Category: Travel
Dinner at El Tovar
Canyon sunset:
Stunning, eh? Just remember to watch your step!
I had read that reservations are essential for dining at the historic El Tovar Hotel, which is generally considered the best table at the Canyon. J and I made the arrangements our first day in the park, so after our long day on the trails, we were looking forward to fine dining in relative luxury.
The pine and stone hotel was built in 1905, just 20 feet from the Canyon rim, and is a registered National Historic Landmark. The El Tovar originated as a “Harvey House,” one of an American Southwest chain of railway hotels and restaurants built from the 1870s by English immigrant Fred Harvey in conjunction with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The hotel was staffed then by single women recruited through newspaper ads from towns and cities across the country, who came to be known as “Harvey Girls.” The Fred Harvey Company, now Xanterra Parks & Resorts, has managed El Tovar since it opened over a century ago.
The casually elegant hotel is modeled after a European hunting lodge. It was designed by Charles Whittlesey, the Railway’s chief architect, and decorated with Native American artwork by architect Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, who was also responsible for many of the historic structures around the Grand Canyon.
The rustic 19th-century dining room is built of hand-hewn logs, with beamed ceilings and picture windows that overlook the South Rim. After seven hours on muleback, braving biting winds and rugged terrain, our china-plated mesquite-grilled entrees and glasses of wine never felt so civilized.
Up, up, up and out
The 6-mile ride back up to the rim took about an hour longer than the descent. Along the way, there were rest stops, during which the mules turned to face out into canyon as they caught their breaths, while we riders remained in our saddles and just enjoyed the view.
A goat and raven, enjoying the same view:
The mules worked up quite a sweat tackling the Jacobs Ladder switchbacks, and as the temperatures dropped, the moisture on their fur turned to ice crystals.
A look back at Plateau Point, the end of the trail. Hard to believe we were there just a couple hours earlier.
Back at the corrals, our group dismounted before the small crowd that had gathered to catch the amusing spectacle. J and I hobbled our way back to the lodge, backs throbbing, knees buckling, bones aching,… and yes, it was entirely worth it.
Phantom Ranch in 2008?
The view of a lifetime
At Plateau Point: flat ground at last!
Vibrant purple cacti marked the change in climate:
When at last we made our wobbly dismount, J and I brought our box lunches to the rocks overlooking Granite Gorge.
The Canyon rose up around us. A pair of jet-black ravens swirled in the sky overhead. And everywhere, there was this:
The Colorado River — 800 feet below:
Sassy and Cajun, et. al.
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