We had an excellent breakfast this morning at the buffet at the Stratosphere. It was $10.95, which seems pricey for breakfast, but the spread of food was unbelievable, and the quality was high. We loaded up the Toyota Previa and realized the amount of luggage and people we had was a little over the internal cubic capacity of the vehicle. We came up with a plan, to stop at a Wally Mart and transfer some of the "stuff" to the roof rack so conveniently provided. Wally Mart in Nevada is truly your one stop shopping spot. We got bungee cords, liquor, wine, batteries, limes, cups, mixers, and a cold drink. I was surprised they didn’t have a casino in the Wally Mart. Heck they even have slot machines in the gas stations. With a couple of our rolling adventure bags safely lashed to the roof, we were on our way. The elevation at Las Vegas is around 1900 feet, and the lodge here is around 8700 feet, so it is a climb the whole way. The route out of Vegas follows I-15 and then we cut off ne ar Huricane Arizona toward the Grand Canyon. Along the way we passed through Nevada, Arizona, Utah and back into Arizona. Also according to the cell phones we passed in and out of a couple time zones. The Grand Canyon is on Mountain Standard Time. Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time. When you make the final turn off to get to the North Rim, it’s about 50 miles through the wilderness to get there. Along the way we stopped at a meadow and observed 2 animals the driver (Jerry) had astutely spotted. We stopped the car, broke out 2 sets of binoculars (one HUGE set), and proceeded to have a lengthy discussion as to what we were looking at. Jerry says it was bears, Vickie thought it was a skunk, I thought it was a ground hog at first, but then settled on porcupine. Jimmie and Judy decided it was a badger. The debate continued for the next 30 miles and we passed numerous herds of deer and finally reached the entrance Ranger Station. The ranger informed us there were no bears in t hese parts, and said it might be a badger. Everyone agreed it might except me and I still insist it was a porcupine. We arrived at the North Rim Lodge just in time for sunset. We scurried around changing cloths in the parking lot. Reason was it was 80ish when we left Vegas. It was 48 and the wind was blowing at The Lodge. We made it down to the outdoor deck on The Lodge for the last 45 minutes of the sunset. The scenery was indescribable and even the digital pictures can’t do it justice. The whole scene at The Lodge was kind of party like since it was the last night of operation for the season. All the kids who are seasonal employees here were looking forward to starting vacation tomorrow. Most of the folks staying at the Lodge were here because it was the last night. Out on the lower deck was a fireplace you could park a car in, and it was blazing away. All in all it was the kind of night you just can’t pay money for.
We had a dinner reservation for 8:00 p.m. so after the sunset we checked in and adjourned to our assigned cabins for a while. The ladies headed off for the gift shop where they were having a 20% off end of season sale. We guys sat around a sipped a beverage and enjoyed the ambience. The cabins we were staying in are called "Frontier Cabins" They have one room, are made of logs, have no television, and are totally cool. The bathroom is reasonably modern, and well equipped. We had two that adjoined each other with a door in between. We used those two as the gathering place. At about 7:45 we rounded everyone up and headed to dinner at The Lodge. We had to wait a little while, but were soon seated in the huge high-ceilinged dining room. Our waiter was a gem and he told us to make our food choices quick since the availability was going fast. The menu wasn’t extensive and we quickly choose. Jerry, Jimmie, and Judy opted for the pan seared Mountain Trout. Vickie went for the North Rim Pasta which combined pene, crisp bacon, peas, pine nuts, Alfredo sauce and romano cheese. Brenda had a salad, and I decided on the Free-Range Meatloaf. (exactly what a free range meatloaf is is a good question) At the last minute, I decided to switch to the trout. It was a good decision. The trout was very delicious topped with a diced tomato and pineapple sauce I am going to have to figure out how to duplicate. I was worried it was going to be one of those trouts that look up at you from the plate, but it was a filet. All the food and drink was excellent and the ambience was beyond compare. Thanks to Jerry for the excellent planning. We wandered back to the adjoining rooms after dinner to contemplate the universe. We sat around and chatted until Brenda broke out one of those unexpected joys in life, a whoopee cushion. She first caught Vickie unaware, and things degenerated from there. We took turns seeing who could get the best result, and belly laughed like a bunch of teenagers t ill late in the evening. We planned our exploits for the following morning and snuggled to our respective cozy cabins for fine rustic sleep.
More later,
Wes
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