I've been there.  We also visited the Painted Desert area and the Petrified Forest National Park.  I hope they venture out to Winslow, AZ (less than 100 mi. from Williams) to "stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona".....it's a popular tourist stop.

They move on to Scottsdale a suburb of Phoenix I think in a few days then home next weekend. They left here on 6 September. 

I hope truly that their visit is so fulfilling that they will want to plan a trip with the American Southwest specifically in mind.  In addition to the iconic corner in Winslow (you do need to be of a certain age to appreciate it), a reenactment of the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone is fun.  We could move on to New Mexico and Colorado (I almost moved there in '72), but I'm in danger of developing wanderlust again and I can't do that right now, either to myself or the relative I'd have to stay with.   

The American Southwest holds a lot of history and it took a lot of smart, brave men and braver women to tame it.  Bringing culture and civility took another kind of man, a man named Frederick Henry Harvey, a British entrepreneur.  I think my fascination with the Southwest that began in childhood is due to this man.  I found him researching British in the Southwest.  There are a number of notable as well as notorious Brits in our Wild West history.  Not all of you remained as Boston Blue Bloods.  If you're interested:

https://seligmansundries.com/history/fred-harvey-company-route-66/

Not heard of him until now. The tales of railroad passengers only being allowed a short time to eat bad food on stops was the same as passengers on horse-drawn coaches in earlier times. My home town was a stop on the London to Holyhead route (Holyhead for the ferry to Ireland) with the Crown Hotel, still standing, as the main stop for a brief meal and a change of horses.  

What's the oddest thing you've ever asked for for your birthday or Christmas? I was looking round an antique shop today and found a World War I German pickelhaube helmet, the one with a spike on top that you see in all the films about Germans in World War I. It was in a cabinet so I didn't actually handle it, but it's displayed as genuine. Birthday and Christmas soon! 

The only thing I can think of that could be considered odd was I asked that a 1954 Buluva watch be restored.  It was done but years later I accidentally laundered it.  The watch is intact but it will now be repurposed as a pocket watch for my doll's steampunk costume.  

If you get that helmet for your birthday or Christmas, we must demand photos.  Mi'lord in a helmet. 

Why does the enemy always have the best uniforms?

21 October 1966 - The Aberfan Disaster.

The saddest, most tragic disaster in modern British history.

After days of heavy rain a colliery spoil tip above the Welsh village of Aberfan collapsed overwhelming a row of houses and the Pantglas Junior School. A total of 144 people were killed, 116 children and 28 adults. All but seven of the children died in the school, their ages ranged from seven to eleven. 

Today the site of the Pantglas School is a memorial garden.

The kind of disaster which affected parents more than any other, especially those with kids of the same age.