Edie's Adventures-So much to see!

July!

2009-07-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! Up here on the North Rim we are having a parade this afternoon. It will consist of decorated vehicles and lots of water, squirt guns to be exact. If you are on a decorated vehicle then you can, WILL be getting wet by squirting and getting squirted by by-standers that want to participate and have a bit of fun, if that is what you call it. Of course you can not get anyone in uniform wet and you can not squirt the mules or squirt in the dry zones, other wise than that, it's a free for all. Guests will also have squirt guns and water to use if they wish to. I'm a humbug so I will be staying away from the "wet fun" done in my dungeon.

Last night for supper was our 4th of July cook-out. To bad they did not leave some food for the rest of us that got done work at 6PM. Supper hours usually end at 7PM but not yesterday. I had 2 slices of cherry pie-what a great supper!!

Sunday Gary will start in his new position as supervisor of maintenance. Brian & Tanya leave on Sunday to go just down the road to Cliffdwellers. Hope they are happier there than they were here. So with this new position comes new hours. He now gets up at 5AM to be to work at 6AM
every day that he works. No more nights, unless someone really needs help. These hours are great, or would be really great, if I had those hours too. The weeks that I work 7AM-4PM are not bad but the weeks that I work 9:30AM-6:30PM are horrible for me. Once I'm awake, that's it I'm awake! Trying to go back to sleep just does not work. And this week is my late shift week, so I guess I'll just get dressed and go in to my office to use the computer to make more labels for our shelves. I can not seem to get my computer at home to do the same things as I can at work. And I never seem to be able to find the time in my actual work day to be able to get these things done so I might as well make use of this "awake time".

Oh yes and with Gary's new position comes new days off for us. Now we have Tue & Wed's off. Which work really great for me since I have no freight coming in on Sun. or Mon. so I can get some paperwork done while I'm there by myself. The quiet is good and I do get alot done most of the time.

First 2 weeks are over!

2009-05-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

Whew...the first 2 weeks are finally behind us. We've already had some key players quit or get fired. I started out with 2 guys helping me in the warehouse and then 1 went to being a shuttle driver and wasn't replaced in the warehouse. Then Tony's wife had to quit housekeeping so Daisy finally agreed to let her come to the warehouse to work. What a HUGE difference 1 more person makes when they actually work. The Gift Shop is doing better than last year in sales, but then it is more eye appealing this year too.

I saw my 1st Condor last week too. #47 was being bad by hanging around the back dock of the Lodge for a couple of days until he was taken away for relocation.

It's also been raining, sleeting or hailing here everyday now for over a week also. Shake down dinner for the Cookout was last night and we all froze. Woody & Cleeta Jane had a whole new program that was all about the North Rim. Except for it being so cold and Gary not getting his coffee refills fast enough the night was a good night out.

There's a lot of pictures here but I thought you would like to see the whole Gift Shop. Also the picture of the ground in front of the truck is hail.

The North Rim Is Open!

2009-05-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

I have been right out straight for the last month getting the retail warehouse in order and ready for opening day and NOW we have Opening Day behind us!!

My warehouse is a mess. Corporate people come up and set up the displays for both the Gift Shop and the General Store. They come down to my "dungeon", take what they need and then send half of it back, making a huge mess but I must say the Gift Shop has never looked better. It is absolutely gorgeous this year!

Yesterday was opening day and of course we filled up fast. Being down in my "dungeon" (we call it that becasuse it is pretty cold down there) I would get a glimps of how many people were arriving only when I went to lunch and home for the day. Tony, my helper, was out with the van all day it seems getting the rest of the unused items out of the stores and then taking supplies to the stores. The little things had to be done yesterday, bags, gift boxes, wrapping tissue, ect.

I managed to get my office in order with the help of the phone/computer guy Josh. Now both my phones and my internet work, Thursday they did not and that was a huge problem. Good thing my cell phone works down there or I would have not been able to communicate with the stores to find out exactly what they needed. Anyways, my office is how I want it, I got more pricing done yesterday and some things put away. Today, I will have Roger( my other helper) & Tony straightening out the rooms while I get my paperwork done. That was the worst part of opening this year because we were still getting product in Thursday night by UPS and still don't have all the price stickers for everything. I also have to take a trip to the General Store and talk with Kathleen. She must have a long list of things she needs by now too. I wonder how much stuff UPS left for me last night. Got to get that all squared away today too. Lots to do taday! But I have Sunday & Monday off!!!

Gary is working the night shift for the next 2 weeks. That's 2PM till 10PM and on call all night. He's teaching each of the new maintenance guys what to do. At 11:00PM last night, security came knocking looking for him-something broke and needed fixing-but he wasn't home yet. I have no idea what time he came home either. At least he has Sunday & Monday off with me so I can get 2 nights of sleep.

Home, Sweet Home

2009-04-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Well we went to town and got our fill of civilization!

Left Wed. afternoon and it took almost an hour to get the truck to start. (It's a diesel and then Gary tells me that the glow plugs (spark plugs) don't work so that is why it is always hard to start but not being started for 4 months made it even harder than usual.) Went to Kanab, UT for supper at Houston's. The poor waitress asked how we were and what brought us in so we told about our winter and everyone around us thought that was so adventurous and brave of us. Then we went on to Cedar City, UT. I don't recommend the Travelodge there. Thursday morning got the side mirror for the truck. While at Home Depot it took over a half hour to install the mirror in the parking lot. Went to St. George, UT and got a great room at The Country Inn and Suites. The room was great, so was the pool, hot tub and sauna. But next time we go we will stay on the top floor. Being right over the pool was a little noisy in the early evening but the kids jumping and running right above us was so annoying I had to call and ask the parents to have the kids stop it. But then at 10PM I think I was rather patient to wait till that time to call.

