"Doc Hudson", Privacy Issues, & What's on the C Key?

Mare, Ed, Bill & Janet on the Train to the Grand Canyon

In Williams we toured the town on a horse and buggy.  The driver told us some interesting facts about this little town.   The buggy ride was so pleasant, the locals were so interesting, and the scenery brought you back in time…. it was the perfect evening.  It even rained a little but we were told that this is their rainy season and they welcome the rain with open arms. We certainly didn’t mind at all.  It actually felt good.

 

Doc Hudson

http://www.pixarcars.tv/

 Apparently the town of Williams was the inspiration behind the movie cartoon Cars from Disney.  The gas station in Williams was Flo’s gas station in the movie.  The old car parked in this real, now museum, gas station was Doc – the car that Paul Newman’s voice played in the movie.  Our guide said that the man who owned this real Route 66 gas station bought that car brand new and kept it there.  It is still there.  The owner passed down the gas station and all its contents to his faithful attendant.  He did not give it to his family just the man who worked his butt off and took care of the place every day.  I guess his kids were not happy at all.  Oh well………….. 

Bill & Janet, El Tovar Porch - Grand Canyon

We took our 2.5 hour ride from Williams to the Grand Canyon.  Trains can really make you sleepy when they rock you back and forth especially when you are tired to begin with.  We had a wonderful tour guide that told us many history, biology, and just plain interesting facts.  We didn’t see many houses on this ride because basically it is in the middle of nowhere.  I saw this one house and I asked the guide who owned this particular place just because I wanted to know… who lives here in this deserted area?  She looked at me and told me that there were privacy issue, and they weren’t allowed to disclose who lives in these houses.  Oh well, I thought … not my business, when a few seconds later she gets all excited and gets on the loud speaker and says, “Oh ladies and gentlemen, Lady Gaga just bought this house on the left.  She will be moving in soon.”  I just looked up at her and said to myself “Really, did she just disclose this information that probably the famous singer would not want the world to know about?”  Then the lady behind me said rather loudly, “Privacy issue my a**.”  I just laughed.

We met Janet’s son Chris and his lovely girlfriend, Lisa, at the Grand Canyon.  What a cute couple.  Chris is an amazing long distance runner.   A short while ago, he ran a 50 mile race in roughly 8 hours.  He came in first place.  Yesterday, he ran down the Grand Canyon, took time to take pictures of the beautiful Colorado River, started back up the canyon got behind a mule train and couldn’t pass them because of a space issue on the trail, and ran back up the canyon in about 5 hours.  He is just incredible.  Cute Lisa, who is an amazing wonder-women herself, just got a job in Mazola, Montana, and will be moving there shortly to start her career.  These are nice kids with good values.  Good luck to you both.  It was fun having lunch with you guys at the Grand Canyon.  These are the times on a vacation that you just never forget.  Family, friends, and fun… what more can you want.

Ed throwing Mare into the Grand Canyon

I very rarely eat goodies unless they are homemade or from a nice restaurant/bakery that I can’t resist.  However, the other day I wanted something to eat and I didn’t want to be picky.  Ed bought me a pack of M&M’s.  I was like a homeless person eating for the first time in days.  I scarfed those babies down like someone was going to steal them from me.  They weren’t even good, but I guess I was hungry enough where I didn’t care.  A day later when Ed went to do something on the computer, he saw an M&M on the keyboard smashed between the keys.  Now letter “C” doesn’t want to work because apparently that is where the piece of candy fell down and lodged and melted.  Now whenever I type the letter “c,” my keyboard won’t work correctly and I have to pound on it to get it to work. I am going to have to stay away from using words with “c” in it until it gets fixed.  What a dumb*** for eating and blogging at the same time.  That will teach me not to ever do that again.