It is one of those rare mornings in Page, Arizona where the weather reminds me of the San Francisco Bay area.  I spent a lot of time there as a kid.  There are low clouds in the sky, but they’re just sitting just high enough to let some sun peek through to the shores of Lake Powell.  It’s also just “dewy” enough (80% humidity) to remind one of the sea (though you’re more likely to see ravens than seagulls out here). 

I’ve heard some people call this the “Lake Powell Hole in the Donut” effect, a phenomenon where weather happens everywhere but here.  Light snow is falling in the higher terrain, such as the Grand Canyon, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bryce Canyon, etc.  It is supposed to move out overnight, which means it should be a beautiful but cold weekend in the Grand Circle area, so bring those jackets and gloves along with the cameras!  

Enough about that, on to the business at hand - from all of us at GrandCanyon.com, have a happy and safe New Year (which means no drinking and driving)!  Our offices will be closed this Saturday, Sunday and Monday so that our staff can enjoy the holiday with family and friends as well.  We look forward to serving you again on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007. 

2007 promises to be a very interesting year, with a few significant changes in store, so stay tuned, thank you for reading, and ….. 

Happy New Year!

It’s a gray, cloudy day all around the Grand Canyon.  Snow is expected for later on.  Personally, it looks like it could start up any minute.  But the sun should come back out in time for New Year’s.  If you are spending New Year’s Eve at the Grand Canyon, bring a good heavy coat: overnight lows are going to be anywhere from 5 to 9 degrees… yeah…. Fahrenheit….BRR! 

2007 promises to bring a few changes around the Grand Canyon.  One such change is the phasing out of the National Park Pass and the arrival of the America the Beautiful Pass.  Effective January 1st, 2007, you can purchase the brand-new America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Access Pass.  This card grants admission to not only National Park Service lands, but also to areas administered by the Bureau of Land Management, the USDA Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife Service and other areas where “amenity fees” are charged (except for Indian Tribal Parks such as Monument Valley and Grand Canyon West).  The pass is good for everyone in your non-commercial vehicle for one year’s time.  The price for the new pass is $80.  

This pass is highly recommended for those Grand Canyon vacationers who are visiting the park as part of a National Park Loop Itinerary, or who are maybe “Boxing the Compass” from Flagstaff, Lake Powell, etc.  There are SO many National Parks, Monuments, Recreation Areas around here, that if you’re going to be out here for more than 3 days, you’ll want to visit as many of them as you can.  And most of them cost money to get into: anywhere from $15-$25 (entrance fees at Zion are going up to $25 in 2007) per carload.  So if you’re visiting a few federal fee areas on your visit (i.e., Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon) it makes sense to get the pass.  AND - you can order it before you hit the road at http://store.usgs.gov/pass/ or by phone at 1-888-ASK-USGS and press 3.

If you are 62+, you qualify for a $10 lifetime access pass.  If disabled, you qualify for a complimentary access pass.  These must be obtained in person at any National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife Service or Bureau of Land Management office. 

If you purchased a National Park Pass last year (we buy one every year), it will remain valid for one year after date of purchase as normal.  

Take care, all, and Happy New Year!

Alley K  

Good morning!  Nope, my picture thingy isn’t broken, that’s what folks are seeing at the Grand Canyon as we speak (to be precise, that’s the view from the National Park Service webcam at Yavapai Point).  Today’s forecast for the Grand Canyon area is – drum roll please – SNOW~!  Though at present it’s very light, little accumulation is expected, and at the moment, there are no road closures in effect, but that could change as the day goes on.  

Will the Grand Canyon have a white Christmas?  Sorry to be a killjoy, but to quote the Magic 8 Ball, “the outlook is not so good.”  But, at least we’ll have a “whitish pre-Christmas,” which is a heckuva lot better than we did last year.   

So - stay off the road today if you can, but if you must drive, drive a little slower than you usually would.  Most of all – DON’T LET THIS WEATHER BUM YOU OUT.  Believe it or not, there are plenty of indoor activities you can do on a day like this – like go see IMAX, poke around in the shops, in fact, I made a whole list of ‘em on the season’s first weather day. 

