Rim to Rim - Grand Canyon South Rim

Friday morning around 8:30AM Jonathan, myself, Nick, Christine and John loaded the car with all our stuff, packed in like comfortable sardines and started the drive to the Grand Canyon's South rim.  Seeing that we had some time to play tourist before we got to the Canyon we stopped in Jerome for a little sight seeing.  We walked some of the streets before enjoying a lovely wine, cheese and olive tasting at Caduceus Cellars tasting room.  Jonathan and I have been here before and enjoyed the wine as well as the atmosphere. 

After enjoying our wine and cheese we walked about and toured a few more shops before making our way to Bobby D's BBQ for lunch.  WARNING, if you're ever in Jerome DO NOT eat there, the tasty aromas wafting form the smoker are a lie, all lies.  Despite the fact that the meat should basically be ready, having been smoked all evening/morning, it took 50 minutes to produce 3 pulled pork sandwiches, 1 brisket sandwich and 1 rack of ribs.  My pork was barely room temperature and nothing special, the 5 fries provided were on the boring side and the beer was a lovely combo of flavorless and stale.  The highlight of the entire experience was the low blood sugar, giddy entertainment we got while guessing the purpose of the plastic sandwich bag filled with water, nailed above the Exist sign.  Perhaps its best some mysteries are left unsolved.

 Dissatisfied with our food but determined to squeeze one more tourist activity out of Jerome we loaded back in the car and drove to the closed gold mine. Damn you Jerome for your tricky ways.  Turns out the mine is a bit of a fake out because its not actually something that can be toured, instead you end up at some one's tchotchke store which just so happens to offer a tour of their hording/junkyard.  Sure some of the trucks and equipment provided some good photo opportunities but the whole experience was a bit creepy. The owner's political opinions were clear in some of the decorations and their mountain man life style was on par with the white trash mountain folk stereotype.  Lets just say I wouldn't have attended the tour, but my ticket was ever so kindly paid for by Nick.

Back on the road we made it to the South rim of the Grand Canyon around 8:15 PM.  We opted to dine at the cafeteria before checking into our room seeing that our opportunity for dinner was about to close in the next 45 minutes.  The temperature had dropped a good 50 degrees from when we left Phoenix, but the cool, crisp mountain air was a refreshing change from the valley . I don't think the bags hit the floor of the hotel room before Jonathan, Nick and John started discussing their attire, snacks and packing/re-arranging their day packs. Despite much anticipation, hyper excitement and claims of not being able to sleep, pretty much everyone fell asleep quickly and remained that way until 5 AM the next morning.

Next up, a 4 hour car drive for some, a 22 mile hike for others and our stay on the North rim.