I can't speak more highly of Richard, our tour guide. His deeply informed and ongoing commentary on an incredible breadth of subjects was the highlight of our experience that day.
Of the 12 hour door to door tour, we spent 8 hours in the van. Unfortunately, half the time the air conditioning wasn't working. We started to feel very claustrophobic and bored at a certain point. It was our expectation that we would be spending a fair amount of time outside. It was a beautiful, sunny day and thus was hard for us to be in the van for so long.
I think the business model of this tour is too ambitious. Picking up and dropping off several clients ended up taking 90 minutes-probably more. I would have been happy driving to a central location to meet the tour and thus avoid all that extra time. When we did get to the volcanic fields, which was incredible. we spent maybe 20 minutes before getting back on the van. The hundreds years old dwellings of ancient peoples was fascinating and evocative. But we were there for no more than 40 minutes. By the time we got to the Grand Canyon around 2pm, we left at 7AM we were driven to two vistas for about 20 minutes the first time and maybe 40 minutes for the second, because Richard had to drop someone off and pick up more people for the ride back. I had an obviously unrealistic expectation we would be outside more than in and maybe even take a short hike on the upper level of the canyon.
The lowpoint of the trip, other than all the hours in the van, was the 90 minutes at the Navajo reservation. I couldn't understand why we spent so much time there-unless it was some arrangement with the Navajos so we would spend money and shop. The food was really awful. I would have much rather had a picnic lunch and been outdoors than stuck in what felt like a shopping mall.
So, for us, it was an exhausting and overall unpleasant day. But, if you'd like to be driven through spectacular scenery, this tour might be perfect for you.
the tour was great, the driver was very informative, and showed us places we would not have visited by ourselves. The only thing is I wished we had more time at Cameron, and the canyon, but, we relized there is a time table he has to keep
This trip was FANTASTIC. Our guide Mark was wonderful. He was pleasant, and knew so much about the entire area. We had a great day. I told friends that I would actually do the trip again with them. I think Mark was the best tour guide we have ever had and we have travelled quite a bit.