Biden surveys the Grand Canyon
“Don’t jump!” he yells over to the press pic.twitter.com/sDC0Z7cbuf
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) August 8, 2023
Before the speech, Biden recognized Jimmy McCain, the son of the last Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was at the event. And when Biden signed the designation, he smiled and gave a pen to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), a sometime-ally. https://t.co/e6yJL0UZrJ
— YvonneWingettSanchez ?? (@yvonnewingett) August 8, 2023
GRAND CANYON VILLAGE, Ariz. — President Biden, amid heat waves and fierce storms that are disrupting lives around the world, on Tuesday used this area’s historic lands and dramatic natural landscape as a backdrop for touting his administration’s efforts to invest in clean energy and combat climate change.
In remarks from the historic Red Butte Airfield, Biden highlighted his initiatives to protect and conserve natural resources and promoted his investments in climate action, at a time when polling has shown that many voters disapprove of his handling of climate change.
Biden also designated a vast area as a national monument to safeguard it from uranium mining. Local tribal leaders and environmentalists have said the move will protect aquifers and water supplies and honor long-standing Native American connections to the land.
“America’s natural wonders are our nation’s heart and soul — that’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact. They unite us, they inspire us. A birthright we pass down from generation to generation,” Biden said in a 15-minute speech Tuesday as red dust blew near an airstrip that Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh once used. “Today marks a historic step in preserving the majesty of this place.”…
Biden said the new monument — called the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, or Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon — honors tribal nations and preserves “their shared legacy for future generations.” The move conserves nearly 1 million acres and advances his commitment to protect and conserve at least 30 percent of American land and water by 2030.
The name of the monument, the fifth that Biden has designated as president, is meant to reflect the significance of the area to various tribal nations. “Baaj nwaavjo” means “where Indigenous peoples roam” in the Havasupai language, and “i’tah kukveni” means “our ancestral footprints” in the Hopi language…
The president then went to a lookout point at the Grand Canyon and gave an interview to the Weather Channel to talk about the climate crisis…
The Biden administration on Tuesday also announced $44 million in federal funds that will be used to strengthen climate resilience in the National Parks system. The funds will go toward 43 projects across 39 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Preserving these lands is good, not only for Arizona but for the planet,” Biden said. “It’s good for the economy. It’s good for the soul of the nation.”
Much more at the (unpaywalled!) link.
It's official! Biden Designates Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni–Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. He'll sign the proclamation at Red Butte, conserving ~1M acres of greater Grand Canyon lands sacred to Indigenous peoples. #KeepItGrand https://t.co/kx2BCjwBRh
— Grand Canyon Trust (@GrandCanynTrust) August 8, 2023
‘Opinions differ… ‘
Laura Ingraham claims Grand Canyon national monument is a Joe Biden scheme to funnel uranium money to Kazakhstanhttps://t.co/E8mpFxT0Tc
— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 9, 2023
Elsewhere:
On The Road – arrieve – Peru, Part 3: Heading to Machu Picchu
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Narya
I love these protections of Native lands. Also: an interview w the weather channel.
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Is that Dark Brandon’s version of getting kissed on the cheek by an Italian mobster?
satby
@rikyrah: 🙋rikyrah!
Gary K
Laura Ingraham can be stopped only by tricking her into saying or spelling her own name backwards, which will return her to her home in the fifth dimension.
Baud
Also too, he really should have told the press to jump.
Trivia Man
The Antiquities Act is powerful, it’s a great stop gap. But as we have seen it is easily reversed. The biggest permanent fix I can think of is to amend the Mining Act of 1872. Clearly not built for modern realities it has been a license to loot public resources for wealthy companies.
NotMax
Quasi-topically, worth a re-link.
;)
Meanwhile, in matters culinary, say what now?
Pancake-Flavored Cup Noodles Shouldn’t Be This Good.
Kay
I finally saw the Grand Canyon just this year. Amazing. Next we’re going to Yosemite.
Baud
@Kay:
Jealous. I’ve only ever flown over the Grand Canyon.
NotMax
@Baud
And boy, were your arms tired.
:)
Betty
What an evil genius- making that uranium deal with Kazakhstan. What will he come up with next? Laura will let us know, no doubt.
catclub
It took me a while to get that cartoon.
I love visiting the Grand Canyon in winter. I am not sure if I am still boycotting Arizona for their ‘papers please’ law.
Kay
@Baud:
I thought the high desert was beautiful. We went to Sedona officially but the unplanned Grand Canyon excursion was much better than the Sedona resort.