Of course we had to eat out all meals except breakfast, they had a complimentary breakfast. We went to different restaurants than we had been to before. The Gun Barrel was where we had Bison Prime Rib,mmmmmmmmmmmm and Elk Medallions,mmmmm. The hot wings were exceptional too.

The Made in Brazil Restaurant was entirely different from anything we had been to before. The salad bar was hot and cold and you could go back as many times as you wanted. But....the meat was the special part. They have 13 different types of cooked meats. They bring it to you on a giant shishkabob and slice off as much or as little as you want. And they just keep coming around with all the different types. There's a piece of wood on your table with red on one end and green on the other. You stand it up with the green side up to have the waiter come by with the meats and red if you want to just sit for awhile and enjoy what has been brought to you already. And lay it on the side to let the your waitress know your ready for the bill. Very good with lots of spices.

The Mongolian BBQ was really good too. It's a stir fry but you get to choose the ingredients that you want. They give you a bowl (3 sizes to choose from) and you go down the line stuffing your bowl with whatever you want. And stuff is just what I mean. At the end you add the sauces to your bowl of food and give it to the cook. They have a huge, round, flat top grill that they pour your bowl of food onto and move it all around while it cooks. It's fascinating just to watch the guys cook.

Of course we had to go to the Olive Garden too. We sat next to a couple while waiting. When a name was called for party of 4 the guy says "we could be them". (The place was packed and the wait was long.) And then we got our table and before our drinks arrived the same couple was seated next to us. Since both of us had tables for 4 we invited them to sit at our table and they did. We had a fun time and learnt more about St. George too.

We came home with so much more than I had really thought we would. I just kept putting fresh veggies and fruit into the cart! Good thing we have a big truck :)

It snowed on Saturday so much that from 6000' on up there was still 3-6" of the pretty white stuff. We were told that we should have no trouble getting our dully up the one lane plowed road to the apartment. Well, for the most part I had no trouble at all. But where the snow banks were as high or higher than the truck I did scrape the sides with the fenders. Now the left side will match the right side that Gary broke last year. Oh well, duck tape time.

Trying to get caught up with the wash, putting things away and everyday stuff today. Tomorrow I will be driving one of the work trucks to Page and driving an other truck back also. And going to Walmart for the things I forgot to get. Time to get going on getting this place put away properly.

Have a great day!

I've got to get to town!

2009-03-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Cabin fever has set in. I'm counting the days till the road will be all plowed and I can get out of here for awhile.

In the mean time I'm baking and cooking way to much. I made wheat bread on Thursday and will need to make more by this Wed or Thur. I also made chocolate chip cookies on Thursday. Today I made a blueberry pie, to use them up. I ended up with one 9" pie and two 4" pies and of course I had to make cinnamon rolls too with the left over dough. I've kept the 9" pie and some cinnomon rolls but gave the rest away. The other people here need to be gaining weight too. (See I'm trying to use up as much as I can of my winter stock since I won't be cooking this summer and I don't really have any place to store much.) I'm just going to have to start walking to take care of all these extra calories! Ya right.........

Yesterday I made home baked beans and still have lots of them left over. Today I thought of making macaroni & cheese with a pork tenderlion for supper.

The guy that was working in the retail warehouse last year was coming back to be my assistant, but Friday I got an email saying he's not coming back. Now I will have to train 2 people instead of one to help me. Come April 1st. I'm going to the warehouse and start doing things-paid or not, I need to get away from food! And there is alot of stuff to do down there so I might as well get started and get myself acquainted before I try to train someone else where things will go. Besides I want to be able to make a shopping list for the warehouse so in 8 days when the road is all plowed (hopefully) I can get some supplies to get me started.

The winds is really blowing hard tonight. Gary says he saw snowflakes too.

2009-03-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well not much has changed since my last post.

It has snowed a couple of times, as it is today also. But the snow has melted away just as quick as it came. Looks very pretty while it's snowing but......I've had enough. Either it needs to snow a couple of feet or just stop all together! Five more days until the state is to start plowing Rt. 67 so we can drive out of here. I can't wait-I need a fresh salad and some ice cream!!

I've started going through the freezer to see what is left...to much. But that is good so I can do better next winter on figuring what we need. Today I'm making wheat bread again and garlic butter. Think I will make some cookies too while I have the oven on.

I've used the pressure cooker and I love it. Finally we can have baked beans that are almost as good as Moms. I cooked some beef stew meat the other day too for stroganoff. The meat was so tender. I would love to make some beef stew today in the pressure cooker but I've run out of potatoes so I'm still debating with myself to make it using noodles. The more I think about it the more I think I'm going to make it.

I surprised Gary on Tuesday. It was 52nd birthday and I made Red Velvet Cake for him like I always do. It came out almost perfect! (I'm getting this high altitude down pat now!) It calls for buttermilk and he knew I didn't have any so he was not expecting his favorite cake, but ...I have powdered buttermilk! We had supper next door and all 6 of us enjoyed a nice evening together.

Well that's it for now, back to the kitchen.

:(

2009-03-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sad, sad day :(

We just found out that we can not make our trip to Salt Lake City on Thursday. There just is not enough snow left for a safe ride out and back. To many of the Park Service employees have already ruined their snowmobiles this last week for us to chance ruining 2 of ours. But Kristal will be going with her family and I'm sure Chris will take lots of pictures for us.

