Day 9:
By
morning the night long blizzard had rendered us snowbound. We were
ecstatic. Snowbound at Grand Canyon! We trudged through the snow to
the Lodge to get a Ranger report and to eat at the delicious all you
can eat breakfast buffet. We were ordered not to try to leave the
park. We were told to standby for further instructions. We were
loving it. Except for Jack who went back to his cabin to
slug back
an ounce of liquid courage for every hour of our predicted
entrapment. Hours passed and around noon we got word that snowplows
were breaking through. They had to be brought down from Utah. We
were told that we should be able to leave by 1pm.
Upon hearing that we soon might be able to leave
the Gigabees quickly packed and got in line with the rest of eager
departers, waiting for the go signal. The rest of us dawdled,
enjoying being snowbound. The snowplows arrived. The all 
clear/road
open signal was given. The Gigabees took off without a moment spent
considering whether nor not our group was going to be able to our
van out of the snow. The Gigabees were ready to move and they did
not care that we were not ready. They took off. See you later they
said. Please wait for us at Jacob Lake Durango yelled as they pulled
away like rats jumping off a sinking ship.
We believe the Gigabees were attempting a total
escape from us, abandoning the rest of the trip. It was only by the
miracle of their puny gas tank that we caught up with them filling
their tank at the first gas station.
Zion National Park was our next destination. Grand
Canyon Lodge had informed the Zion Lodge that several guests had
been detained by snow and would arrive late for their check-in. The
route to Zion passes Moki Cave. It was closed. Apparently some
prayers do get answered. Wanda had verbalized a worry about
returning to the apparently very bad tacky tourist trap which had ensnared
the easily ensnared Homer on several occasions.
We enter Zion, from the east, the most spectacular
way to enter the park, going through a long tunnel and suddenly
finding yourself in Zion Canyon. Yeah yeah more gorgeous natural
wonders. Boring, Lulu whined. Can we just get to our Lodge? On we
rushed through the tunnel and down the switchbacks into the canyon.
We got our rooms quickly. Homer worked himself into a state of high
dungeon. How can this be? No TV in my room? What sort of trick is
this? Is there a TV in your room? How about yours? Lulu was able to
calm Homer down. Eventually.
We ate at the noisy Zion Lodge dining room. The
waitress worked real hard at appearing to have a personality.
Durango found her annoying. The others seemed to enjoy her.
After dinner we retired to our rooms where a poker
game began. Sort of practice for the next day's arrival in Vegas.
Wanda won hand after hand after hand from the perplexed Simp Twins.
After a couple hours of non-stop losing Homer finally figured out
that Durango was cheating by feeding Wanda good cards. Poor Wanda
was so disillusioned . She had thought she was some sort of gambling
prodigy. We'll see if she has any luck tomorrow
in Vegas.
