SUNDAY, 9/23

SUNDAY, 9/23: 

      Well, we didn’t wake up til nearly 8:00.  Since the worship service at GCNP began at 9:00, and it takes us an hour to get to the Lodge, we obviously weren’t going to make it.  We were disappointed, because we’d like to have had that time together with other believers from all over the U.S., if not the world.

     Since we missed that, and it was a very overcast day, we just took our time having a lazy morning – felt in no hurry to get to GCNP.  I tried washing my hair in our RV shower for the first time, since the showers here charge something like $2.25 for 5 minutes.  They have to have all their water carried in here, so are very frugal with it.  I’ve always used the RV parks’ showers for washing my hair – I take as much time as I want – a little luxury I allow myself.  But now I had a time limit, as our hot water wouldn’t run indefinitely.  I barely made it before it started running out! 

     I typed the last 2 or 3 days’ worth of journal entries here (we can use Word & Excel – just no internet), while Bill read. 

     About 1:00,we drove into GCNP.  Even though we’re an hour away and it seems like a pain to have to drive to far twice a day (not to mention the gas), the plus side is that we get to drive through these gorgeous groves of pines, fir, spruce, and of course Aspens. 

     We drove straight to the GCNP campground, where the little general store is located.  It’s there that the North Rim’s WiFi hotspot is located.  Found a place inside, where we could plug in the laptop, since we knew we’d be there for a while.  Had a list of things to do and check on the Internet, including posting the blog & uploading the pictures for it.  It was a perfect time to spend a couple of hours here . . . was drizzling a little outside, was quiet and cozy and intimate inside.  They serve coffee there, and had CD’s of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and a couple of other classic CW artists.  It really sounded nice and soothing, and appropriate for the environment. 

        Because it took some time to upload each picture, I looked for something to read from their book section while waiting.  I grabbed one called Ranger Confidential, written by a former National Parks Ranger.  It’s about the darker side of being a Park Ranger – especially in the big western heavily populated parks like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, where she says that she, and other fellow rangers, became haunted and traumatized by the tragedies they routinely encountered in those places.  She also talks about other stressors in the job.  But primarily the former.  Her writing style is exactly what instantly hooks me – understatement, irony, sections of dry comic relief, and no artificial sentimentality.  So of course I had to purchase the book to take with me. Compelling, even though unsettling and even terrifying.  After we got home, I read almost half of it.  I told Bill that I just hope it doesn’t give me nightmares.  He’d picked up another book while waiting, Death in the Grand Canyon, a huge volume written more in a journalistic style chronicling virtually every death in recorded history in the Grand Canyon, and showed it to me.  I could only skim a small part of that – was too troubling.  Most of us know somewhere in the back of our minds that falls, heat stroke, drownings do occur in places like the Grand Canyon.  But when you’re actually here, and then read the grim statistics, and read the particular details of each individual death, it’s very sobering.  And of course, the vast majority were easily avoidable – they almost all involved some blatant disregard of the rules and cautions posted everywhere, as well as plain  common sense  . . . leaving the trail, going past guard rails, showing off or goofing off for others . . .  And a good number, predictably, involved alcohol. But still . . . tragic and haunting.

     Well, on that happy note, we finished our computer work and left the general store.  It was starting to clear somewhat.  Drove over to the Lodge.  Bill wanted to attend a 5:30 talk there on Grand Canyon photography. It was held outside on the patio, so I just grabbed a couple of chairs facing the Canyon and saved one for him.  Got a couple of slices of pizza from the little deli, and settled in to enjoy the sunset.  The sunset itself was very beautiful . . . and though not extraordinary, the light it cast on the canyon rocks was the best we’d seen.  Still a lot of low clouds blocking some of the sinking sun’s light.  But Bill was happy with some of the shots he got.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Pappy was happy to see us when we got home about 8:00.