The Grand Canyon & Western Railroads

Day 1

Day 1: Saturday, September 9, 2023
Join us this morning from the available departure location of your choice, meet your friendly onboard Trailways host and driver and then settle into your seat as we make our way west today. Enjoy rest and refresh breaks, as needed, as well as a stop for lunch, on your own, as we travel along.
At the end of today’s travel, we’ll stop in Kansas City to visit the Hallmark Cards Visitor Center. Your visit will transport you to a place where a storied past and an exciting future come to life for one of the world’s premier creative companies. Discover the Hallmark story with exhibits that demonstrate the creativity and innovation that go into making Hallmark products.
For more than 100 years, Hallmark Cards has called Kansas City home. Joyce C. Hall, an 18-year-old entrepreneur from Nebraska, started the company in 1910 with a shoebox full of postcards. Today, Hallmark creates greeting cards and many other products in 30 languages that reach 100 countries around the globe.
We’ll check in to our home for the night, the Drury Inn Overland Park in south Kansas City. Enjoy their 5:30 Kickback served until 7pm with a free rotating menu with fresh, hot food and drinks. Free soda and popcorn is also served in the lobby until 9pm.

Day 2

Day 2: Sunday, September 10, 2023
After enjoying a full breakfast at the hotel this morning, we’ll visit the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita for a self-guided tour. Experience a trip through time when you visit the unique and exciting Museum of World Treasures. The museum offers a chance to view real dinosaurs, including Ivan the Tyrannosaurus Rex, ancient civilizations exhibits including two Egyptian mummies, an American presidents exhibit, military history exhibits, an early frontier exhibit, and artifacts of American culture, historic authors, historic music composers and much more!
This afternoon we’ll check into our hotel in Guymon, Oklahoma and have time to rest. Dinner this evening will be included at a nearby local restaurant.

Day 3

Day 3: Monday, September 11, 2023
Have breakfast this morning before continuing on to New Mexico today. Enroute to Gallup, NM we’ll visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. The center is owned and operated by the 19 Indian Pueblos of New Mexico and is dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of the Pueblo Indian Culture, History and Art. The center features daily dances, art markets, exhibitions, live entertainment, museums, native food and more.
This evening, check into our hotel in Gallup and have dinner at a local restaurant as a group.

Day 4

Day 4: Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel this morning before we depart to make our way to Sedona, Arizona today. Our first activity this afternoon is a ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. This classic train takes passengers deep into a scenic Arizona canyon, offering unsurpassed comfort amid a sculpted and colorful landscape. Travel past Indian ruins through a 680-foot man-made tunnel, over old-fashioned trestles and under clear azure skies. This picturesque setting is further enhanced by the variety of indigenous flora and fauna and the many migrating waterfowl.
For dinner, we’ll visit the Blazin’ M Ranch for a chuckwagon dinner and cowboy music. Located in Cottonwood, the ranch features western boutique shopping, a museum and saloon, as well as the air-conditioned barn with its chuckwagon buffet and the after-dinner music of the Blazin’ M Ramblers.

Day 5

Day 5: Wednesday, September 13, 2023
After breakfast this morning you are in for an exciting ride on the open-air Pink Jeep Tours. Climbing 2000 feet above the town to the very top of the Mogollon Rim you find a magnificent view. This tour is off-road fun with fantastic photo opportunities as you drive past majestic red rock formations, through pine forest and desert, to the mountain top and back.
Next, you visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Sitting high atop the red rocks in Sedona, it was commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude. In 1932 she was inspired to build such a church by the construction of the Empire State Building. Staude initially attempted to do this in Budapest, Hungary with the help of Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. However, their attempt was aborted due to the outbreak of World War II. With this unfortunate turn of events, she decided to build the church in her native homeland, Arizona.
This afternoon, your Sedona experience will include time at internationally renowned Tlaquepaque (pronounced T-la-keh-pah-keh), Sedona Arizona’s Arts & Crafts Village. Nestled beneath the shade of the sycamores on the banks of beautiful Oak Creek in Sedona, Tlaquepaque is the most distinctive Sedona shopping experience to be found in the Southwest. You will have time for shopping and lunch, on your own, while here.
After traveling to Williams, we’ll visit the new Bearizona Wildlife Park. We’ll see animals the way they should be seen, in a natural environment and from the comfort and safety of your own vehicle. In this drive-thru park a tour guide will narrate and talk to you about the wide variety of wildlife and their conservation efforts. We’ll see bison, big horn sheep, wolves, red fox and otter, badgers and burros, and a variety of bears. Plus, a separate display on high country raptors.
Later this afternoon, check into the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams, Arizona for an overnight stay. This modern hotel is located in the center of town, along historic Highway 66, and conveniently beside the Grand Canyon Railway Train Depot.
This evening, have free time to be able to explore the town of Williams. It’s known as the Gateway to the Grand Canyon National Park via the Grand Canyon Railway. Also, historic Route 66 runs through the downtown area featuring Pete’s Route 66 Gas Station Museum as well as numerous shops and restaurants to explore.