Here it is ->: Grand Canyon “Rainy Day” Activities  

And by the way, if you’re visiting the Grand Canyon in the future, I’d recommend you give the above article a read no matter when you’re coming.  Grand Canyon weather can be notoriously unpredictable, even in summertime!  Be prepared by having a “contingency plan” in case Mother Nature decides to be uncooperative.  Don’t believe me?  I’ve seen it snow 6″ …. in JUNE…. TWICE!!! 

Later, friends! 

Alley Kaye

P.S.  Want to know what other tips might make or break your Grand Canyon vacation?  Order your special advance copy of our Insider’s Guide to the Grand Canyon 2007 Annual Edition.  Drop me a line at alleyk@grandcanyon.com if you’d like one! 

Some movies are just hard for me to watch.  This usually results from one of the following: Gratuitous Set Destruction (”1941″ with John Belushi was a prime example), utter lack of believability (or “Yeah Right” Factor to me and my friends) or just too much chaos.  The other day, a film belonging to the third category was on Dish Network, prompting me to high-tail it to the other room and watch reruns of “CSI: Miami” (oh, boo-hoo! ) – it was “The Out of Towners.”  Not the Steve Martin version, but the original, with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis.  

My husband loves this movie.  Personally, it drives me off my bean.  The title of this movie should have been “The Worst Vacation Ever.” To someone in my profession, it’s just not funny to see someone’s long awaited vacation go bad – in reality or the movies! But sometimes the forces of the universe conspire against us and the rest is just a bad joke.

For those not familiar with “The Out-of-Towners,” the original was made in 1970 (I thought it looked more like ‘65) about an Ohio couple who fly to New York so the husband can to go a job interview.  They have all these grandiose plans like a stay at the Waldorf Astoria, dinner at the Four Seasons (or was it the Russian Tea Room?), see a Broadway show, in short, the ultimate New York weekender. 

Well, no sooner than they’re getting ready to approach JFK, weather moves in, the flight gets diverted, the plane arrives late – in Boston, not New York, they try and fail to get a train to NY, luggage gets lost, hotel rooms get given away, they get robbed, they get rained on, they get screwed blued and not quite tattooed up one side and down the other by fate – and a little “greenhornedness” on their part. 

One of the funnier bits was when poor Jack Lemmon explained for the umpteenth time to anyone who’d listen about all the hell they’d been through, and the person’d say “you could have wired or called.”  Callous?  Maybe, BUT, let me tell you something – it’s a very telling line, both then and now. 

Travellers, you have no idea the difference a few phone calls can make before going on vacation.  About a week before you head out, start gathering up your paperwork or e-mails, and start calling your airline, rental car company, hotels, tours, restaurants where you have dinner reservations, etc.  Matter of fact, there’s a recent thread on the Fodor’s Travel Forum that discusses this very thing, and the overwhelming consensus is that you should DEFINITELY call and reconfirm all your travel arrangements.  It’s the perfect opportunity to nip potential problems in the bud, like transposed dates, wrong room type, etc.  In fact, for a lot of Grand Canyon tours, it’s standard procedure to require a call to confirm arrangements the night before.  

As one poster said, “what do you have to lose besides a few cents for the phone call and a few minutes of your time?”  Speaking from experience myself, it’s especially important to do this if you’re travelling with children.  When it’s just you or you and your hubby travelling, an inconvenience like getting bumped off a flight and getting stuck somewhere overnight might not be any big whoop.  When small children are involved, it can be a mighty big whoop.  Another contributor chimes in, suggesting that calling to reconfirm and speaking with a live person will “help you get psyched about the trip.”

There are a lot of other great points and suggestions on that thread, such as gathering up all your paperwork and keeping it in one envelope or such so you can refer to it quickly if needed.  Take a look at it at www.fodors.com.  Christmas is almost upon us folks….shouldn’t you be on the phone? 