Only 3 more weeks and the road will be plowed then we will be able to go to town. Maybe we will take a trip up to Salt Lake City then, who knows.

Monday, Monday!

2009-03-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

Another Monday and another exceptionally sunny, beautiful day! And alot more bare ground showing.

Notice the coyote just in front of the tree? He comes around every day.

Our 6 working snowmobiles. It seems like alot of snow doesn't it?

But.....

I'm getting more excited about Thursday getting here. It will be our first trip off the Rim this winter! With so little snow I'm not so sure about going by snowmobiles, but we have no choice. We don't use the snowmobiles to go to work every day any more but the road out (48 miles) has not been plowed so we will have to go by snowmobiles. We've been told we will have some farly large areas that we will have to cross with no snow so to keep an eye on the temperature of the machines and take plenty of rest stops for the machines to cool off. And.... go as fast as possible on the bare ground!

So what am I going to do today??? I'm not going to work again for lack of things for me to do..but that's OK cause I have plenty to do here at home. Got to clean the apartment real good and start looking at what and how I'm going to pack for Thursday. We have a large shopping list that includes clothing so I've been thinking we really won't have to take much with us. With the positions that we have for the summer season I don't know when we will have another chance to go out and get our uniforms and such, so we might as well get all that stuff this trip out. We can leave most of it in the truck until the road gets plowed and we have a chance to go get our RV.

Saturday I made bread from scratch and it came out GREAT. I should have been doing it all winter instead of using the bread machine. Well at least I know for next winter that I can make it all winter long. The wheat bread actually came out better than the white!

Well time to get to work on packing!

Have a great week :D

2009-03-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

It finally snowed again today but.......it was not much and it all melted on the bare pavement. Did make everything pretty white again for awhile :)

I made bread from scratch the other day and it came out really good. Doughnuts came out really good this morning too. I think I'm getting this high altitude baking down.

I haven't worked much this last 2 weeks. Mike is having a hard time finding enough work for both Tanya and I so I volunteered to stay home so she could get her hours to keep her insurance. This next week I might be able to work making some shelves to go in the Retail Warehouse that I will be managing this summer. I don't mind staying home but it is a bit boring. At least I will be able to get to know Trish better.

I got some good photos of the coyote that comes to see us every day. We haven't seen the foxes later though.

:)

2009-02-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

It was just like Christmas today for us! Somebody from Park Service was nice enough to bring all packages in from Jacob Lake today. We had 4 boxes delivered to us this afternoon. Got our pressure cooker so now we can cook our beans and make baked beans in no time instead of it taking 24 hours to soften those beans.

Our upstairs neighbors got a surround sound DVD/CD player system. They have been trying it out all afternoon. Man that thing can make some noise!

Thank you Penny and Kristal for sending our "presents" to us :D

UGH!

2009-02-21T10:23:00.000-08:00

Know what I saw yesterday?? Bare ground again!!! Beginning of last week we had a real nice snow storm and got about 2 1/2 feet total. Now once again the warmth of the desert is prevailing to steal the snow away. Today it is 50*, beautiful, sunny day.

More Snow

2009-02-10T07:37:00.001-08:00

Just how much snow did we get ....so far...cause it is still snowing!

Go back and look at yesterdays pictures and compare. This is the snowmobile I ride. Yesterday it wasn't bared quite this much.

Gary is having a ball being in the snow!

Is this the abominable snowman???

Finally-we have snow!

2009-02-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

This morning around 7-8 AM. About 8-10 inches over night.

This afternoon around 3PM. 4 more inches!

This morning looking out from my back steps.

Around 3PM. Snowing really hard!!!

We have our snowmobile road again! That's the snowmobile I drive.

It's now 7:30PM and still snowing hard. Lets hope it snows all night and gives us a couple of feet!!

Still need some more snow

2009-01-29T15:38:00.001-08:00

Every day I come home to less and less snow to drive on!

We need snow

2009-01-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

See what I mean-we really need more snow. For 2 weeks now we have had close to 50* every day which has done a lot of snow melting. Friday and Saturday it rained which did not help any thing either. Today it hailed off and on but did not accumulate anything. At least we had 32* and below all day to help stop the melting.

HISTORY WAS MADE TODAY!

2009-01-20T17:27:00.000-08:00

History was made today! Barack Obama was sworn into office of the President of the United States of America, the first black american. I had the chance to listen to everything on the radio while painting another cabin up here on the North Rim. Then when I got home I watched it all over again on the TV. I really liked his speach and can only hope that we as a people of the United States will take his words to heart and pick ourselves up and get on with living and working to make the best of everyone. I'm not a big politician at all but today was special indeed. Only time will tell if he can accomplish things he has said he would.

2009-01-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

Can you believe January is half over? Up here at 8100 feet it feels like winter is most over too, of course it is not but from the warm weather you would think so. Notice all the bare ground. Lets see if I can do some comparison photos.

Gary's work truck Dec. 26, 2008

This is the same truck on Dec. 17, 2008 and there is even less snow today Jan. 18, 2009.

Wouldn't you know I can't find any other photos for camparison. So let me show the snowman we tried to make! Keep in mind the snow is powder and then it has crystalized on the top from all the wind and melting. Definately not snowman making snow. Sorry Kristal but we did try :)

Here's a great picture of the Lodge with the snow sliding off the roof.

And these are the same snow slide but from the backside of it.

So cool looking!

2009-01-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful, sunny day! Going to go snowshoeing today and will post whatever pictures we take later.

2009-01-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

We've had very nice, warm weather up here this week. Yesterday and today both were in the 50's. The snow is melting in quite a few places too.

