GRAND FINALE

Good food found. Delicious dinner, bison chili for rob, rare eye fillet for me.  Local wine. All good. Thank you Arizona Room at the Bright Angel Lodge. 
Bright Angel Creek is so named to counter the creek found further upstream by John Wesley Powell which was murky and stank so he named it Dirty Devil Creek.  Must have been a relief to find fresher water downstream.
It's  funny on the last day anywhere when you think I should have seen .....   I had considered a helicopter ride, but they don't do that from the Southern Rim after a chopper and light plane head on crash some years ago.  We met Allan from Geelong who had done one and thought it was just as good from the rim so I feel better. We got a shuttle to the Imax to see the film there.  I don't like Imax and came out still not liking Imax but I do appreciate what is extraordinary about the filming. Amazing aerial footage.
Grand Canyon, like Uluru, is run completely by one company. They run all the hotels, campgrounds, shops, everything. They do a pretty good job, the shutle buses taking patrons fron one place to another are very good. All the drivers have tips for visitors,  are very welcoming, but the best is how frequently they move around.  A wonderful service.
All the gift shops are all the same but i domthink that applies more widely than the Grand Canyon.
Sadly we never saw a Californian Condor, not even in the Imax film, but it is good to know that they are there and the numbers are increasing.  On the other hand we saw dozens of squirrels and a few raccoons and Elk.  We were warned about engaging with wild life.. steer clear of Elk in fall/autumn as they are rutting, steer clear of raccoons as they can be aggressive, steer clear of squirrels as they bite, carry fleas and fleas carry bubonic plague.  Dire warnings, of which I took great notice.
Back on the vintage train to Williams, we are held up by the infamous Creek Gang.  Luckily there is a Marshall on hand to ensure that this ends happily for us and not for them. Great fun.  A brief sojourn in Williams for a buffet dinner before boarding the overnight train to LA. This time more in line with our regular sleeping hours. Phew.
UPDATE..Train now running 3+ hours late, Rob has changed his flight, good news is I won't be spending half the day hanging round the airport.