4th September 2008
Thursday began early for Ed, John W and Jane who decided to go and watch the sunrise from Yaki point. They left the hotel at 5:30am and headed to the park. En route to the vantage point they saw several large Elk. The sun rose over the canyon and John described it as “iconic”. It was a spectacular sight and the silence and vastness of this amazing place were overwhelming. The early rise was apparently worth it. On the way back to the hotel they saw some young monk jack.
With a long drive ahead, the team left at around 8am. We drove from the Grand Canyon to Durango via monument valley with some stops to take pictures of the “iconic” scenery. This included “Thunderbird Mesa” in Monument Valley, which it was thought, could be a new nickname for Jane (there was a bit of an icy response to that one, but perhaps it will grow on her).
Our brief sojourn to Charmer certainly did not live up to its name with an incredibly unhelpful waiter. We ate lunch at a place described by Alex as “The Dead Rat Inn”, probably due to its haute cuisine, excellent service, and smart décor, which included a sticker on the wall reading “Happiness is a belt-fed weapon”! We arrived in Durango and checked into our hotel. First impressions of Durango were that it was a quaint, slightly old-fashioned town with a bit more to do than in Tusayan. Kelvin did an excellent job of choosing restaurants, The Cyprus Café and Mahogany Bar provided ideal settings for a very convivial evening. Our waitress told us that the best place to go to get a feeling for the nightlife was the cowboy bar. When we arrived there, it was practically empty with a few locals playing pool. On the up side, it was happy hour and there was a DJ taking requests. Emma hotfooted it to the booth and then threw some epic shapes (some might say iconic) on the floor. Alex wanted to strut his stuff too, but unfortunately, when he started Russian dancing, the DJ cut the song short. The standard had been set, and the locals came out fighting with a couple that spun round the empty floor. James befriended a police officer and having been searched, proceeded to carry her around for the rest of the night, keen to find out if she had her handcuffs with her. When the bar closed, we went back to the hotel to get some shut-eye, and most of us went to bed soon after we got back.