We’ve been here in Winchester, Virginia since Saturday evening for a pit stop — a visit with my parents in my home town, where I (DJ) went to middle school and high school (Handley class of 1984). While there’s been rave about slow food, this is slow life. A good reprieve and recharge before we hit the road tomorrow morning headin’ south. A video entry just before lunch to dry-run our lifestreaming (recorded live video):
Last night, made reservations for our forthcoming jaunt at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Not the easiest place to find lodging nearby, but rumored to be much more scenic than then overcrowded South Rim. Here’s what I found for places to stay near the North Rim:
- Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge – great location right in the park, but often reserved 9 months+ in advance
- Kaibab Lodge (18 miles from entrance)
- Jacob Lake Inn (44 miles from entrance)
- Parry Lodge (Kanab, UT; 80 miles away)
- Marble Canyon Lodge (Marble Canyon, AZ)
- Lees Ferry Lodge (Marble Canyon, AZ)
- Cliff Dwellers Lodge (Marble Canyon, AZ)
- plus, this blogger’s North Rim account in 4 parts (1, 2, 3 ,4) will be one of our main reference points — we’re not going on a pre-fab packaged tour dealy
Tomorrow (Tues 6/19) we’ll leave by breakfast time, get to Blacksburg for lunch, with a respectful visit to the Virginia Tech campus (DJ’s a 1988 VT graduate). And then reach Raleigh for dinner with old friends, including Joe & Tina Chen and Jon & Yvonne Meader, supposedly at family-friendly Jason’s Deli at Brier Creek.
Hey, thanks for the link to my blog entries!
I didn’t stop in, but I did make a mental note that the Cliff Dwellers Lodge seemed like a worthwhile place to stay… both from the outside appearance, and due to the fact that we met a couple of women who work there while we were up at Marble Viewpoint. They were *really* nice, really helpful, really knowledgeable about the area. One was a cook, one was a flyfishing guide; I don’t remember their names.
The North Rim and South Rim are both exceptionally scenic, but the North is much less crowded, and higher (1200′) in elevation, making for cooler weather.
You will love the North Rim. And if you want a 14 mile jaunt, walk down to the bottom of the Canyon! There is no Starbucks down there, so you will have to make other plans for finding the energy to walk up to the 10,000 feet starting point!