Mike & Trish got back from their mini vacation for New Years. They brought with them the parts Gary needs for the snowmobile he uses. It needed a new piston and rings. (The top of the piston should be smooth not pitted and broken.) Gary repaired the snowmobile, only took a few hours and now it runs extremely well! Best of all--we don't have to have Gary shuttle us all to and from work. Being the driver is much better than being the passenger.

Gary made Chicken Marcella last night for supper and it was wonderful! With all the chicken I have I'm thinking he should be cooking this every week. Of course that means we will have to go shopping for more Marcella wine. Might as well go next week for my birthday and enjoy a few days back in civilization.

New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T15:43:00.000-08:00

Well the year has come to an end. And what an end it has turned out to be here at the North Rim. We are down to 1 snowmobile for 4 people as of right now. Come Sunday we will be back up to 4 snowmobiles for 6 people. Upon doing rounds this morning, the Gift Shop's big window was discovered to be broken. Gary & Brian spend most of the day boarding up the hole and taking care of whatever else they had to do for it.

And we have a Ponderosa Pine that has become split and dangerous out by the employee basketball court. Hopefully the next big wind storm we have will knock this tree over and we won't have to wait for the Hotshots to take care of it come spring.

Some of the snow has melted in the last couple of days, which is nice also. We can see part of the work trucks again and the walk-way has been clean for 3 days now!

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year and a very safe one too. Talk to you again in 2009!

Sunday

2008-12-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Gary & I went for a ride, a 26 mile snowmobile ride. It was a beautiful, sunny but not that warm of a day. It was great pratice for me-I'm getting better on that machine! We went all the way out to the front gate of the Park and then came back. Got a nice picture of the shack at the Park entrance.

2008-12-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

Hope every one had a very Merry Christmas! We finally received our mail Christmas Eve. I received Thank You letters from Brandon's class from when I went there at Thanksgiving time to talk to them about The Petrified Forest and The Grand Canyon. And we got all our Christmas cards from our friends and relatives. (Remember our mail box is 45 miles away so it takes someone going on a snowmobile to get it and bring it to all of us.) What a wonderful way to spend the evening reading!

Of course it has snowed most everyday for awhile and we have quite a build up now. Yesterday-Christmas Day-was very cold,windy and dropped another 6-8 inches of snow. We were quite warm and cozy in our apartments and enjoyed our Christmas dinner together with our other maintenance neighbors Mike, Trish, Brian & Tanya.

Maintenance work trucks on Dec. 17.

The same trucks on the morning of Dec. 26. The walkway was clean Christmas Day when we got up in the morning.

2008-12-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

Snowed more today-imagine that! At lunch time we measured 1/2" in a 1/2 hour. In the last 10 days it has snowed 8 days.

Perfect Day!

2008-12-21T18:09:00.001-08:00

Gary packing the snow.

Facing East.

Facing West

Facing Bright Angel Point

Gary with the snow up to the seat of the bench.

Edie practicing.

What a beautiful, sunny day today. Perfect for snowmobiling. And the Canyon was just georgious!

Finally......

2008-12-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

After 32 years of marriage-guess what? I made corn fritters last night and Gary said "I hate to tell you this but those taste JUST like my mothers." (I did take it as a compliment!) Now keep in mind this is an amazing thing since I don't fry food very often at all. I can not fry chicken to save my life.

It's still snowing!

More snow

2008-12-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

Here is the morning after pictures-notice the chunk of wood has disappeared. And here is Gary after cleaning off a snowmobile to go break trail.

Snowed all day!

2008-12-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well it did snow all day but it doesn't look like much accumulation in the back. Gary said there is alot more out front but I haven't gone out there-that would mean putting on boots.

Snow Day

2008-12-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

Looking out our back door.

It's a snow day! Imagine that. Only got to work for 3.45 hrs this morning when Mike decided it was to slippery for us to be out. There is not enough snow for the snowmobiles yet but just to much for driving the trucks. There really is not that much out there concidering I'm from NH and we used to have to drive in a foot of snow while waiting for the snow plow to make it's rounds. I will periodically take more pictures during the day to show how fast it is accumulating. We are suppose to be getting 30 inches or more by the time the storm is done on Wed.

All Alone

2008-12-11T14:24:00.000-08:00

How long has it been since I had a day off without Gary?......To long!

We had to take the truck to Jacob Lake this morning and leave it there for the winter. The big winter storm we have been waiting for is suppose to arrive Saturday. I needed to go to town first, get some things and go to the Post Office with all my Christmas cards. When we got back from doing all that I stayed home for the afternoon and Gary went to work. Did I just relax and enjoy the alone time? Well not really. I reorganized my pantry closet with the little frig and freezer. Now I can open the frig door and actually get to things. Most of the canned goods were still in the case box so all that was not bad to move. I discovered some things I forgot I had too. And I got most of these things just over a month ago! I cleaned up the front coat closet space too. That was GREAT! I was so tired of having the boots and winter things just scattered. After 32 years you would think I would realize Gary was not going to put anything away and just do it all myself without putting it off for so long.

Anyways, all that moving and exercise got my achey muscles feeling better. Achey muscles? Yes, I started painting the dorms. Yesterday I did the hall walls of 1 of the dorms. Up, down and sitting on the floor to do the baseboard area with carpeting up the wall instead of baseboard. The painters tape won't stick to the carpet so I ended up doing it all by hand and I must say I did a good job, very few places with paint on the carpet. And you have to get close to even see it. If a really tall ladder can be found for me tomorrow I will finish the walls in that dorm and move everything to another dorm. I've got to find a way to slow down or I will have all the painting done by the end of this year!

