| rev:text
| - Grand Canyon Loop Day Tour Is The Way To Go!! Great Experience!
My friends had been giving me grief for years about living in Arizona since 1999 and never having been to the Grand Canyon - not that I even leave my zip code very often...
After a recent, pretty severe round of ribbing from my friends, I went on line and discovered Arizona Scenic Tours. Reviews of the company and their tours were really good, and they offered exactly what I wanted, a one day Phoenix, Grand Canyon, and back day tour. Reviews of that particular tour made it sound like exactly what I wanted - an enjoyable tour with a great guide without me having to get behind the steering wheel to accomplish it.
I contacted Steve, the owner, to find about availability, and he was able to book me for a very reasonable priced upcoming tour with two couples. He arranged for the tour to pick me up at my house in Scottsdale at 7:30 am on tour day, and drop me off back at home upon arriving back in the area around 8:30 that evening. What easier way could there be to see the Grand Canyon, and get my friends off of my back.
I ended up having an enjoyable and enlightening day from start to finish. The tour guide, Mike, was friendly, affable, really knew his "stuff", was easy to listen to, and had great sense of humor. By the time he had all five of us on the tour in the van for a short while, we had become a comfortable and companionable group.
We left the Phoenix area a little later than anticipated due to scattered pick up locations, but once on the road, we made good time. We learned that Mike had gone above and beyond the call of duty to arrange for a weather change from the rainy overcast day originally forecast for our tour, to a bright sunny one. Not every tour guide has those skills...
Our first stop was Montezuma's Castle. I had been there previously, but it was much more interesting with all of the information and details that Mike brought to the table - most of which I didn't learn on my original visit there. He made sure we gained admission quickly and conveniently, and that we got back on the road in a timely manner.
Arriving at, and leaving Montezuma's Castle, and throughout the trip, Mike made sure we were supplied with cold water, or soda if we preferred.
All along the way from Phoenix, to the Castle, on to the Grand Canyon stops, and back Mike filled in the drive with information about the various areas we were passing through, including changes in vegetation at various elevations. The entire tour was much more interesting than I had anticipated, and I found that the day passed quickly.
We visited overlooks at the Grand Canyon Village, Yavapai Point and Desert View Watchtower, each of which had unique views and attractions. There was plenty of time to grab food and take in the sights as we made the three stops. While not being intrusive, Mike was a wealth of information all along the way. I don't think I would have found the tour so interesting without the points that Mike was making.
We even got to see and photograph several mule dear as we waited in line at a stop sign leaving our initial lookout. They seemed not even to notice the traffic as it passed them.
We left our final stop at the Desert View Watchtower at around 5:15 pm, and headed past the Little Colorado River Gorge, and along the scenic route through the colorful Painted Desert.
The sun set as we reached the vicinity of Flagstaff, and there wasn't much left to see after that point, but it had been a great day. Traffic delays caused us to get back to the Phoenix area a bit later than anticipated, but we were all pleased not to have been part of the Labor Day traffic backed up in the direction from which we had come.
It was a great day, and I am now considering doing the Sedona tour next!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)