Anyway, back to the story.
Our first day on the move was amazingly smooth - the Super Shuttle picked us up two minutes early, the drive to National Airport had only one small interruption (construction zone), we were able to check our bags right at the curb.
The flight itself was also pretty easy. Since Andy has his window seat and I have my aisle seat, usually that means there's someone in the middle seat. And he was a very nice person! On his way back to CA where he lives.
AND - the rental car company offered us an upgrade to a small SUV (Toyota Rav 4) (as opposed to a Toyota Corolla sized car) for a great price. AND it turned out there were no Toyota Rav 4s available (or equivalent), so we are now driving a Dodge Journey - a full sized SUV. I am not normally an SUV fan - mostly because I have such a hard time climbing up and down - but this one was no harder than our Toyota Sienna. Super nice ride.
And off we went! We randomly picked a restaurant from Google Maps and it was great! During lunch, we decided to stop off at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff on our way to the hotel at the Grand Canyon.
One thing we noticed as we approached the observatory was the dramatic drop in temperature. Phoenix was a toasty 99 degrees - as expected, since after all it is August in Arizona. The Flagstaff's elevation is 7000 feet, and the observatory is a little higher yet. The dashboard temperature read in the 70's as we arrived in the parking lot.
The Lowell Observatory is known for the discovery of Pluto. It is still a working observatory and research center.
Lowell Observatory
We arrived in time for the "Lowell Tour", which included a visit to the actual observatory
with the original 24" Clark Telescope.
The dome has been motorized, but the telescope has not - it is still maneuvered via pulleys and weights.
There was supposed to be a solar viewing through the telescope at 4:00, but the sun was obscured by clouds - which turned into a thunderstorm. Instead there was an indoor lecture about the sun, including photos taken before the lecture started.
We attended one more lecture before heading towards Grand Canyon Village - about the upcoming solar eclipse on August 21. Since we had plans to attempt to experience totality in the vicinity of Charleston, S.C., it was pretty relevant.
As we were leaving, we saw spectacular rainbows from the thunderstorm. Many people had the same brilliant idea we had of pulling off to take photos of the rainbow over Flagstaff.
The skies provided a dramatic show on our way to the hotel.
We could watch storms in the distance dumping rain in random places, but not on us. Until we made a right turn right into one of them.
We are staying at the Best Western Squire Inn in Canyon Village - it is the most expensive hotel of this entire trip, but hotels fill up fast in Grand Canyon Village, and we didn't make reservations until February. Everything is fine. Mostly. But it feels like a glorified motel with a confusing multi-level layout.
And of course, our vacation wouldn't be kosher if we didn't have at least one hotel with A/C issues. Might as well get that over with right from the start. Not that it was hot - the temperature was in the mid-70's like Flagstaff and for the same reason: we're at 7,000 feet. But the room was warm and stuffy and we couldn't figure out how to get the A/C going.
We went to dinner at the hotel's "fine dining" restaurant - got to try out elk chops. Still deciding if I liked it or not.
After dinner the very long day + jet lag + the altitude caught up with us. We decided to deal with the A/C issue in the morning.
Day #2 - The Grand Canyon (a/k/a the main reason we're doing this road trip)
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