Holbrook, AZ to Peach Springs, AZ

We left Holbrook in bright sunshine and continued our drive along Rte 66 which once again had us driving on the Interstate at times. Our first stop was in Winslow made famous when The Eagles recorded "Take It Easy" whose second verse starts with "Standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona".

We then drove on to Flagstaff but didn't stop in the city. Flagstaff has a beautiful forested location high up on the Colorado Plateau and it was a change to be driving on roads lined with tall ponderosa pine trees.

We had a picnic lunch off the beaten track in Buckskinner Park, Williams, AZ. We followed a dirt trail to the picnic area which really tested our car's tyres.  They survived, thankfully.

We soon found ourselves in Seligman (pronounced Sligman), a sleepy town which maintains a lot of its historic character together with a few unexpected twists - eg Santa in a Chevvy outside the wacky Snow Cap Drive-in.

Our destination for the night was the Hualapai Lodge in Peach Springs on the Hualapai Indian 

Reservation which is spread over 1 million acres. It was a beautiful hotel, good food and spacious accommodation.  The only problem was the too regular interruptions by passing freight trains whose hooting to warn of their arrival we could not ignore.

The next morning we got back on historic Rte 66 and drove as far as Kingman, AZ. The road through the wide Hualapai Valley ran literally as straight as an arrow.

We then headed north from the Route as we were going to Grand Canyon West. After about 40 miles we started driving through Joshua Tree forests for approximately 16 miles. Joshua trees are not very pretty as you can see.

While there was plenty of desert scrub vegetation all around, the overall effect was very desolate
around this part of Arizona.  We eventually reached  Hualapai Ranch where we had a cabin booked for 2 nights.  Having experienced a wigwam at Holbrook, we weren't sure what type of accommodation to expect on a ranch.  It turned out to be a delightful cabin with porch and steps up to it.  There were outside seats but no rocking chair!

Before darkness fell, as we were relaxing on our porch, to our amazement, we saw a coyote about 

25 feet in front of us.  Happily, there was no sign of rattlesnakes.  At 8 o'clock a camp fire was lit, 

everyone sat around and made s'mores on the fire while a guy with a guitar, Long Look Mike played and sang. The sky was clear and so full of stars that it brought to mind the Don McLean song, "Starry,Starry Night".

Early to bed because we were getting up for sunrise at 6.29.  The alarm duly obliged and we were out on our porch for the photocall of the sun rising over the canyon opposite our cabin.

This was our big day at the Canyon; the day for doing the Skywalk.

This sits 4770 feet above the Colorado River and was constructed in 2007. It stretches 70 feet over the Canyon Rim on the west side.  It is claimed that the structure could support the weight of 71 Boeing 747s.  Apart from the cantilever effect over the rim, an awe-inspiring aspect is the glass floor.  We found out that this consists of two layers of two and a half inches each with a plastic buffer between them.  It is truly incredible to look down at the canyon floor between your feet.  We have the photo to prove that we did it!

You are not allowed to bring anything on to the Skywalk so we could not take any photos of the Canyon from it. The following photos were taken at Eagle Point.

We then got on the shuttle bus and went to Guano Point.

We got on the bus again to return to the Welcome Centre where we had left our car and just as we were driving back to the ranch the weather changed for the worse.

View from our porch as rain eased.