On a personal note, seeing “The Out-Of-Towners” this time around was a trifle sad.. a lot of changes have taken place in the travel industry since then.  For example, the couple in the movie apparently had their hotel room on a 10PM hold.  I worked in hotels back in the days of 4 PM holds and 6 PM holds; never heard of a 10 PM hold.  I also remember when it wasn’t necessary to pay for your hotel room in advance if you booked within a short time of your arrival.  Not anymore.  99% of the time nowadays, you punch in that credit card number and you pay up front (so heads up on that if you haven’t traveled in awhile!).  I got a kick out of the old flight attendants’ uniforms, and those old rotary dial telephones?  Don’t get me started on that….  

But anyhoo – travellers, here’s may prayer for you: may the Vacation Gods never conspire against you to such extremes when visiting the Grand Canyon.  Though eventually, they mess with all of us at least once…  story for another time. 

Alley Kaye

On my recent trip to Moab, a colleague remarked that some members of her staff had a remarkable penchant for calling in sick on a morning such as this.  It just so happens that said individuals are also photographers, which prompted this gal to “unofficially” declare another type of personal day: the ‘photography day.’  I’ll betcha a dime to a donut that these individuals are taking a “photography” day today as a winter storm moved through Northern Arizona and Southern Utah overnight.  The whole area is looking absolutely beautiful in a mantle of white – even Las Vegas got a rare dusting of the stuff!  On my way to work, I saw several cars pulled over on the side of the road, their occupants snapping away. 

There wasn’t all that much in the way of accumulation – maybe an inch or two, maybe more in the higher terrain – but showers are expected to continue throughout the day.  No matter that there wasn’t a ton of snow – there was just enough to make for some amazing photo opportunities.  The photo above came off the Grand Canyon National Park Service Webcam at Yavapai Point about 5 minutes ago, so visibility is still pretty good, as you can see.  Right now, the problem spots are some of the roads: there are no closures or chain requirements in effect – YET.  According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, though, the East Rim Drive apparently has some snow or ice on it around the Desert View Watchtower area to Cameron, as does US 89 from Gray Mountain up through the Gap; ditto for I-40 between Williams and Flagstaff. 

If you’re on the Utah side of the Grand Circle, a lot of the roads around the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Brian Head have 4WD or chain requirements in effect; around Bryce Canyon, they’re apparently still open, but there is snow on them.  If you’re in the vicinity of Las Vegas, Highway 95 from Boulder City to Searchlight is closed. 

At the risk of trotting out an old cliche, we do have a saying around here: “if you don’t like the weather,  just wait a minute.”  Well, it’s true!  In the space of 10 minutes at the Grand Canyon – I am NOT lying about this – I’ve seen it snow, sleet, hail then turn back to blue skies.  As we speak, the snow is melting in a lot of areas.  So… if you’re heading out of the area, you might want to wait for it to warm up just a hair.  You’re on vacation, so grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate (the Belgian Hot Chocolate at the El Tovar is particularly yummy!) and hang out awhile.  Hopefully you’ve left a bit of a “cushion” in your Grand Canyon vacation plans to where you don’t have to be in a hurry.  But as the guys on “Car Talk” say, “if you really have to drive in the snow, do everything slowly.”  

For up-to-the-minute information on Arizona Road Conditions, visit the Arizona Department of Transportation’s website at www.az511.com  For Utah, it’s http://www.commuterlink.utah.gov/ie.htm  For Nevada, visit www.nevadadot.com.  Those of you planning a visit to the area in the near future may want to bookmark those pages – you might need ‘em! 

Happy Travels, everyone, and….. “let’s be careful out there!”

P.S.  What is the Grand Circle?  It refers to the large cluster of scenic, historic and cultural treasures located around the Four Corners area.  The Grand Canyon, Zion, Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde…. they’re all a part of it.  The Grand Circle Association publishes an excellent annual guide on this area – and it’s FREE!  Order one at www.GrandCircle.org