Betty
@Betty: I thought it was worth checking,and yes, indeed, Kazakhstan has one of the world’s largest uranium reserves. Exactly the country that would want to buy more. Laura is letting is down.
NotMax
@Betty
“Let’s glow, Brandon.”
//
Betty Cracker
@Kay: The Grand Canyon is one of the few things that really exceeds the hype, IMO. Just awe-inspiring. We camped at the North Rim, which is more forested, and also rode into the canyon on mules. The mule excursion was kind of terrifying because we descended via narrow switch-back trails, and when we’d round a sharp corner, I’d look over my mule’s ears at a 900-foot drop.
p.a.
@Betty: I imagine the Foxwits in the writer’s room sitting around saying “let’s see if our audience is stupid enough to buy into this!”
Also too, Laura starting to show age. At Fux, this is a death sentence. How many age lines does she have left before they “Coulter” her?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: You’re full of jokes this morning. How are things on Maui?
satby
@Baud: That’s why I went last March on my multistate train journey that ended in the Seattle meetup. I wanted to see it from the ground for once. If you go, I highly recommend the Grand Canyon Hotel in Williams, AZ on old Rt.66. It’s an old stagecoach hotel, restored with modern electric and plumbing but keeping the antique feel. And way less expensive than the similarly named Grand Canyon Railroad Hotel.
Baud
@satby:
Thanks!
Suzanne
@Baud: This is going to sound weird, but try to go on a day when the weather isn’t awesome. I remember one trip to see the Canyon when it was cloudy and intermittently raining, and the clouds were moving fast, and the light was different every time I looked up, and it was just spectacular.
Mousebumples
@Kay: Yosemite is my favorite national park. I haven’t been back since I was a teenager, but lots of great hiking trails.
Suzanne
@catclub:
I mean, Jan Brewer didn’t sign it, that was two governors ago, and most of the state House and Senate have turned over.
I can respect a solid grudge, tho.
lowtechcyclist
I hiked most of the way down into the Grand Canyon from the North Rim 40 years ago this summer. I need to go back sometime! The Grand Canyon is one of those places that lives up to its reputation and then some – you can take in the view from one spot, then wander 20 feet along the rim and it’s totally changed.
The opposite would be Mt. Rushmore. You go there, look at it, shrug your shoulders and say, “yep, it looks just like the pictures.” Being there doesn’t add a bit of value.
satby
For your consideration, a thread by activist Andrew Wortman on the multitude of reasons why the Repugs are losing younger voters. Older, but quite a list all in one place (threadreader version)
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Devastating. None of the three major fires under control yet.
Drone footage from parts of the affected upcountry area.
Mentioned downstairs that noticed on my monthly trip to town yesterday Costco is limiting sales of cases of bottled water to two per cardholder. Airlines, thankfully, slashing fares for added flights from Maui.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker:
This is true.
I am usually like, “eh, that’s nice”. The first time I saw the Grand Canyon, it genuinely, literally, took my breath away. The scale cannot be conveyed in images. And hiking into it reveals so many just amazing things.
satby
@Baud: Go next Jan-February (late Feb, probably). I’m planning to go again with my friend from Auburn CA, and Cole will be a couple of hours away in Tempe around then. We can surprise him 😄
OzarkHillbilly
My parents did the same. Ma couldn’t help singing her praises of it anytime the subject of the GC came up.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: That article quotes someone saying they didn’t know where they were in Lahaina because the town was so altered. A friend had a tornado go through her Iowa hometown, and she said the same thing. Devastating is the right word.
Stay safe.
satby
rerunning my comment from the overnight thread, mainly because it’s my favorite version of the song. Also for my friend. Lots of losses these days. It’s the age we’re getting to be.
Robbie Robertson, rest in peace. Great life, well lived.
And for my very courageous friend Meghan Buell, rest in power sister. You leave a huge hole.
Narya
@satby: thanks for that; gonna save it
rikyrah
@Kay: 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
rikyrah
@NotMax:
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽😢😢
eversor
We don’t have a uranium shortage!
rikyrah
Kay,
Who do you think will be Sherrod’s opponent next year?
rikyrah
Steve Benen (@stevebenen) posted at 7:09 AM on Thu, Aug 10, 2023:
As James Comer’s anti-Biden crusade suffers another embarrassment — he’s spent the year over-promising and under-delivering — he isn’t doing his party any favors.
