Hold Up at The Grand Canyon

I had always wanted to take a ride on the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to Grand Canyon Village on the south rim. Finally 10 years after hearing of the railway we decided to take the trip with my mum, dad and aunt while they were here visiting. The train leaves Williams Depot every morning with a couple of exceptions for holidays. It's about a 2 1/2 hour ride to the south rim and along the way there is plenty of entertainment on the train. The steward in charge of your car is a natural comedian, a singer that wonders through and sings some songs and numerous other entertainers. Of course every one of them wants their share of all the tourist dollars on the train, which I and I am sure many others found very annoying. Once at the Grand Canyon station you have a choice find something to do on your own or take an organized bus tour, we opted for the later. Our tour bus driver was great, she reminded me of an old boss of mine but she knew her stuff and went out of her way to make the tour enjoyable and informative. Of course it probably helped that there were only eight of us on her bus, but hey it was fun. Then after the tour with a stop for lunch at the Grand Canyon Hotel (which was included on the tour) we were back on the train and heading back to Williams. Just to remove the last of the dollars from our pockets we even had a Sheriff on board. It turns out that his job was to foil 3 riders on horse back who hold up the train at gun point and then board it just before Williams. If it wasn't for the fact they also wanted more money from you I'm sure it would have been a lot more fun. The scenery you see from the trin is pretty spectacular. It's hard to believe that this railway was built in 1901 and then closed for 15 years in 1974, but I am so happy that someone decided to reopen it in 1989 and that I got to ride it.