Old planes and an old canyon make for a great day

Planes of Fame Museum, Valle, Arizona

Leaving behind the train, we made Tuesday about planes, automobiles and one beautiful canyon. 

As much as we enjoyed the train ride and sightseeing at the South Rim on Monday, we knew we wanted to see a little more of the Grand Canyon at our own pace.

(Scroll down following this story for more photos)

In one of the canyon booklets we found at the visitor’s center in Williams there was an advertisement for a nearby airplane museum called “Planes of Fame.” The ad came with a $1 off coupon and because the museum was on the way to the Grand Canyon, Tuesday was the day we decided to stop and check it out.

An airplane on display

My Dad is a docent at The National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center next to Dulles and a former general aviation pilot so I come by my interest in aviation naturally. My stepfather was a World War II Navy pilot so I got the airplane bug from both sides.

I am not nearly as knowledgeable as either of them, but I do enjoy looking at old airplanes and cars. Besides, I knew my Dad would appreciate a report on another air museum.

World War II German airplane

So we arrived about 9:45 a.m. and with the coupon it only cost $6 each to tour the museum which is also at an airport.

The lady at the admission counter was very nice and explained to us that this was a small version of the Planes of Fame museum in Chino, California. It is at the Chino site that the restoration is done, but she encouraged us to look outside at the jets they have stored behind the hangar.

We spent a little over an hour looking through the indoor and outdoor collection and found it to be small, but worth the cost. Besides the little bit we paid for admission is helping them to continue the work of restoring these rare airplanes.

Joan back at the Grand Canyon

Several of the exhibits came complete with drip pans to catch the oil leaking out of engines. One of the larger exhibits was a Lockheed Constellation which is parked out front and one of my all-time favorite airplanes from a style point of view.

After touring the main hangar and the jets out back the woman directed us to another nearby building where there were additional automobiles and airplanes all very well preserved.

I’d love to see the larger museum in Chino after whetting our appetite in Valle, Arizona.

After leaving the airplane museum we headed north for the rest of the trip to the Grand Canyon, about 30 miles. Armed with my new senior citizen lifetime park pass that I bought for $10 on Friday I was a little nervous when I saw a sign saying there was a $25 vehicle admission charge to the park.

The Watchtower at Desert View

When we arrived at the gate there was a dedicated lane for “passes” and we went through that line and found out that in addition to taking care of our admission charge, the lifetime pass also took care of the $25 vehicle pass. Sweeet. So far the card has saved us $31.

Because it is off season we were not expecting big crowds, but we were wrong. The Grand Canyon Visitor Center was packed and we had to park in an alternate parking lot a fair distance from the Visitor Center.

By the time we arrived we missed the noon showing of the movie “Journey,” which is about the Grand Canyon.

So we took a short walk to Mather Overlook and once again I started snapping photos of the stunning views. When we had soaked up all the views we could from this location we headed back to the center to catch the 12:30 p.m. movie.

Look for the bonnet on thedeck below the tower

We also did a little souvenir shopping at the gift store and this time we found a couple things for family that we purchased.

After the movie, which was quite good, we drove the 25 miles east to Desert View and Watchtower where we started our afternoon Grand Canyon self-guided tour.

The Watchtower is a brick structure from the Grand Canyon’s past and Joan departed from me on the first level while I continued up three flights of stairs to the top of the tower where I knew the views would be even more stunning.

For the rest of the afternoon we headed back toward the entrance gate from where we started stopping a several overlooks and areas on the way.

Joan insisted I post one photo of me

From one overlook we could see (with binoculars) a group of rafters working their way down the Colorado River rapids some 4,000 feet beneath us.

We dovetailed into a tour group at another site and the guide pointed out the area of the canyon where a Lockheed Constellation (how is that for tying together today's activities?) collided with another plane in 1956 and crashed over the canyon.

The tour guide said it was after that crash that the infant Federal Aviation Administration banned all such sightseeing flights by commercial aircraft over the Grand Canyon. I was about nine years old and I vaguely remember that crash, partly because it involved a Lockheed aircraft and my stepfather worked in the Lockheed engineering department at the time.

The Watchtower from a distance

Traffic at all of the overlooks was heavy and we had to take more than one tour of the parking lot to find a place. It finally occurred to us that we were hearing more foreign languages than English, including UK English,  and perhaps the crowds we were encountering were mostly foreign tourists.

The falling dollar may be helping the tourist industry by making travel in America more affordable. We heard lots of French, German and Japanese today.

At one stop we noticed a bus load of really senior citizens, many with walkers and oxygen tanks, headed down a pretty good hill to an overlook. As we passed one of them she said loudly to her husband. “I don’t give a hoot about going down to see THAT canyon.”

Canyon photo

So the magic of the Grand Canyon didn’t infect everyone. By 3:30 p.m. we had exhausted every overlook and vista point on the South Rim and we started for home.

Joan needed to do some shopping so we stopped at the Williams Safeway although we only bought items that do not need to be refrigerated as we are preparing to put the trailer in dry storage for a week while we head to California without the trailer for a quick visit with family and friends.

Look ma, no bonnet!

Once back at the trailer we watched an ESPN documentary I have been looking forward to about the horrible fan reactions to Bill Buckner’s baseball error and Steve Bartman’s interference with a foul ball during the Chicago Cubs and Florida Marlins playoff series in 2003.

Joan had spaghetti sauce cooking all day in the crock pot. The sauce was made from tomatoes, oregano and green peppers grown in our own garden. It was delicious. Tomorrow we’re hanging close to home getting ready for our long trip to northern California on Thursday.