The GOP base will feast on junk food for a short while, but it won’t satisfy them for long. https://t.co/dMNEiXYQSw
(https://twitter.com/stevebenen/status/1689609864748716032?t=UqhPsIDV6nqyUbFRcFKGhQ&s=03)
satby
@Narya: That little smile Robbie has at the end… 😢
Ok, life calls. Everyone have a good day.
rikyrah
More on Thomas as a bought and paid for stooge 😡😡
Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) posted at 7:16 AM on Thu, Aug 10, 2023:
Thomas gets luxury vacations as part of his work for a right-wing nonprofit and in turn gives the group access to the Supreme Court which it sells to donors. Nice work if you can get it. https://t.co/RabxwpLsmb
(https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1689611766160863232?t=bcPp7abi5OlSDqH7H3Aoaw&s=03)
rikyrah
Please tell me that all these crazy interviews can be used against him at his trials 🙏🏽
Acyn (@Acyn) posted at 7:16 PM on Wed, Aug 09, 2023:
Trump: Now that we have subpoena power because we’re going to have subpoena power, all of the sudden the J6 committee… everything was deleted and destroyed. That’s a criminal act…. They didn’t want anybody to see it https://t.co/xZsN8sy4Q2
(https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1689430473695485952?t=KSP28cZT4Pwue1y_1Fb9aQ&s=03)
Baud
Via Mastodon, control over sexually is a tool of authoritarians everywhere.
rikyrah
Brett Murphy (@BrettMmurphy) posted at 5:29 AM on Thu, Aug 10, 2023:
NEW: It’s not just Harlan Crow. Clarence Thomas has had a trio of other ultrawealthy patrons — an oil baron, investment guru and corporate titan — funding his luxury travel for decades.
My latest, w/@Amierjeski, plus a thread on the reporting
https://t.co/qNjgRIiHgw
(https://twitter.com/BrettMmurphy/status/1689584632042307584?t=pnV8wAkqLvd2gatQzZVRCA&s=03)
rikyrah
The Recount (@therecount) posted at 6:47 AM on Thu, Aug 10, 2023:
The latest on Clarence Thomas’s undisclosed gifts from 4 billionaires, per @propublica:
• 38+ destination vacations
• 26 private jet flights
• 8 by helicopter
• A dozen VIP passes to professional & college sporting events
• 2 stays at luxury resorts in Florida & Jamaica https://t.co/6vsbrYFCqi
(https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1689604266795618309?t=gZ8ZhmBc8WwoozgA7QqYrg&s=03)
Josie
About 20 years ago, I went on a week long rafting trip in the Grand Canyon, riding the river during the day, taking short hikes along the way, and sleeping on bedrolls at night. It was one of the most spectacular vacations ever. I still can see the canyon in all its different poses in my mind’s eye.
Baud
@rikyrah:
I don’t know how he had time for all that plus his RV trips to mingle with the common people.
Layer8Problem
@Suzanne:
Mind you, I remember someone’s top review of the Grand Canyon years ago on the Google: “Meh, I’ve seen better.”
(Yes, I’m sure it was a joke.)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: Half the time, I can’t tell what he’s babbling about. And I can’t read his all-cap posts. My eyes just bounce off.
narya
@satby: I was actually originally responding to the links about the GOP, but you made me go back and listen, and thank you for that too! It’s lovely.
Soprano2
@Betty: I think they don’t actually believe half the stuff they spew on this channel; they’re putting it out there because they know it’s what their viewers want to hear.
BellyCat
The word “awesome” is truly redefined by the Grand Canyon. The one time in my 57 years on this planet that I’ve experienced pure unadultered awe.
It’s a gateway drug though. Seeing earth from space might be required to experience that emotional state again.
sdhays
@Baud: He’s never really had a reputation as the “workhorse of the Supreme Court”.
It’s small comfort since in a functioning system he would be forced off the Court, but I’m glad that in his twilight years he’s having to face the prospect that his place in the history books is going to be “super corrupt lunatic Supreme Court Justice”.
Soprano2
@NotMax: OMG, that footage of Lahaina! I wondered if the fire got that banyan tree; the article said it did. That was an amazing thing to see, gone now. :-(
Soprano2
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It was like that in parts of Joplin after the 2011 tornado, too. I think we don’t realize how much we navigate by landmarks until they’re gone.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: The mules were adorable, but they stunk to high heaven! I grew up around horses, and they didn’t stink like that even after a long ride on a hot day. Maybe it’s because the mules had to work harder hauling tourists up and down the trails?
sdhays
Every time I see a picture of someone on Fox News, I’m struck by how ugly they are. I think it’s the almost universal sneer – not just the mouth, but in the eyes.
