2008 West Vacation -- Southern Utah and Colorado, Day 10

Day 10, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to Grand Canyon National Park

Check out of Lake Powell Lodge. Gee, look at all the taxes. Lots and lots of taxes. a 6.75% Arizona sales tax (even though the AZ sales tax is 5.6%) or a 6.9% Utah tax (even though the UT sales tax is 4.65%), depending on the venue.

At the hotel, I was charged Arizona sales tax, $6.48/night for a "Infrastructure Program", and $6.00/night for a "Utility Surcharge". At the restaurant, I was charged Arizona sales tax, a $1.54 UPT Tax, and a $1.15 CSA Tax. For the boat tour to Rainbow Bridge, I was charged Utah sales tax, and a $6/person "Energy Surcharge".

But I think you have to be a guest at Lake Powell Lodge to get on the boat tour. So you're sorta stuck. But I did lower my rating of this hotel based on the extra charges. At no other place did anyone try to play this sort of game.

Stop for gas at a Shell station on the way out. I have enough gas to make it to Grand Canyon, but we're not that stupid. Breakfast at Dennys is...pretty good. I don't know why I found that surprising.

Check engine light goes out. Are things looking up?

Jo needs another 12-pack of Coke Zero, so the next stop was to a Walmart. Big sucker. I'll bet it supplies the entire town.

Stop at overlook on US-89 where you can see the front of the dam, and again where the road emerges from Antelope Pass. The Navajo have their tables set up, selling jewelry, pottery and other trinkets for the tourists.

Page, AZ

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Our next stop is about 60 miles away, and in that distance, there are 10 sets of Navajo selling stalls, 6 of them open, even this late in the tourist season.

We get to our destination, the Little Colorado River Gorge.

When we get to the "Park", I get charged $2.00 to park. I don't think we paid anything in 1997. You still get to thread your way through the selling stalls to get to the Gorge.

Being at so many different places now, the LCRC doesn't seem as impressive as it did in 1997. Probably my fault, having seen so much of the rest of the country.

US-89 / Little Colorado River Gorge

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We made it to the Grand Canyon! Again! We stop at the Entrance Station where the Ranger grants me access. First stop is at Desert View, where we hope to get lunch. After messing around in the Watchtower, we do get lunch. Completely forgettable. It is also very crowded. Parking lot isn't close to full, but if it was, this place would be...insane.

While stopping a other viewpoints along the way, we collect numbers 2 & 3 in a series of why you should never believe a photograph.

We stop at Mather point, and the place is a zoo. The new Visitor Plaza is open, but the roads to said new Visitor Plaza are not. So your best alternative is to park at Mather Point, and walk. The side effect of this, is to make parking a mess. There are cars parked on the side of the road for a 1/4 mile beyond the legitimate parking spaces.

We've had it. We decide to bypass all the other viewpoints, and go straight to Maswik Lodge.

Grand Canyon National Park

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We check in at Maswik Lodge. Reasonably fast.

No internet service. They have pay-as-you play internet terminals if you need access, but I refuse. :-)

Roaming service only on my cell phone. Local calls are $.50. If you don't leave a credit card number with the front desk, you can't make a call. Even with a calling card. Hmmm...

Still, room is nice, double beds, ceiling fan, didn't need the air conditioning, but I didn't know that when I reserved the room now, did I?. Double glass door in the back, with a screen door so you can get some fresh air and nighttime sounds. (Crickets, not cars.) From some of the bad reviews on travel sites, there seems to be two opinions of this place, horrible and good. My guess, is the more expensive, air conditioned are the good units, the older, less-expensive, non-air conditioned units are the "horrible" ones. Just a guess, I haven't seen the other type of room.

We did dinner at the Arizona Room, as walk ins. We were seated immediately. I had the 10 oz strip steak, Jo had the 8oz Prime Rib. Prime Rib was blackened, sorta ruined the taste of the rib. Strip steak wasn't prime, but it wasn't select either. Vegetables watery and overdone. Mashed potatoes that came with the rib has bacon in it (which makes it Ranch Mashers I guess) and the baked potato I had was fine. Had the Kokopelli, which was cranberry juice, something else and tequila. It was okay, could have done without the salt around the rim, though. View out the windows can't be beat. Final judgment, 3 of 5 stars.

Walked around the area just past sunset (and there wasn't much of a sunset to start with). Look at all the people taking pictures of the canyon with a flash. Sad.

The Grand Canyon might be one of the top 10 parks/wonders of the world, but I'm not sure I'd put it way up there. It's too crowded now, and the views and vistas at many of the other parks match the Grand Canyon for it's 'wow' factor. I think this is being revealed by the crowds you see at places like Capital Reef, Canyonlands and Bryce. Even just driving down Rt 12 and 24 have some amazing, and quite frankly more accessible views. This might just be our last visit here.

Back to the room, a good shower, but poor water flow, as is usual with "environmental" places like this. Water doesn't drain quickly. 7 of 10.

Grand Canyon National Park

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End Part 6, Day 10.
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