Day 36

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October 18, 2009
Today John dropped Bill off at The Canyon…that’s what you call it if you’re visiting and you’re really cool…The Canyon…”Meet you at the Canyon”…”We were just over at the Canyon”…”Don’t fall in The Canyon”… Bill spent the morning exploring while the rest of us slept in. John and I went to the National Geographic Visitor Center and watched the IMAX film of The Canyon…it was really incredible! Donna waited for us in the center because those types of films make her head crazy. Afterwards we picked up sandwiches and set off to meet Bill. He had his telescope set up on the rim… (again if you’re cool) and we could see the lodge on the North rim…amazing. We had decided before hand to “dine” on the porch of El Tovar, one of the very elite lodges here…we thought we would sashay up to the porch as if we belonged and take out our sandwiches. This all went well until the wind blew a gust so strong that it hit my Uno box which smashed into Bill’s opened (full) bottle of coke which splattered all over the table, Donna’s pocketbook, Donna’s pants, my pants, my pocketbook, John’s potato chips…you get the picture. The coke went off like a bomb, spewing everywhere and landed on the floor leaving a wake of destruction in it’s path. We were all so stunned we just sat there immobilized doing nothing to stem the flow! The bottle continued to gush forth its contents all over the lovely porch floor…Oh Dear…We tried to “clean” the mess by dousing the floor with water…this didn’t really work. I kept looking around to see if anyone of importance was watching the buffoonery…It appeared not…We could hardly finish our sandwiches…Afterward we walked away as if nothing at all had happened…which was difficult because coke is very sticky and I had on rubber soled shoes…
One exciting occurrence…while we were causing chaos on the porch a mule deer came right up onto the lawn and started grazing. When he was finished, he laid down and rested…this place is wonderful.
One more thing…we cannot leave Donna unattended! Today when we were getting out of the car for our “picnic”, we started walking to El Tovar and we realize…no Donna. We turn around to find her walking in the complete opposite direction. Now let me be clear, this is not like Bill (where’s waldo) who leaves us on purpose…no. Donna THINKS she’s with us. She walks away so confidently…with her bag over her shoulder or dangling from her arm…many of you have seen this…without a thought that she may be going the wrong way…she just gets out of the car and starts marching in a direction as if she knows the way better than all of us… kind of like a homing pigeon. No one really knows what goes on in her little head…how she comes up with her directional patterns… She just steps smartly until someone calls to her , “Hi-O…But that doesn’t usually stop her…so we yell, ”Donna”…she stops, turns around , just smiles, and comes on back to us...”Oh …I thought…” she says and then starts off in the new direction!!!
Bill and I left Donna and John and went off to watch the sun set at “The Canyon”. In the IMAX film today the narrator said something to the effect that neither words nor paint nor pictures could adequately describe the beauty…he was right. This was another spiritual experience…hushed, brilliant, astounding…People acted as if they were in church celebrating a sacred rite…speaking so quietly or not at all…just wonderful…
One quick note…we would like to say hello to our friends in Ukraine who we hear are reading our blog!!! Read on friends…you are giving truth to our name…”Bloggers Without Borders”!!! To you and all of our fellow travelers on the blog, please keep the comments coming…I told my son today, they keep us connected!
Today’s Road Lesson: The next time I eat outdoors I’m wearing a wet suit…now there’s a visual…

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