May 17, 2002
Today was another lazy day, with the morning spent at home. Plan was to go back to the Canyon Village and mess around by the rim at the hotels, get an ice cream, and see if we could get a closer look at the Condors. Hopefully close enough to take some pictures.
Well, a Condor it isn't, but this Raven put on quite a show for the crowd. He (who knows gender at this angle and distance except another raven, eh?) would cluck like a chicken, chirp like a squirrel, and just generally vocalize like crazy to the delight of everybody around. We sat here for at least an hour, and for half that time this bird was performing--a real ham. In the picture on the right his throat feathers are all puffed out and he was cackling like a hen with a fresh egg.
Alright! Now the fun begins. There are all kinds of signs warning people to not feed the wildlife, for all kinds of good reasons I won't go into here. But people feed the wildlife anyway at this particular spot. One woman had sprinkled some of her salted sunflower seeds on the wall, and the raven claimed them immediately. But after eating a few, he had to get on with his show, which meant he had to hop about and play the crowd....and not keep a close eye on his "stash." But the squirrels were on the seeds in a flash. And the raven would chase them off yelling at them at the top of his lungs. More than once the squirrels weren't fast enough, and he'd get some tail hairs in his mouth. The crowd howled in delight. And then we caught one of the little fuzzy tailed rats with both front feet off the ground as it scampered over the canyon wall. They looked a lot like targets to me, but most the people around me thought they were cute.
The little thieves would climb all over people trying to steal their food. Kids were the best targets because they're built closer to the ground. These kids were great. Well supervised but not over-protected if you know what I mean. The parents would tell them how to defend themselves (no, don't kick the squirrels, just move away) but the pests (the 4 legged ones) were persistent. The kids never did share their ice cream with the rascals; look at that little sucker begging in the last picture!
At this point we felt like we'd had about all we could take of the place. I'd gone into overload the first couple of days, and am still recovering from the impact of our visit. We decided to leave on Saturday the 18th rather than Sunday the 19th, and get set up at the Thousand Trails preserve in Las Vegas. After our South Rim adventure, we've decided that we'll go back to the Grand Canyon again and base ourselves at the North Rim next time since we didn't have enough time to enjoy it on this trip. Somewhat like the Lake Tahoe area in California, the south end is lots of commercialism, and the north less so. At least Tahoe used to be that way....I haven't been there in years. Maybe we'll get there this year.
Doctor appointments (routine stuff) tomorrow, cleaning and waxing the rig for its new owners whomever that may be, and "getting organized" will take most our time here in Las Vegas. Sure, with a 99¢ breakfast available (eggs, hashbrowns, bacon or sausage, & toast) at five of the casinos, we'll venture out at least once (the times are the kicker--available from midnight to 6 a.m.). And Barb wants a new swimsuit so we'll spend some time at the factory outlets. Tough life, but we're getting well trained for it.