Four hours later, we arrived in the small town of Tusayan, Arizona. While the Grand Canyon itself is open year-round, tourist services are very seasonal. The North Rim road gets so much snow that it’s closed off in the winter months. (The weather reports casually threw around terms like “landslide” and “blizzard.”) There was really only one option for us, and it was Tusayan – a little village right outside the park entrance at the South Rim.
Tusayan consists of six lodges, a Pizza Hut, a gas station and convenience store, a visitor’s center, a McDonald’s, and – inexplicably – two independent Mexican restaurants. The town is very isolated, and as a result the food options aren’t great and they’re enormously expensive.
The upside to visiting the Grand Canyon at the very peak of low season is that it’s easy to find somewhere to stay. We found a room at the Grand Hotel, which apparently books up months (sometimes a year) in advance during high season. The Grand Hotel is adorable, with giant bear wood carvings and a chalet-inspired exterior. The rooms are basic, but the lobby is very cozy, with its fireplace and Southwestern decor. As a bonus, it has its own café, restaurant, and bar – but we’ll get to that later.
The downside to visiting the Grand Canyon in January is the weather. I’m not talking about lots of snow. I’m talking about white outs, sudden snow squalls, ice storms, and other fun stuff in between general dustings that can make driving those few miles into the park virtually impossible – which I first heard about that very evening. We had dinner at one of the two Mexican restaurants because it was the only non-fast food place open that night. (Easy choice.) It was us, the national park rangers, a local family, the staff, and an international tour group. The food wasn’t great, but we all got to watch two Japanese tourists try their very first burritos. (They were not fans.)
In the time it took us to eat dinner, it snowed about two inches and formed a layer of ice all around the car. We slid across the street to the one gas station to buy a car scraper plus some snacks and water for hiking. The park rangers from the restaurant showed up to put some chains on their tires, which wasn’t very encouraging when we’re driving a front-wheel-drive rental car.
“That’s your car?” one of them asked us, before adding, “I think you’ll be okay.” We had discussed the weather in depth at dinner, because that’s what strangers in a Mexican restaurant in the Grand Canyon like to talk about. Did I mention that there is no cell phone signal around these parts?
“See you tomorrow!” they said as they waved to us, cheerfully.
As I was paying, the store clerk said to me in all earnestness, “Don’t worry. Someone will find you eventually if you have a problem.”
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