Williams to Grand Canyon National Park

Williams to Grand Canyon National Park

A canyon view from the porch of Hermit's Rest

59 miles, an easy day.  We arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park in the late morning and visited some of the rim road sites before checking into the hotel.  We had a picnic lunch of cheese (from DiBruno's in Philadelphia, our fabulous neighborhood cheese and everything else store) at Hermit's Rest at the end of the rim road. Hermit's Rest, a rustic way station for visitors who travelled up on the railroad was designed by Mary Jane Coulter for Fred Harvey.




We are staying at the  El Tovar Hotel, the fancy hotel that the Santa Fe Railroad and Fred Harvey opened in 1905 for their customers at Grand Canyon.  Here we decided to splurge and stay in the El Tovar Suite - pricey but worth it.

Fabulous view from the balcony of our suite at El Tovar

The bedroom of the El Tovar Suite

Sitting Room of the El Tovar Suite. We had most comfortable seats to watch the latest episode of Season 3 of Downton Abbey.  The entrance to the big balcony is on the right.