I think they’re afraid of marring the surface of the plexiglass or whatever it is. I know they make you wear little surgical slipper thingies over your shoes so as not to scratch the surface.
No, I don’t think I need to pay $81 just so a bunch of strangers can watch me shit my pants.
Personally, I would skip the crater (overrated) and go to Wupatki/Sunset Crater, and Walnut Canyon instead. Or you could do all those and the crater since they are essentially on the way. Better yet, skip all those and just do the canyon and Sedona.
Assuming you’re going on 93 from Vegas, then to I-40 to Williams, then 64/180 north to the GC, you won’t have many opportunities to buy from the natives along that route, but you will find tourist shops, especially in Tusayan just outside the park. I would suggest that you take the east exit (at Desert View) out of the park on 64 into Cameron and then south on 89 to Flag and back to I-40. That route will take you right through the Navajo Nation and give you a better chance of buying directly from the artist’s roadside stands.
At the GC, there are actually a few places that do sell high quality arts/crafts/pottery right inside the park, but be prepared to pay exorbitant prices. These places are at the GC Lodge and a few of the other historic buildings on the rim. Most of the tourist shop stuff in Tusayan is low quality and may not even be authentic in some cases (made in China/Mexico is not unheard of anymore).
Thanks. The Crater is looking less attractive all the time. I really want to get some stuff if I can afford it, and it sounds like I’ll only be able to afford it if I do the roadside stands.
The roadside stands are truly the way to go, you’ll see. Oh and Meteor Crater is very over rated, but it appeared you really wanted to see it. I just hate to see you drive all that way just to look over to Mr.K and say [Kalhounism]" What the fuck did we drive 3 hours to see this for!!"[/Kalhounism}
Wupatki/Sunset Crater, and Walnut Canyon are far better choices…
Now aren’t you happy you asked us dopers?
I for one will need some pics when you return BTW!
Walnut Canyon and the Sinagua people were amazing!
I’m still a big fan of the North Rim over the South Rim myself, but it’ll be good either way. Have fun!
Yeah, after you’ve been to the north rim, the south rim kinda looks like ass in comparison.
Fuckin’ A! I’m really looking forward to taking pictures.
If you happen to head to Sedona on the way to/from, there’s a scenic overlook at Oak Creek Canyon a bit north of Sedona, where there’s a formal Navaho artisan program that lets people set up booths at the overlook. We found a dozen or more vendors there. IIRC, there were no baskets or blankets, but lots of jewelry, dreamcatchers and other things (my personal weakness is Christmas ornaments and I found some lovely ceramic ornaments. OK, not the most traditional concept, but they were done with Navaho-themed designs). The artisans vary from day to day so you might well find baskets/blankets there. Wisely, the ones I visited all too Visa 
The overlook is well worth it even w/o the artisans, of course!!
There was one lady selling things at one rest stop on the interstate north of Phoenix. We were running late, and looking at arriving at Tusayan well after dark, so I did not stop and browse.
If we go again some time I’ll have to keep an eye out for alternate routes and roadside stands.
Kal, I’ve always said you have the heart of a poet…
Seriously, have a great time - if you guys feel like it, it’s really really worth taking one of the helicopter rides over the Canyon - it truly is the only real memory I have from seeing it.
What can I say? It’s a gift… 
Thanks for the well-wishes! I’m really looking forward to it. It’s been a long time and we’re more than ready after months of overtime for both of us. Plus, he’s never been there. I told him photos really don’t count. You simply can’t capture the enormity of it all. It’s got to be experienced first hand.
We talked it over, and I think we’re going the way of the Walnut. Thanks for the suggestion!
One thing I wish we had done was check out the dino footprints east of the canyon. But that may just be something that appeals to me - and I guess you can see elsewhere.
Are you going to hike down into the canyon? At least a bit? You really should. After going with our kids a few years back, my wife and I intend to return some day and hike to the bottom and back.
Hoover dam is pretty neat on the way from Vegas to GC. We took the hardhat tour and really enjoyed it (again, if that kinda thing appeals to you.) In addition to the dam’s just plain awesomeness, gives a real understanding of the energy resources of the entire area.