Having Fun!

2008-12-07T19:15:00.000-08:00

Hurray the Gift Shop is closed and sealed up for the winter. So...we took a 4 day weekend to just enjoy ourselves. Our first stop ended up being Mormon Lake Lodge. We had a great dinner and decided to spend the night there. It is a Forever Resort Property so we got a $125 a night cabin with fireplace for only $19! Yea...well, we first booked a $90 room but it had not been cleaned so they had to give us the next room...the cabin with fireplace for the $90. And then in the morning at check-out they gave us a really great employee discount.

It was a very nice place to visit and we will have to research it more as they have so much there to do and for employment too. http://www.mormonlakelodge.com/

That was Thursday.

Friday morning we decided to go to Camp Verde and check that area out. We had reservations for Saturday at the Verde Canyon Railroad for a 4 hour train ride. We took the back roads and enjoyed seeing new places and taking our time. Our first stop in Camp Verde was going to be Walmart but at the gas station they informed us that was 16 miles away in Cottonwood. So off to Cottonwood to find Walmart. We went past "Out of Africa" and decided we would check that out. So we find Walmart, get the necessary things we need, decide to find a room and get some lunch.

We got to Out of Africa at 3PM and really enjoyed the 2 hours we were there. We hopped on the shuttle to go see the animals get fed. There were lions, tigers and bears! Oh My!! Hyenas, leopards, zebras, giraffes, camels and so many more species that I can't remember the names of them all.

After the feedings we got to go inside part of the sanctuary and see up close some of the animals. We fed Tebo, the 17' giraffe, carrots and the ostriches had to come and get their fare share too. Even some of the zebras came up to get their share.

Saturday morning we get up and go find the train station. Just in time too, since the Christmas Parade with Santa was going to be closing off the road we needed. We got there a bit early so we went over to Tuzigoot National Monument to see some ancient ruins.

Finally, the train ride! It's a 4 hour ride from Clarkdale to Perkinsville and back. We went right up the Verde Canyon.

I really like the differences in the rocks. It just makes one wonder what forces were at work to change the rock so much and just how long did it take to build up the different layers.

For supper we went to the Blazin-M-Ranch for a cowboy dinner and show. We had a great time too. I haven't laughed that hard in years. Three tables in a row where we were sitting happen to have all New Englanders! There was even 6 of us from NH. There was a Jack Edwards from Meredith who worked at the Meredith Center Fire Dept. Small world!!!

On our way home we drove thru Sedona. We were not impressed, to many "rich" homes that look the same and the Red Rock to me is not as pretty as the mixed colors of the Grand Canyon. I guess I'm just spoiled now that I've lived here at the North Rim for so long. :)

Upon reaching home, we get the truck unloaded and guess what? It starts to snow! What timing. Now that we are home, it can snow as much as it wants!!

What a great weekend.

Winter Wonderland

2008-11-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

Need I say More.........

Had a great time down in the Valley. After a big turkey dinner at Philips we went bowling. Matthew did great for a 5 year old! By the end of the round Brandon and Sam were finally getting the hang of it too.

8 More Days

2008-11-22T16:21:00.000-08:00

I stayed busy all day today. The man from Wheeler Jewelry came and took his jewelry away. He showed up at 9AM and was gone by 1PM. While he was doing his thing I was checking all the food/candy for expiration dates. Found a lot that needed to be marked down 50% so hopefully we can get rid of them by Dec. 1. They are not expired yet but will be by May 2009 when we reopen. All that does not sell will get split up between all of us that are staying the winter :) (Gary really likes Reese's Fast Break candy bar so those got put aside just for him!)

Still no snow but it is getting colder tonight. Feels like it just might snow.

Kristal was here from Tue. night until Fri. morning. Just her-no kids or husband-it was so nice to have a conversation with no interruptions :) We took the tour of the Glen Canyon Damn and learnt a few things. Went to Walmart in Page and got more groceries. And had supper out at Cliff Dwellers Resturant.

I also got some things together from the Visitor's Center to take to Brandon's class on Wednesday. This month is Arizona history month in his class so while we're down for T'Day I'm going to speak to his class about The Grand Canyon and The Petrified Forest. I'm going to give all the kids a piece of petrified wood too. That will be so cool!!!

Can't wait to go to Philip & Louise's for Thanksgiving. When Kristal was 1 1/2 yrs. old we had Thanksgiving with them and it was a great spread! It will be great to see their kids and grandkids too. Maybe not all but some of them.

2 WEEKS LEFT

2008-11-16T04:15:00.000-08:00

We have 2 more weeks and then I can close the gift shop for the winter. Not knowing how things will be next year-scanners?-I think the best thing to do is bag and label everything I can. And just in case I'm in the Retail Warehouse, my inventory will be that much easier. Of course it doesn't help that I have found numerous mistakes in the inventroy that was just done in Oct. while I have been restocking the gift shop. Anyway, I should have a much better idea of things after Monday when Jack comes from the Corporate office. He's bringing more chips, sodas and candy bars.

Finally got all the meat cut up, bagged and sealed for the freezers. (We had ribeyes the other night after Gary cut up that huge piece of prime rib we got from Costco. Yummy!) Now that everything is froze I think I will unload all the freezers and take an inventory so I will know just what I have and can plan better menus for the winter. Then when I repack the freezers I can stagger the different kinds of meats and things. Maybe I can make more room too for everything. Then I can also get whatever else I may need when we go to Pheonix for Thanksgiving.

