Yes, the gentleman friend is still around. He recently planned and drove the two of us on a four-day journey to the Grand Canyon and then to Bryce Canyon. (His assistant was that very nice GPS lady he consults.) A great trip…lots of gorgeous scenery and awe — the canyons take one’s mind off of everything trivial.

I am the trip photographer and the truth is, the gentleman is way better looking in pictures than I am. When my few strands of hair blow in the wind and the camera is pointed my way, I look like something for sale in the Halloween store.

Here’s some advice for vacation picture-takers. Look through the camera and if you see scary hair or a light pole extending out of the head of the person you are photographing, say something! Maybe you don’t have to say your subject looks scary, just lie and “try” something else — with a hat maybe.

But egos aside…. we did have a few surprises along the way, one of which was how many folks brought their dogs with them to the Grand Canyon. I love my dogs, but a vacation means time away from them. I imagine traveling with three dogs and moan. One lady we met remarked, “I just couldn’t leave him (the dog) home”. Well. I can and did. And my dogs really appreciated me when I picked them up.

The Grand Canyon is grand, right. We were outdoors and the day was beautiful. Right as we started on the wide walkway from the information center to a huge canyon viewing area was a big sign saying that even outdoors masks were required. Seemed very silly to us and to a bunch of other folks. We carried our masks…. .

That Golden Age Passport that lets senior citizens into national parks saved us the entry fees to both canyon parks. Even with free entry, we were given very interesting brochures about both canyon areas.

Another surprise. Along highway 30 on our way to Williams, Arizona prior to visiting the Grand Canyon, so many tires or portions of tires were on the side of the road. I remarked about that and the gentleman gave me a lecture. on “re-caps” and how those big trucks use them and when the caps come off a company will come all the way to the truck to change the tire. I had never thought about tire problems among those 18 tires. Interesting.

Also at one point I had the sniffles and wondered if my cold was about to return. I needed some zinc tablets (my way of treating a cold) so asked, in Williams, about a drug store. No drug stores in Williams, “but you can go to the Safeway; they sell vitamins.” After visiting Safeway and a long time looking, we found that zinc was currently on sale, but out of stock. We were then told to try the nearby Dollar store and looked again, no zinc — sold out. Some of the pandemic “talking heads” say vitamin D and zinc are good Covid preventatives, so obviously some folks are listening.

The gentleman says our trip covered some 1700 miles with the route often using the back roadways for the scenic possibilities. I loved the scenery. We didn’t need lots of conversation or music in the car. We just enjoyed the views.

Yes, the American West is beautiful…and I recommended driving trips West. At the Grand Canyon we heard a number of languages other than English. I guess the word is out.