OzarkHillbilly
I’m sure it’s sweaty work for them.
Ken
Amber Share has created a very funny series of National Park posters based on visitor’s review comments. It’s called “Subpar Parks”.
The Grand Canyon one is “A Hole. A Very, Very Large Hole,” which I think was a visitor trying to be funny and hitting on exactly the same joke ten million other people have. I prefer the ones where the visitor seemed serious in their complaints, like the Arches “Looks Nothing Like the License Plate.”
Suzanne
@Ken: The one about Saguaro made me LOL. “It’s okay if you like cactus.”
It’s in the name!
Scout211
The big interview last night of TIFG with Eric Bolling on NewsMax had a surprise ending. TIFG claimed (as usual) that he actually won the election. Then this was added.
OverTwistWillie
@Baud:
Check out “The Real George Michael: Portrait of an Artist” on Prime (or wherever). It features a number of gay voices and how much resistance there was to his coming out.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scout211: The Dominion Effect!
Ken
Living in a town where people routinely say “Turn left where the Burger King used to be”, I have to agree. Said Burger King was torn down 25 years ago.
My haircut place also advertises itself as “across from the old Dominick’s” and that entire chain went out of business a decade ago.
p.a.
Awesome. I thought that was only a Rhode Island thing.
ETA: on a sad personal note, my group of friends uses the past existence of bars for a convenient directional assist. “Next to where Ramp’s Tap was…”
Soprano2
@Ken: My SIL went to New Orleans for her employer after Katrina; they clean up after disasters. She said people who had lived there for their whole lives had trouble figuring out where things were, because there was nothing familiar left in some places.
eversor
@BellyCat:
Everyone who has came back humbled and in awe of it. There’s also a reason why the Russians and Americans on the ISS are always sort of baffled at the conflicts we get into down here.
On the other hand the rich fucks who paid their way up want more money and to move us all to Mars. So, let’s leave space to the government and military.
UncleEbeneezer
@Kay: Have fun. Yosemite is absolutely amazing, though the valley and the drive in can be very crowded, especially in Summer. Fall is probably the best bet for least amount of people. But it’s because the valley really is a special place with access/views of multiple waterfalls, peaks and trails. If you are a hiker I highly suggest doing the Panorama Trail which is about 10 miles and steep at times but so worth it for some of the most amazing views. You can also take the shuttle to Glacier Point, trimming it down to about 6 miles and avoiding most of the hardest uphill portion so that the rest of the way is mostly downhill. The Mist Trail is also a must-do, but it’s a lot of steps and you will get wet (possibly drenched). The views from the top of Vernal Falls though, is worth it. We only did a portion of Upper Yosemite Falls Trail but it was very hot and it gets pretty scary towards the top (too much so, for us). Tuolumne Meadows is also really great but it’s on the other side of the park and there’s much less options there.
Doc Sardonic
Mules do have a funk to them, but I would rather ride a mule than a horse. Mules are more sure footed and will not place themselves and by virtue of that, they’re rider in a dangerous situation. They will refuse, hence the phrase stubborn as a mule, horse not so much.
SFAW
@p.a.:
Not just Vo Islund. Central MA as well.
Citizen_X
What do they mean about Biden polling poorly on climate? People upset that he’s not doing enough? Or that he’s doing anything at all? Or both?
Baud
@Citizen_X:
Probably a mix of both.
UncleEbeneezer
@lowtechcyclist: I feel this way about Yosemite too. We visited the GC when I was a kid but honestly we probably didn’t spend enough time there for me to really appreciate it. Gotta go back some time. Canyon hiking doesn’t really look as appealing to me (I prefer mountains, lakes and trees) but that’s based only on YT videos we’ve watched, not on actual experience. My worry is the sun exposure which can really make us miserable. A friend of mine knows a guy who works at the park all-year-round and spent Christmas there with him snowshoeing and x-country skiing. Now THAT sounds like a great way to see it!
SFAW
@rikyrah:
I used to refer to him as “Sockpuppet,” meaning Scalia’s. Apparently I wasn’t thinking big enough.
Geminid
@satby: There is train service from the town of Williams to Grand Canyon Village. It was begun early in the 20th century but passenger service ended in 1968 before resuming in the 1980s under new ownership. Now the Xanterra(sp?) group operates it. They are the inheritors of the Fred Harvey Restaurants brand.