Yesterday was a georgious day here. Sunny, slight breeze and WARM. But when I got home from work, the wind started blowing and cooled us down in a hurry.

WHYYYYYYYYYY

2008-11-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Why do I have to keep the gift shop open?

I had 30 people today and the first didn't even come until 11:30AM! And I had a record sales of -ready------$65.72. My feet were cold all day and of course it seemed like everyone was a comedian today....Oh do you want the door open? (because the door stopper keeps falling down and holding the door open every time someone comes in--Gary, can't you fix this?)

I did fix the problem about the restrooms. :) I was soooo tired of telling soooo many people where the restrooms are and that they are Porter Potties!~ So I made a sign and taped it to the window in the door of the gift shop. In big RED letters is Porter Potties so noone can mistake what I'm saying. So far in 2 days I have had to tell only 2 customers where the restrooms are, so much better than every other customer :).

Today was, is, our grandson Jason's 6th birthday. It was so nice to hear his voice and have a nice chat with him. He's so grown up! Of course this picture is from last year so I bet he looks a lot different now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!

Jason & Emily 2007

All moved in!

2008-11-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally got all moved into the 6th plex here at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. However we did not get the RV down off the Rim until today. And last night we got our first snow storm, just a dusting in most places but a lot of ice on the road too.

Our booster antenna for the internet works great over here. And the cell phones work too so now I can keep the computer and both phones on every day and keep in touch with every one.

The gift shop is still open and it's really cold in there. We have 4 little 5" heater to heat the whole shop. Our counts have dropped off alot also. Last week we were having 100+ visitors per day and this week if we reach 50 we are lucky. Most of them are hunters. The drinks and snacks (left overs from the general store) are a big hit. Once every one finds out that is all there is to eat or drink until they get back to Jacob Lake, it doesn't take long for them to start buying.

Tomorrow we go to St. George, UT for the last of our winter shopping. Costco here we come! Finding room to put it all in a 1 bedroom is not easy. But then again I didn't know just how much "stuff" I had in the RV until I started to unload it and bring it in here. Definately going through things this winter and getting rid of a lot.

Time to finish my shopping list for tomorrow so "Good Night All"

Edie & Gary

2008-11-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

I'm so bored at work. I had 46 customers or rather people that popped in. It is COLD up here today! The key chain thermometers inside the store say it is 50-60* but I don't think so. It's only 37 outside with the wind blowing. All I have for heat is 4 little 5 in. square heaters and the one at the register keeps shutting off the power cord. I think I have solved that problem by plugging it in directly to a big outlet. Now if I can keep from tripping over it! The wind is trying hard to push the door open which does not help keep me warm.

Gary's the only maintenance guy around today. Mike went to Cedar City to get the snowmobiles. Only 4 though and there are 6 of us here to use them. We are suppose to be getting 8 so that we can have 2 in case of break downs and we are suppose to have at least one down at Jacob Lake in case we are out and it snows so much we can't get back in by truck. Brian is off for the day.

Yesterday I made up menus for the winter. I figure if I can come up with 30 different meals then I can just figure 6 times each meal to know what I need to be getting. We bought a small chest type freezer last week and 25 lbs each of bread flour, regular flour, pinto beans, rice and 20 lbs of sugar along with canned things and a bread machine. I already had $150 worth of canned veggies from the bulk sale at Honey's Jubilee in Kanab. I must have 40 cans of tuna fish too since I had a case and then about 10 in the camper and Nancy gave me 24 when she left the mountain.

OH that's better...I just took a thermal shirt of the rack and went in back and put it on under my long sleeve white shirt & winter sweater vest. Now I'm a bit warmer :D And it was a marked down shirt too so it did not cost me much.

Today I am looking online to find out how to freeze things and do more figuring for my shopping trip on Thursday. I love celery and use it alot and have been beating my brains trying to figure how to freeze it so it won't be mushy. I think I have found the site that will help me alot. Kristal told me about it. "Pickyourown.org" and it tells about freezing too.

Well it's time for me to have some lunch. I got this electric tea pot (from Nancy) that boils water in minutes and is great for here to make raman noodles and those other "just add water" soups. My day is 3/7th over and I have had 12 people pop in!

Here some of the pictures of the 6th plex.

The living room (just moving in) the pantry with our freezer

and the kitchen. I did not realize just how much stuff the RV had in it until I started bringing things over to the 6th plex.

Definately this winter I have to get rid of alot of "things". (That is James in the pictures.)

November!

2008-11-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well I've moved one more time! I just got all our stuff into the 6th plex for the winter and now just need to clean the RV, then Wed., our day off, take it down to Ferdonia for winter storage. Tonight Gary is suppose to hook up the antenna so I can get internet and if he does then I will post pictures of the sixth plex. But for now I'm at work in the gift shop. Here are some comparison pictures of how the shop has changed for the winter season. (If you want to call 6 weeks a season.)

Before After

Before the candy on the table we had shirts on the table. The things we sell the most of now are snacks and beverages. This morning has been the exception with people not really interested in the snacks. It is now 1PM and 23 people have been in the see what we have. No wait, 25 people, 2 just came in! Now I have 3 more hours before I can go home for the day. BORING.

Yesterday I sat here and made up menus for the coming months so when I go to town I can stock up more on what I figure I'll need. We have been given alot of left over food from the Lodge too. I should not have to buy any butter!

Well I'm so bored I guess I'll go find something to dust!

Everyone is GONE!!!!

