Day 7 - Grand Junction to Grand Canyon

I'm sitting here in the dining room of the Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Today is opening day for the north rim, so there have definitely been some major hiccups (I had a 7:30 dinner reservation and actually got seated around 8:45), but its good to be back after about a 20 year absence. 

I left Brenda's house this morning around 10:00 and made my way over to Two Rivers Winery. They opened for tastings at 10:30, so I was a couple minutes early. I had a great tasting there and spent a while talking to Brittany, one of the owners. She and her husband are from Austin! So of course we had a lot to talk about. 

I left there and continued west on I-70. I drove through some absolutely beautiful hills and canyons. No wifi he at the north rim, so I can't post my pictures yet, but I took a TON. I think I stopped at all but one "view area." So many cool things to see. Once I turned off of I-70 onto US-89, there wasn't as much cool stuff to see, but it wasn't a really difficult drive. I finished listening to Harry Potter book 2, I talked to my mom on the phone for a while, and I listened to some show tunes. Good times. 

Coming into the Grand Canyon, I bought an inter agency annual pass. Even though I'm only going to 3 national parks and a couple national forests, it still makes sense financially. For whatever reason, I was getting nervous as I got closer and closer to the lodge, and when I finally saw the actual cabin, I was close to tears. It was just so....so breathtaking. Check in went pretty smoothly and I found my cabin without issue. After minor unpacking, I came down to the lodge and took a couple pictures of the canyon. I got a glass of wine and attempted to sit out on the porch, but I was in the shade and it was quite chilly, so I waited inside. I checked in at 7:00 for my 7:30 reservation and realized at that point that they were running significantly behind. I heard rumors that there were a few employees that didn't show up or that somehow, they had significantly overbooked, but regardless, they said that they were running about 45 minutes behind. Quite quickly, trays of hors douvres appeared in the sun room and the chef and waiters were encouraging everyone to help themselves. At least they handled it well. Some people were really upset, but what can you do? I finally got seated at 8:45. My table would have a great view if it were still light out (no daylight savings time in Arizona, so the sun goes down earlier). Before I got seated, I chatted briefly with the executive chef and he recommended the tuna. It is quite good. The citrus rice pilaf is fantastic. 

Plan for tomorrow is breakfast here in the lodge and then hiking down into the canyon. I think I'm going to go down 2 miles to Supai tunnel. Elevation is quite high here, so I'm going to take my time and drink lots of water. Then a nice relaxing late afternoon and dinner in the dining room again tomorrow night. Lets hope they learn from tonight's experience.