We had an excellent breakfast in a diner in the town just W of Hoover Dam. Forget the name, but the sign on the side said “Best Diner by a dam site!” or somesuch.
In Henderson, right where you turn N off 66 to get to the canyon, we had some fantastic burgers in a kinda touristy trap looking place on the S side of the road. The kinda old-timey, independent, hokey but friendly touristy trap place IYKWIM.
(Get the idea that the Dinsdale family travels on their stomachs?!)
We really enjoyed Red Rocks just west of Vegas, as well as the hokey “Old Nevada.”
Have fun, take pics, and look out for condors!
I visited the Canyon Skywalk just a few weeks ago.
I don’t know what the individual price for going on it is at the moment, because my ticket was part of a larger package deal that, overall, I thought was good value for money.
I heard all sorts of horror tales about some people planning on going on the Skywalk but not beng able to because of long lines and long waiting time. This wasn’t true in my case… my partner and I just walked on, no waiting time at all. According to an experienced tour operator I talked to, ever since they opened the Skywalk, he’d only heard of one or two occasions when people who wanted to go on it had not been able to because of waiting time… so it seems the horror stories are somewhat exaggerated (maybe to suck people into paying in advance for a ‘guaranteed / reserved’ ticket, a ruse which it seems I fell for).
Be aware that the Skywalk is NOT how it looks in any of the promotional images and literature, which mostly show ‘an artist’s impression’ (actually an artist’s impression with a PR man holding a gun to the head of the artist’s favourite child). At the moment, it’s a building site. The Skywalk itself is built and perfectly good to walk on, but all around it is half-built crap and rubble and wallls with conduits sticking out of them awaiting future connection. You see, they’re eventually going to add a proper restaurant and other crap to the area, just to spoil it all even further, and this isn’t due to all be finished for another 2 years or so. So, you’re going a long way to visit a building site. They only tell you the truth about this when you’re on the bus that takes you there and you’ve already paid.
You can’t take your camera on to the Skywalk, and they are VERY good at enforcing this. They have airport-level security, so even I couldn’t get a camera on there (and believe me, I am very good at taking photos of things I’m not supposed to be able to take photos of). The Skywalk guides are perfectly up front about this… they admit that the reason camera aren’t allowed is so that you have to buy the ‘official’ merchandise and/or the optional picture the ‘official’ photographer takes of you while you are on there. In other words, naked commercialism. They want to recoup their costs, and they figure this is one way to do it. I argued that it’s counter-productive… if people could bring cameras, more people would come = more income. Time will prove me right.
As for the Skywalk experience itself… it was far more amazing than I thought it would be. To be able to look straight down, 4000 feet, is quite staggering. It messes with your head, because it’s a view that doesn’t tally with anything previously added to your cognitive model of the world. Everyone knows there are floor sections made of re-enforced glass. What isn’t so well-known is that there are small gaps between the glass panels. Yep, actual gaps. So if you lie down on the glass (something they don’t officially allow, but permit at quiet times) you can look straight down into the abyss without even a layer of glass in the way. I did this, and I can only describe it as ‘the view you get 2 seconds before you die’.
I didn’t mean this as a hijack, but it seemed germane to the OP. As for buying souvenirs and so on, I agree that you’ll probably find better stuff along the roads to the Canyon than at the Canyon itself, but then again, to be fair, I do believe the stuff sold at the Canyon rim is genuine.
This is 100% accurate 
, because my sister (who went last month) told me exactly the same.
If it’s not too far down, yes, we’ll be on the lookout for that. We like dinos!
We’ll go just a bit. We’re not the “hiking” types, really…but we’ll give it a couple hours, round trip.
We’re all about the Dam. This is something we wanted to do when we got married, but we zipped in and out of town in just 2 days, so it wasn’t feasible. We’re doing the long tour.
We got a package deal that includes lunch. No clue if it’s trucked in or if we’re going somewhere.
The Red Rocks is a “maybe” on our itinerary. We want to do it but we don’t know if we’ll have time.
Fer sure!!
We pondered the Skywalk option, but decided we’re a little spooked by it. Your description made me throw up a little in my mouth. I’m not good at heights. Based on your description, I think we made the right decision!!!
Not a hijack at all! Thanks for your insight!