2008-10-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

I cleaned out the desk and got it organized this morning. Got the bank all squared away. (I have signed for $5000) Started making my list of what to bring back up from the warehouse. We had to have inventory at the end of the regular season-Oct. 15- so now I can restock the store.

I also have to sell the left over candy, chips, drinks and cigs from the general store so making room for all that is challenging. And keeping it stocked is very challenging since that is all the food that anyone can purchase for 20 miles or maybe 45 is Kaibab General Store and Lodge are closed.

I signed for the Gift Shop keys at 8AM and got the keys for the truck at lunch time. Nikolai was just hanging around till tomorrow so he can leave so I made him come to work and he brought all the cases of drinks down to the store and stacked them in the Native room which is now empty. No more expensive jewerly till May 09. Tomorrow I spend the first hour or so writing down what I brought up today before I can put in out on the floor so when inventory is done again in the spring everything will be accounted for. (No we don't have scanners, that would make life so much easier! After all we only did $2,000,000 worth of sales in 6 months.)

All of that from the "Cashier" back has been taken down also and room dividers have been put in front of the cashier "bull pen" so that the shelves with pottery can still be on display for sale.

My RV is so messy and crowded. Since we are staying for the winter everyone decided to give me their left overs. I have about 5 things of laundry detergent, 4 bottles of Dawn, 12 extra cans of tuna fish (I had just bought a case for the winter myself!) Cleaning supplies, towels, ect..... And I can not get anything organized because I have no place to put anything. Everything I leave outside has to be weather proof as it is getting quite chilly at night now. I don't know how much room we will have in the six plex apartment and we can not move into it until after Nov. 1. (It better not snow or get freezing cold until then as we may not be able to get the RV off the mountain if it snows to much.)

Time for bed, got alot to do tomorrow and have to be out of the store by 4:15 to go to dinner at Jacob Lake with Philip and Louise!

I've been tagged!

2008-10-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

OK Kristal, I know I don't update very often :) Seven things about me........

1: I've moved more than 30 times in 30 years! But now every time I move I don't have to pack anything or really change my address as I just haul my house around on wheels behind the truck (RV!) and I use Kristal's address as mine.

2: I am afraid of heights but getting a lot better at over coming that. It has helped a lot just by living at the Grand Canyon and looking down so often :)

3: I'm sure I could have been a race car driver!!! I have found out that I like to drive a lot (Gary usually did all the driving on our trips) and there is nothing that equals the "power" I feel when stepping on the accelerator of our big diesel truck!!! Sounds great too :)

4: I have traveled through all but 5 states of the United States and have actually lived in 6 different states. (New Hampshire, Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arizona.)

5: I have lived in 2 different countries, United States and Germany and have been to 4 different countries, US, Canada, Mexico and Germany. And the Bahamas.

6: I too - like Kristal- pick up someones accent when talking to them, the English just comes out of my mouth without me knowing it! Quite embarassing sometimes.

7: In my younger years I always complained about my curly hair, but now that I have straight hair (no humidity to help it curl) I really miss it.

Now, I tag:

Penny, my "Bestest Buddy"

Linda, an unexpected great friend that I took to long to get to know.

Cheryl, and Barb my best friends in high school, we were known as the 3 musketters.

Darlene, my grade school, high school and still friend.

Dove, my new found friend from the North Rim.

And Jason, my son!!:) :)

Grand Canyon River Boat Ride

2008-10-03T22:40:00.001-07:00

The boats!

The Glen Canyon Damn, Page, AZ

The Colorado River in Glen Canyon.

ME! Really cold 48* water, but so clear and
refreshing!

Petroglyphs at the place we stopped to get wet.

Getting back on the boats to finish the ride.

Lee's Ferry, the end of my boat ride. South
of here is considered "The Grand Canyon"

I had a great day and want to go again!

August, September and now October

2008-10-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

It's getting cooler every day now. Last I wrote was in August and it was HOT! For all the visitors it was refreshing to be up here in the cool mountain air but for those of us who live here and are used to being up here it was just HOT.

Gary and I have been camping a few times this summer. The first time we went to Point Sublime. Got some good photos.

Yes, heights do not bother Gary! If he fell he would have gone a good 100 feet before hitting the rocks just below him. I had all I could do to take that picture, as I am afraid of heights, but getting a lot better since living up here on the EDGE!

We also went to Toroweap Overlook. That is about 50 miles west of here and is where if you fall off the Rim you will go 3000 feet straight down-no bouncing of other rocks.

This is the Colorado River and this is Gary and Jim on the Edge! You can also
see the Colorado River in the middle of the photo.

This area of the Canyon has a lot of lava flows from millions of years ago and a bunch of

partial volcanos that created the lava flows.

I also went for a Colorado River boat ride. We boarded the boat at the base of the Glen Canyon Damn in Page, AZ. and down the river we went. We were on the river for about 4 hours. It was a nice cool day and the 48* water was very refreshing. Yes, all of us from up here jumped in for a quick cooling off! Unfortunately, I can not move any pictures from the Walmart disc to my computer so I can't post any river boat pictures.

Forever Resorts closes here on the North Rim Oct. 15. ......However.....the NPS has decided to keep the Park open until Dec. 1. That means having the visitors center open and plowing the 45 mile road if needed. So Forever Resorts thinks we should have something open also and since the gift shop was the most logical thing to keep open I will still be working there from 9-4 every day until Dec. 1. I will have my 2 days a week off, or more. So this all means that now I have to learn how to run the gift shop. Open it in the mornings and close it at night. That means a raise in pay too. We had our first meeting about all this today but we still haven't worked out all the details.

