately 15 who when standing on top of this rock, started hooping it up like Native Americans in movies and yelling "Thank you!" at the top of their lungs for their photo shoot. This could have been tolerated (barely) but then three of them starting blowing whistles in order to herd the crew for the next stop. So here we are at the Grand Canyon preferring to watch a guy have his photograph taken while simulating meditation but encountered this instead. On the bus ride on the way back to the terminal, the group introduced us to a new competition - who could belt out the loudest yawn in public (not private).



Little did we know that there were sexy myspace photo shoots going on as well. Nancy caught this member of the group posing against a dead Joshua Tree stump. The model promptly asked the photographer and his friend to block Nancy's view, like body guards afterward. It was too late, Nancy had already captured the moment and couldn't wait to show Jacinda this year's best tourist photograph.

Performance at Sky Walk, Grand Canyon

After months of planning and a couple of attempts to contact management for details regarding the cleaning process of the Sky Walk with no success, we pulled it off without breaking the rules (no cameras and loose articles). The feather duster was secured inside Nancy's eagle shirt, producing a Victorian effect. She wore yellow gloves hoping that everyone didn't think she had a germ issue.



We posed with Roberto who was polishing the glass upon our arrival. He would later join us to fulfill the complete vision of the performance.







We asked Shaun T. to take our photograph and he looked at Nancy's gloves exclaiming, "What's up with that?" Nancy described her desire to be photographed cleaning the glass but her outfit had a bonus feature. She whipped out her loose article and started fanning it around. The photographer, security, and Roberto started laughing and allowed us to carry on.





Afterward they asked us our names because never since the opening had they witnessed a stunt like this. They said they would be talking about it for years.



As Jacinda is petrified of heights and could hardly unclench the hand rail, the only dusting she could do was at the edge of the canyon cliff as it was opaque and on solid ground.

WEST RIM SKY WALK, GRAND CANYON

After a beat down from yesterday, we came back to the Aspen Inn exhausted and wondering if we would be making the round trip, eight hour drive to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. Post uniform prepping and a good nights sleep, we were off to the canyon before 11 a.m. (other record considering we had dropped off a letter and grabbed some coffee.) After fourteen miles of "gravel paved" roads (this terminology meets rental car protocol) leading up to the entrance, we noticed the convertibles putting up their tops and the runaway SUVs with flats.







Finally, we arrived to be corralled through two gift shops before we saw the ticket line. Note: their website is not clear on the full ticket costs ($40. each for the bus ride in addition to the price of the SkyWalk.) We had concerns if we would be offending anyone with the planned performance, but the moment we sat on the bus we knew this could not be possible as Ray, our bus driver/tour guide, pointed out several "oriental" food options. Followed by descriptions of all the "varmints" (pronounced Vaaaarrmints) in the vicinity. However, Ray would prove to be a shining example of political correctness when compared to a tourist group that we have dedicated an entire blog entry to.



Bat Guano was mined here until the 1960s; our bus driver pointed out several times that this was used in lip stick and mascara.







Jacinda neglected to inform anyone of her fear of heights, promising she would not look down, but only out the entire time, having me describe what I was seeing below.



We were unable to bring our camera out onto the Sky Walk and decided that it would best left in the car. We relied on the photos Shaun T. took on the Sky Walk and the small point and shoot digital camera. We purchased all the photos and as a perk, they included the last two images on this post that we thought were spectacular. SPECTACULAR! We waited for rainbow all day but it never appeared; I believe it had moved to the Wal-Mart in Cedar City, Utah.

PREPPING FOR THE GRAND CANYON

Fly Like an Eagle (yes this is the theme song used in the skywalk video after they show you the Indian)

(check out the virtual tour with jams by the steve miller band)

http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/

All personal belonging (including cameras) are not allowed on the bridge. You are asked to use the lockers provided to protect from dropping any items into the canyon or onto the glass (crack!) Photos can be taken from the side of the skywalk. BUT PROFESSIONAL photos of us may be purchased. (I'll also include this into my budget.) I decided to call -  we need to make our reservations (one day in advance) if we do not want to wait in the line and I left a message with the main office (702 943 8923) and am waiting for a call back to find out the cleaning schedule and see if we could tag along, for part of our project, including the skywalk as an earthwork. 

My plan is to sneak onto the walk, either some windex spray or perhaps a few of those ready to go wipes they make (probably the wipes). Jacinda, you will have the difficult job of documentation. Oh how exciting! 

One of our first concerns was about the upkeep of the earthworks. I pictured us towing a lawn mower and yard supplies around cleaning up each one as we went, but this never took off - perhaps due to the lack of grass? This work has tons of potential for cleaning and it is my hope to make this happen. Perhaps turning our fellow tourist into the hired help. 

PS everything I read says not to waste your time by going there!!!