The Williams train depot is close to I-40, 30 miles west of “Flag,” as truckers refer to Flagstaff. The train ride is about 70 miles long, and I hope to take it next time I’m out west.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Citizen_X:
“Yes.”
delphinium
@UncleEbeneezer: It really is just all around stunning. Went camping at King’s Canyon for a couple days before heading to Yosemite at the end of March-early April many years ago. Even at that time of year, Yosemite was crowded so can’t imagine what it is like in the summer.
Jeffro
EVERYTHING Democrats do is just so dark and sinister, isn’t it?
“Biden sets aside national monument: boogity-boogity-BOO!”
It must be exhausting, being a wingnut. I know I find them exhausting, that’s for sure.
Chief Oshkosh
@p.a.:
Oh, they are that stupid. Remember a few year ago when Germany announced that some large percentage of their power was now coming from solar? Fox reported that yeah, that’s fine for them, but the US doesn’t get as much sun as Germany, so solar would never work here.
So, yeah, the Fox audience is stupid enough to believe a story about Biden selling uranium to a country that has huge piles of the stuff just sitting around.
UncleEbeneezer
@delphinium: It looks like it’s gotten way worse post-Pandemic. When outdoors was the only real safe option due to Covid, all the major parks in CA started getting absolutely overrun with visitors. And it’s never really gone back to normal. I keep reading horror stories of park entrance lines that are 2+ hours long (holiday weekends even worse than that). That’s crazy! We never had to wait more than 20 minutes or so, even in peak Summer. It sucks because we really want to go back but between the ever-shorter season when there are no wildfires and the crowds it’s getting really daunting.
John S.
@Jeffro:
Indeed. It must be awful to live your life afraid of every shadow and filled with so much rage all the time. But I’m not willing to find out firsthand what that’s like.
delphinium
@UncleEbeneezer:
Yeah, at the time we went traffic wasn’t much of an issue, just the park itself was a bit crowded. Kings Canyon wasn’t crowded at all though which was nice.
Ken
@Soprano2: Sorry, I didn’t mean to equate ordinary (sub)urban redevelopment with the effects of a disaster.
OzarkHillbilly
She is saying that instead of spending that money here, we will just buy our uranium from Kazakhstan.
Paul in KY
@Betty: For a senile, marxist fool he’s pretty capitalistically diabolical…
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: You are braver than I!
E.
Ed Abbey always said, when you go to the Grand Canyon, especially the first time, try to park the car so you get your first look at it on foot. As a former frequent visitor to the Park, I completely agree. It is like nothing you will ever see again.
Soprano2
@Citizen_X: I hate that they will say things like this without breaking out what the questions actually were. It’s possible that the majority of respondents think he’s not doing enough!
Soprano2
@Ken: No worries, I thought I’d give an extreme example of how the way we navigate can cause problems when the landmarks are gone. She said the pictures didn’t do it justice.
UncleEbeneezer
@delphinium: Sigh…we were SUPPOSED to go camping at King’s Canyon in 2020…but then Covid, then doggy health issues, then Mother-In-Law health issues, wildfires etc…hopefully we will catch a break at some point and finally get there (I’ve been there once but only for one night in 2007 and then I drove home because the heat was terrible so I didn’t get to see much except the lovely drive in).
Mike in NC
Oh dear, Biden has lost the support of the mining companies!!!
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
The Grand Canyon is indeed everything everyone says it is. I saw it a few years ago, finally. I almost didn’t see though. We were visiting my wife’s relatives in Tucson (boy do I feel sorry for them this summer) and decided to drive up and spend a couple days in Flagstaff and see the Canyon. So we get up to drive in and decided to see the Wupatki ruins on the way into the Canyon, which meant going in on the East end. Which was fine except when we got up there, in late May, it was snowing, hard. I grew up in Michigan so am used to driving in the snow but I was afraid they’d close the park road. But they didn’t and the first views of the snow covered canyon were spectacular and then…the cloud cover dropped and the entire canyon was fogged in. You could not see anything past the cliff you happened to be standing on.
So we drove on towards the visitor center area, stopping occasionally to see if the clouds had lifted at all so we could catch a view, but they didn’t. Got to the visitor center a little after noon I think and it was the same story there for an hour or so but then in the afternoon things finally cleared up completely and we did get the full experience. Well, at least as much of the experience as one can get from the South Rim. We didn’t have time to go down into the canyon what with it just basically being a day trip from Flagstaff. We took the scenic route down to Sedona via the Oak Creek Canyon, which was also spectacular. Had lunch in Sedona and then back to Tucson.
