Beeline to the Bar

Here's something I forgot to say. I fell flat on my back in the parking lot while I was trying to pack the car before we made the trip to the grand canyon. I started laughing hysterically and the maintenance guy on the other side of the car totally ignored me. Fun stuff. Didn't hurt.

At the canyon, heather and I got so hungry that we could not think straight, so of course we walked to the in-hotel restaurant. Sorry, the host said. We're closed for the next 20 minutes until dinner starts.

Really.

We couldn't think straight, but we could walk straight to the bar and ask desperately for them to give us food.  We found disgruntled customers who came to the bar for the same reason as us and I felt a sense of community.

Some battered zucchini and mushrooms later, we met three sisters who were very encouraging about our trip. One knew the canyon trails like the back of her hand and had hiked 23 miles that day. Things had lined up for them, too, to spend time together. One of them had great hair herself - the one who had approached me an asked to look at and touch my hair in the first place. Darker underneath and then at least three subtly different golds on top. One of them had been "restructured" out of her job, and I like that she used that word instead of more negative ones she could have used. Sometimes restructuring involves unpleasant changes that nobody wants to make and the fact that she didn't make a face or dwell on the subject meant a lot to me. I think someone will restructure her into their business sometime soon.

And then we got our checks, and they got their fries, and our intensely friendly conversation was gracefully finished, just like that.  I love when I know exactly how and when to hang up the phone, and when conversations come to an end exactly when they should. Even my grandma has tact in wrapping things up - and she likes to talk (and I love talking to her)!

And although the room was a bit simple, the staff was eager to please and had one of us wanted to take a bath there was an old claw tub available in one of the shower rooms. How ABOUT that!

And this is the most important thing: through watching the park film, I learned that the canyon has an artist-in-residence program. And I asked more about it, and did research, and found that about 50 other national parks do too! That means that if I were accepted, I could spend several weeks housed and sponsored by a national park to make art inspired by that park, and then be able to share it with visitors!

I am going to do this if it is the last thing I do.