El Tovar Hotel: Sleeping on the Edge
It's been around 1905 and hosted Theodore Roosevelt and Albert Einstein, yet standard room rates at the El Tovar clock in at a shockingly bargain $166 for being perched about 100 feet from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The El Tovar and its scattered lodges along the edge of the Grand Canyon were built for the classic National Parks family road trip. They offer hearty breakfast buffets, unbeatable views, free parking, and immediate access to the head of the popular Bright Angel Trail (an 8 mile, 4000+' descent to the Colorado River).
If you opt for the hike down, be forewarned that it is very strenuous and splurging on some Nalgene bottles and a souvenir walking stick is necessary.
Return to rest in the El Tover lobby, both a haven for wide-eyed foreign tourists and the terminus of the never-ending dining room queue, furnished predictably in mission-style.
Indeed every postcard, tchotchke and T-shirt in the hotel gift shop induces a wave of nausea-nostalgia, so that it's impossible to forget your family reunion/senior trip/friend's wedding reception and the heavily-syruped side dishes at each.
If staying at the El Tovar, remember these two rules: print a very detailed set of driving directions, and remember that pleat-front khakis with cargo pockets are de rigeur.
[Photo: Matt Bargar]
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