Amazing Arizona Vacation, Day 3, Part 1

The day started early as I had to be up by 6 to be ready to go on my horseback riding adventure by 7. Jim opted not to go because he says that every single horse he has ever gotten near has tried to bite him; including the ones he's owned. He stayed behind and did some laundry (housewife!!!). My adventure started at 7 and we got to the ranch around 8. My horse's name was Beau, a Pinto, and believe it or not, it was quite fun and easy. I was as relaxed as a stringed puppet whose strings aren't being pulled. I learned how to steer the horse, get it to stop and start. It was a 2 hour ride (1 hour would have been plenty) and while there was no fast trotting; Beau did very quickly trot up one hill. I was almost tempted to yell "heeyaw" to get him to move ahead of the rest of the riders. All in all there were about 20 plus two leaders and two wranglers to make sure everyone stayed in line. It's really surprising how many people we've met who aren't from here. The first person I've met so far who is a native was one of the wranglers.

This afternoon we drove to Grand Canyon and tried to check into our hotel around 2:45. We thought check in was 3 but it was 4. The woman was not helpful and there were no non-smoking rooms available; even though that's what we asked for when making the reservations.

With almost an hour and a half to kill, we decided to drive around and look for gifts for our pet nanny. We came across this Native American sale with a Native American dancer. After the dancer finished his dance he invited others to join him for another dance. I went out but Jim didn't. Why am I always the adventurous one?

At 3:45 we went back to the hotel to try and check in again. By the time we got to the front of the line it was 3:55. This time a young man by the name of Stefan, who appeared to be Slovakian, told us again that our room wasn't ready. It had yet to be cleaned. I asked, trying to remain calm, "Do you know why the maid hasn't cleaned the room yet if check in is at 4?" Stefan didn't know but he said he would tell the maid to get right on it. That's what the first girl should have done as we were seeing people left and right get keys to their rooms.

I decided to walk around the city a bit while Jim did computer stuff. Finally, at 4:40, Stefan came over and said our room was ready. I have advised Jim very strongly to never book a hotel at Best Western again; especially not in Grand Canyon. Of course, if we had been smart we would have stayed in Sedona one more night and just driven to Grand Canyon today to do the glass walk and driven back to Sedona. Then instead of driving 4 hours to Scottsdale, we would have only driven 2 hours. Oh well!!!! Next time.

By the way, I don't like the town of Grand Canyon; it appears way too touristy and people are just plain rude. At least in Sedona, it didn't appear touristy and people were really nice. Sedona is a New-Agey, alternative, upscale place but it's really nice.

We are in for the night and will read and just veg. Tomorrow is the big grand canyon day.

More later,

paul