Houseship trip #3

The plan was this morning, Wes was supposed to get up early to write and then wake everyone for breakfast at The Lodge restaurant. However, Vickie decided to wander down to The Lodge for coffee and while there was informed by the nice boy that if we wanted breakfast, we better get there cause "the food was going fast". She came back and got everyone moving. We just pulled on clothes and went as we were. The breakfast was good, and eating overlooking the sunrise on the Grand Canyon was priceless. (AMEX took care of the rest). After breakfast, we did the clean up and shower thing. One of those interesting ironies awaited us in the bathroom. There was a cool placard proclaiming how Xanterra Parks and Resorts ^R was protecting the environment by using bulk soap and body wash dispensers. Also how they were conserving water and protecting the environment by not changing the sheets and towels unless requested. Then it happened I got in the shower and they blew it all. There s hould have been a line on the placard that said "Oh and by the way, we have diverted half the Colorado River through your shower for your cleaning pleasure". I have stayed in motels where the showerhead put out less water in a week than these put out in a minute. Had me a little conflicted about the whole conservation issue. (but I really enjoyed it) After clean up, Jimmie, Judy, Brenda, and Jerry went for a short hike (complete with our new stupid hats and walking sticks) on one of the trails. It was especially cool since Jimmie and Judy have never been to the Grand Canyon and Jerry and Brenda have not been to this side. Vickie and this old gimp decided to hang and prepare our gear for departure. I used the time to download the pictures from the camera and catch up on my writing. When they get back it’s off to Page and the Houseship Adventure. We drove out of the North Rim and stopped at Point Imperial overlook. The view was stupendous. As we continued out of the park, we had to s top and take the luggage off the roof cause it was snowing. It snowed/sleeted for quite a while as we exited toward Page. We made the trip over the mountains and across the high mesa to get to page. The scenery is like nothing you’ve ever seen. We stopped at the bridge across the Colorado River, and the Navajo folks had stands set up selling stuff. The girls shopped, and Jimmie Jerry and I stood and admired the Colorado flowing through the gorge. Finally we arrived at Page, and found the Quality Inn where we had reservations. We stopped at the Super Wally Mart and picked up some chicken to eat at the motel when we landed. We had 3 adjoining rooms, and I set up the laptop so we could work on our planning for the Ship Trip tomorrow. After much wrangling and discussion, we ended up with a shopping list for tomorrow. We can access The Ship at 08:00 tomorrow, so we are planning to get an early start. Continental breakfast is included here and starts at 06:00, so we are planning for that .

More later.

Wes