Desert View - Day 114 - T minus 14 - A knock on the door....

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5:39 am - Sunday - March 4th - Grand Canyon - 32º F, 74% humidity, wind 20 mph out of the southwest......forecast for today is for very windy, partly cloudy with a high of 38º F.....no snow....thankfully!  Was windy all night long with gusts well into the 40's at times....right now the coach is rockin' and a rollin'!

Saturday began rather benignly......no wind, clear blue skies and another day at the General Store.  Saturday's are usually our busiest day of the week, but you just never know about Saturday's until they happen.  We had barely unlocked the front doors at 8 am when our first two customers walked through the door.....that's the first time we've had that happen since we began working here on November 6th.  By 9 am I had processed 10 customers, and it continued like that throughout the remainder of my 5 hour shift.  You wouldn't know it by my cash deposit of $109, but I had a ton of credit card sales.  TLE reports that she dropped almost $500, and at one time our floor manager had to run the other register for about 30 minutes it got so crowded.

In anticipation of our friends' Roscoe and Geni (we met and worked with them in the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store for 4 months this past summer) arrival at the Grand Canyon to visit us I had made reservations at the 'Arizona Room' (Bright Angel Lodge) for 6:30 pm to have cocktails and dinner with them.  I didn't know if they were going to arrive Saturday, or Sunday......Geni had just sent me a vague text earlier in the week that they would 'call' when they arrived.  Well, by 3 pm they had not called, so I was beginning to wonder if I should cancel our reservation.  I was sitting in my recliner reading when there was an unexpected knock at our door, and there they were.....Roscoe and Geni in the flesh!  I love surprises like that!

They had just come from the store where they had also surprised TLE....we hugged and then talked for about an hour non-stop.  They have been spending the winter down at the Parker Strip were we spent a week last winter, so it was a quick hop up to the Grand Canyon.    About 4:15 they began their drive back to Tusayan where they were staying and agreed to meet us for dinner at the Arizona Room.  They were also expecting some friends to join us, and we agreed to have them join us for dinner.

TLE was home from her shift by 5:30, and we were out the door by 5:45 on our way to the Village.  Parking around Bright Angel Lodge is always difficult, and even more so now that there is a lot of winter road construction and repair in progress.  We arrived around 6:15, and after driving through 5 parking lots finally found someone backing out of a parking spot just after 6:20.  The parking spot was about a 5 minute walk to the restaurant, and after a brisk, wind swept walk we arrived to find Roscoe and Geni with their long time friends from Ohio....Drew and Annabelle.  What a delightful addition they were to our dinner party......

 Left to right: Moi, TLE, Annabelle, Drew, Roscoe and Geni

Dinner at the 'Arizona Room' with good friends Roscoe and Geni

......the 'Arizona Room' was recommended to me by Ian, our floor supervisor, and gets 4 stars from Tripadvisor and Expedia.....Yelp gives them 3 stars.    I ordered their filet mignon, and TLE ordered their scampi.....both entrees were very good.  The ambiance is very nice, but could use some refreshing.  If you arrive before sundown you will get a good view of the Grand Canyon and the sun setting.....we arrived right at dusk and by the time I thought about taking a picture the sun had already set.  TLE and I would both recommend this fine dinning restaurant.

The conversation flowed for two hours, but by 8:40 it was time for us to begin our drive back to Desert View as I had an early morning facing me.  We bid our adieus with big smiles our our collective faces, and then stepped out into the cold, blustery wind to make the 5 minute walk back to the car.  We were home a little after 9:20 pm and I was in bed about an hour later.  I hope I don't miss that hour of sleep too much on Sunday!

Once again we have been able to cross paths with good friends made while living on the road.....we haven't seen, or talked with Roscoe and Geni for over 5 months, and yet we picked right up where we left off......we met them because of our decision to leave Tahoe Valley Campground last June to work at Yellowstone for the summer, and now I cannot imagine my life without them in it....seriously.

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