BellyCat
And Musk. DON’T FORGET ABOUT MUSK!!!1! (As in “send him to Mars first”)
coin operated
@Kay: I’ve not read the rest of this thread but want to jump in with a warning for Yosemite…make sure you have reservations to enter the park. They will turn you away.
Paul in KY
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I onetime had 3 free days in Tucson & wish I had rented a car and done that.
Paul in KY
@coin operated: Same thing if you are visiting Air & Space Museum in DC.
eclare
@Kay:
You might want to invest in some bear spray, friend and I were hiking and are 99% sure we heard a bear. It sounded like a chainsaw but no one was around. We started talking really loudly and picked up the pace a bit. This was in Tuolumne meadows, we had hiked to some lake.
Scout211
@coin operated: They don’t require reservations for entry now. nps.gov
piratedan
i”m very late to the thread (being in Tucson, I miss most of the morning traffic)… next time you end up “stuck” in southern Arizona, here’s a list of things that may keep you from being idle:
Uncle Cosmo
All of which were unsuspected until well after WW2. In 1945 the Soviets, near frantic over their lack of indigenous uranium, undertook a crash program to process oil shale in the Gulf of Finland to extract the minuscule amounts therein, and built an entire town of 20,000 around the operation…which was rendered obsolete once the Kazakhstan deposits were found.**
With its consistent Stalinist wedding-cake architecture, Sillamaë in NE Estonia is reputedly one of the more interesting stops on the road from Tallinn to St Petersburg. I’d hoped to visit when I was in the Baltics in September 2001, but the difficulties obtaining a Russian visa and the shortness of the trip put the kibosh to that.
(IIRC Cheryl Rofer was in Sillamaë a number of times and posted some content about it on her website.)
** That lack also made the subversion of Czechoslovakia highest priority, for access to the high-grade pitchblende (uraninite, UO2) mined in Jáchymov (German Joachimsthal) in the Sudetenland near Karlovy Vary.
Geminid
@Geminid: Some info about the Grand Canyon Railway, from True West magazine:
I found the July-August True West magazine while shopping at the Ruckersville Tractor Supply. Most of their magazines are about raising chickens, but I really lucked out with this one. Besides a cover story about Kit Carson and the obligatory Billy the Kid article, they had a section with short articles about 12 small, tourist-oriented railroads from Arkansas to California. I love that stuff
azlib
I have been to the Grand Canyon 4 times and also rode the GC Railway one time. The railway is fun. We got tickets in the lounge car which is the last car on the train. You can walk out on the rear deck and watch the scenery.
I recommend going in the winter as the park is a lot less crowded and the weather is usually fine, although you can get the occasional snowstorm.
satby
@Geminid: I went on it. Cute train. And the hotel I like is two blocks away from the station.
Geminid
@satby: Now I’m curious about this Xantarra Group that runs the railroad now. I read that they control the Fred Harvey Restaurant* brand. The Trains news site said they run the steam engines with used cooking oil from restaurants the group operates in northern Arizona.
* Have you seen The Harvey Girls, with Judy Garland? It’s pretty fun. There’s a lot of nice Western scenery, and a big production number where Judy Garland and the town folk sing “The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.”
Angela Lansbury plays Garland’s nemisis. She helps run the saloon across the street from the Harvey Girls’ restaurant, and tries to sabotage the new competition. At one point, Garland confronts her at the saloon, and Lansbury tries to rough her up. That’s the cue for a dozen Harvey Girls to come storming across the street to start a choreographed brawl with Lansbury’s saloon girls.
It’s a very cheerful movie though, and Garland and Lansbury make up towards the end. A touching scene.
satby
@Geminid: Loved the movie. There’s a Harvey House on the GCRailroad property but I didn’t go to it, it was packed when I was there. Biodiesel makes sense for the trains.
The area is jointly run by the Navajo Nation, IIRC, and there’s lots of initiatives on the clean energy and sustainable farming being done in the national park. The North Rim was still closed due to snow when I was there at the end of March. And bring a jacket or sweatshirt, because it’s cool due to the elevation.
satby
@azlib: there was a whiteout blizzard the week before I went, in March of this year. Unusually high snowfall this year, and the poor people who were there to see the canyon had near zero visibility. I saw the pictures 😟