One other question I forgot to put in my prior post. At present I have the option of staying at either Kachinea Lodge - partial canyon view, or The Grand Hotel in Tusayan. The $ difference is negligible, and I am inclined to stay at Kachinea. The only hesitation I have is that we have an infant in tow, and wonder if in a pinch, staying in Tusayan will afford us more options service wise. It will be in 2d week of May, and it is only one night.

Any comments are much appreciated.

I'd stay at the Kachina...there is a grocery store in the park and a general store..nothing like staying on the rim..

The kachina is more of a motel type place, but right next to El Tovar and the Birght Angel which both have lobbies and restaurants.

Thanks. Is the restaurant in the El Tovar suitable to have an at-times unpredictable infant with you (at a relatively early hour - not at 9:30 pm or something like that)? Same q. goes for the Arizona Room.

This is a strange question. A night in the park would be fun but to turn up fearing a medical emergency is not fun.

What kind of medical problem are you concerned about that might overwhelm local facilities? Any medical emergency such abdominal surgery, a severe heart attack, disabling stroke, a badly broken bone or the trauma of a severe burn or injury is usually referred to a larger medical center anyhow. Airlifting people to larger regional medical centers is common in the west.

I know from experience that LDS hospitalin Salt Lake City is set up to provide life flight servies from many of the small Utah towns. Arizona is an even larger state with huge areas of sparse population.

The South Rim visitation is so high that the medical clinic is open all year. The summer crowds cause an increases in staff at the clinic.

If the anticipated problem is that great or the consequences of faiing to obtain treatment quickly are potentially very grave, should you be traveling to remote areas in the first place?

As for eating facilities, there is a family friendly cafeteria in one of the lodges on just off the rim, usually lots of space to spread out and get comfortable. Definitely stay in the park.

the rest. aren't all that fancy...but may be frowned upon at El Tovar ...didn't say how old infant is...the Arizona (Steakhouse) isn't fancy and should be fine for an infant...maybe bring a pak"n" play along for sleeping...do't know about cribs being there...cal and ask

Thank you for the helpful responses. I sensed that the Arizona (Steakhouse) would be good.

The infant will be 9 months. She is pretty mellow - the question simply related to ambiance of the El Tovar room. There are happy mediums between the Chucky Cheese reataraunts of the world and the Lutece's. Since I know that reservations at the El Tovar restauraunt can be hard to come by, just wanted to assess if it was appropriate (in an effort to be considerate of fellow diners.) I appreciate "help's" post in that regard.

As for bob's post/comment, I don't think I said anything about concerns, let alone needs, for medical facilities. The question really related to options for buying things in a pinch - be it formula, bottled water, pediatric Tylenol, or other things that come up that one forgets in the pell mell of travel (or may get lost in transit) or may have been overlooked. So the real question was what was avail. in the park proper and how late it was open. With all due respect, I don't think there was anything suggesting a fear, rational or otherwise, of a medical emergency along the lines you described. However, I do appreciate the information you passed on in any event; better to know it than not.

I'd definitely stay at Kachina. Staying in the park really provides you with a Grand Canyon experience that a room in Tusayan just doesn't do. You can certainly find bottled water, children's Tylenol, etc. although I'm not sure I'd count on finding formula.

I wouldn't hesitate to take the baby along for dinner at the El Tovar. It may be a little more formal than the other park restaurants, but nothing there is so formal or so fancy that I'd be surprised to see a little person at the next table.

thanks much, we do intend to bring formula you just never know what'll happen. best offense is a good defense (or some cliche like that!) Kachina 'tis.

have a 14 month old grand/daughter...I'd take her just about anywhere...along w/formula and diapers(no more fomula,thank heavens)...but would take the pak"n"play..I'm a clean freak,I guess...I WOULD call ahead and check on baby food ,etc at the canyon grocery store..but of course I carry all meds you can think of..we have double everything at our house...G/dad and I babysit while the kids work...but of course G/ma wouldn't take a chance of not having be prepared even w/my own...we camped and traveled alot(Yellowstone,etc) w/the kids when they were young..carried everthing you could think of....have stayed at the thunderbird just the same as the Kachina

I also suggest staying at the GC rather than in Tusayan. It is an entirely different experience to walk outside and see sunrise/sunset than to contemplate packing up yourself, kid and assorted stuff to drive into Park.

We stayed at Bright Angel and did not have canyon view - in retrospect am actually glad we did not because "canyon view" there means right along paths with all sorts of noisy people at all times of day. Should not have similar problem at Kachina because of the way it is set.

If there is anything you end up needing, there is a fairly comprehensive, though basic store in park along shuttle bus loop (or drive).

I also did not sense any medical hysteria in your original post - perhaps responder was thinking of some other post.

We just stayed at Kachina over spring break week w/our kids. Definitely choose being on the rim rather than outside the park, the time you would spend in line waiting to get into the park and then trying to find a place to park and waiting for a shuttle to the rim would not be worth it, especially w/an infant in tow.

As for El Tovar dining room, my husband and I had dinner there at 9:15pm on a week night (our kids were tired and went to bed early) and there were small children at 75% of the tables. All well behaved. I was surprised to see so many little ones while my teens were sound asleep LOL. IMO you should have one meal, even if it were breakfast, at the El Tovar, it's a nice experience.

BTW, there are no reservations for breakfast or lunch at ElTovar, it's first come, first serve. BUT, if you are interested in dinner reservations, they only take dinner reservations one day in advance starting at 2pm. We really wanted to have dinner there but we knew we would still be on the plane at 2pm the day before so we had my mother call for us and make them. She couldn't get the exact time we wanted, but close enough. So check the day before as close to 2pm as possible. You can always call back and cancel if you can't make it or change your mind.

This has all been very informative and helpful. Thanks very much!

I believe you can make online dinner reservations at El Tovar, but if you don't, definitely make them when you get there....don't stay anywhere but Kachina or Thunderbird, wonderful views.