Day 6

Day 6: Thursday, September 14, 2023
This morning you can enjoy a hearty breakfast buffet at Fred Harvey’s before starting out on our Grand Canyon train excursion. Also, you may want to get to the Grandstand beside the depot early before the train for the Wild West shootout.
Next, hop on a first-class train ride on the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. On the 65-mile ride to the canyon you’ll pass through 6,000-foot-high forest and mountain desert. Attendants will offer refreshments and snacks, and there is a full bar onboard.
This evening, check into the Maswik Lodge, Grand Canyon, for a two-night stay, nestled in the Ponderosa Pine Forest. It is located just a short quarter-mile walk from the canyon’s edge. Have some free time to explore before rejoining the group this evening.
This evening, the group will have dinner at a local restaurant before heading out for a sunset tour. After dinner, we’ll meet our step on guide for a guided sunset tour of the Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon sunsets are world-famous and is a must see. Experience breathtaking and inspirational views on this 1.5-hour tour.

Day 7

Day 7: Friday, September 15, 2023
After breakfast, we’ll depart for our Desert View Tour which takes us on a 52-mile journey in about 4 hours and focuses on the beauty of the East Rim of the Grand Canyon. From here you can see the Colorado River as it emerges from the inner gorge. There will be plenty of photo opportunities as you will make various stops along the way with spectacular views. We will also stop at the outpost at Desert View which is home to the Watchtower, a visionary of architecture by Mary E. J. Colter.
After your desert tour, you’ll have the rest of the day to explore in Grand Canyon National Park. Visit the Grand Canyon Village, check out the Hopi House, Yavapai Point, the Geology Museum and many other attractions and shops in the village. Lunch and dinner are on your own while exploring today.

Day 8

Day 8: Saturday, September 16, 2023
This morning, after breakfast, you’ll get an early start on your trek to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Today we leave the Maswik Lodge and travel the road less traveled to make our way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. With less tourists in the area you’ll have time to take in your serene surroundings and let the beauty soak into your soul. Have a guided talk with a ranger about your surroundings and learn the history of the land.
After exploring the North Rim today we’ll make our way to Kanab, Utah for our overnight stay. This evening, enjoy an included dinner with the group at a local restaurant nearby the hotel.

Day 9

Day 9: Sunday, September 17, 2023
After enjoying breakfast at the hotel this morning we depart for Colorado, traveling through Utah’s Red Rock Country today and enjoying magnificent and breathtaking views.
Once arriving in Glenwood Springs, Colorado we’ll be able to relax for a bit in the depths of the Iron Mountain Hot Springs before checking into the hotel for the night. Situated alongside the beautiful Colorado River, and surrounded by Rocky Mountain views that soothe and inspire, the 16 geothermal soaking pools offer guests a pure soaking experience – the way that nature intended.
This evening, ride the Iron Mountain Tramway, a state-of-the-art European pulse gondola design, one of the first ever installed in the United States. Visitors experience a towering panoramic view of the spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery as they skim over the tops of the trees, up to the top of the Iron Mountain and the entrance to Glenwood Caverns and Historic Fairy Caves. After the tram ride, enjoy a BBQ or Deli Buffet dinner, on your own, with panoramic views from the restaurant that are not to be missed.

Day 10

Day 10: Monday, September 18, 2023
Have breakfast at the hotel this morning before departing for Denver. This afternoon, you’ll have some free time, on your own, for shopping and lunch at Denver Union Station. Choose from a wide variety of restaurants and shops in and around the station for a fun-filled afternoon.
Next, take a private tour of the home of Titanic heroine, the unsinkable Margaret “Molly” Brown, a woman of extraordinary courage. The museum tells the story of Margaret “Molly” Brown’s activism, philanthropy and passion and is one of only a handful of sites nationally dedicated to the interpretation of a woman’s story.
This evening, check into your hotel for the night in Lexington, Nebraska and enjoy one last dinner with your fellow Trailways Travelers.

Day 11

Day 11: Tuesday, September 19, 2023
After enjoying breakfast as a group this morning we depart for home with fond memories of your trip to the Grand Canyon!