Anyways, I started stocking up on groceries yesterday on my way back from town and I'm getting a bit excited about spending the winter here. For those that don't know, this means a 45 mile snowmobile ride to Jacob Lake to get the truck (and hope it starts) to go another 30 miles to get groceries and then turn around and do it in reverse to get back home after Dec 1 when the road will not be plowed any more until April.

So many places to go

2008-08-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well it's been awhile since I've up-dated so lets see what we've been up to:

We've been to Zion National Park-I've already posted that.

We went to St. George shopping and to my new foot Dr. and Gary got a speeding ticket :(

While in St. George we picked up a wood splitter for the maintenance department here and Gary bought himself a new storage unit for all the new and old tools he has accumulated.

We went to Fredonia, AZ and paid Gary's ticket (he choose to go to court as the ticket was for 1 mile over the speed limit but still had to pay) and then we went to Hurricane, UT-had lunch and came home by way of the back road thru Zion Park. It took us about 3 hours to drive this sometimes very narrow, paved & dirt, shear drop offs back road. It was a very nice Sunday drive on a Tuesday! This brought us out in Cedar City, UT where we had a great supper at Walt's. We also saw a herd of about 30 bison here in the Grand Canyon Park on our way out that morning.

On Monday 8-4 we left work early to go to Mesa, AZ for Matthews 5th birthday. On the way out of the park we encountered 6 inches of snow!! about 10 miles from the Rim and when we got down to Gap, AZ we hit the same storm, only with rain. We stopped at Black Canyon for the best rib-eye steak dinner and finally got to Kristal's at 10PM just like I told Matthew we would. Sam & Matthew were sleeping but not Elizabeth or Brandon, they were waiting for us! Matthew had his birthday party at Peter Pipers Pizza. It's like Fun Spot and Chucky Cheese. He got lots of great toys (I think the game boy was his favorite) but the best was playing with his friends and driving the cars! Wednesday morning before we left for home Grampa gave Matthew 1 more present-he did the mintos in the soda bottle rocket that Mom gave Matthew. All I have is a video of the actual mintos rocket!

I'm still learning how to take a video!

And for this last weekend (Tues & Wed 8-12 & 8-13) we went to Bryce Canyon National Park. We were not really impressed that much but that could be because of all the "french" speaking crowds that kept surrounding us. Anyways we decided that we did not want to apply for any jobs there and that we would go back later in the year so we could do some hiking into the canyon. Here are a few photos that I took. The 1st 2 photos are of the Hoodoos.

And this one is one of the hiking trails into the Hoodoos. Those little black specks are actually people. (bottom middle of photo)

So maybe now that we have the computer working in the RV (with the help of an antenna booster) I can up date this more often.

Good-nite all!

Gary's pictures

2008-06-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Finally I downloaded the pictures from Gary's camera. Now you can see what he's been looking at.

Last week he went for a hike and found some "living dirt" which is a micro-organizum of very delicate moss like dirt. If you step on it, it could take 100 yrs for it to recooperate, if it does. When you pour water on it, it instantly turns green, really cool to watch.

He found a bunch of wild flowers (flax) and some really nice meadows.

Saturday he was up on the roof of the lodge repairing a leaky spot.

He really likes being up on the roof because he has a view no one else gets.

It's Summer here in the Canyon!

2008-06-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

It's officially summer up here at the Grand Canyon North Rim. Every day we have from 2 to 6 bus loads of people from all over the globe. Last week we had a bunch of different boy scout troops and this week seems like it's Oriental Week.

At 5AM on the dot I woke up this morning, wide awake. So I thought, why not go check my emails and other things. As I was walking up the street to the EDR building I was accompanied by about 15 mule deer grazing on the lawns surrounding the employee housing. They were about 10 feet from me and really didn't care that I was there. By 6AM I was going back to the camper and tried to go to sleep on the couch. Of course just as I finally got to sleep Gary got up. At 7, Mike-Gary's boss, came by to let him know he could go to forklift class if he wanted at 8 and get paid for it but Gary decided he wanted his day off so we went for a ride.

We wanted to go to the Kaibab Lodge for breakfast but once we got there all they had was a continental breakfast so we just got back into the Blazer and started exploring. We spent 4 hours on dirt roads to get these pictures.

That's Gary out there on the ledge.

They're dropping like flies!

2008-06-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

We have or should have, about 300 people working here at any given time. But it seems that alot of people just can't take it up here. Every day we have someone quitting or getting fired for one reason or another. And everyday it seems we have new ones coming in.

This is a very unorganized place this year. It's a new company running things and I believe they bit off a bit more than they anticipated. This company has many resorts already but non as large as The Grand Canyon North Rim. The last cook to quit the Lodge, yesterday, said he had 181 hours in 2 weeks! No wonder he quit. Anyways Gary really loves his job and I only like mine. I'm the Tee-shirt lady and I don't get the shirts I need and it seems noone can order the right ones, ect......Mostly I count the shirts and ask for more, but don't get more, and try to keep as many on the floor as possible for the customers. Of course we don't even have the shirt that everyone wants-Rim to Rim, or North Rim. Most just say Grand Canyon.

It's very frustrating and I really would rather be driving the shuttle van to St. George or Page. I've had alot of people come up to me and ask when I'm going to drive again because the other drivers scare them! Imagine that, my driving doesn't scare anyone around here! Well I am older and do take it easier now too. :)

Zion Pictures

2008-06-06T09:01:00.001-07:00

When you go to Zion National Park you drive for about an hour at 30 mph if coming from Kanab,UT. This picture was taken while driving from the south side to the north side of Zion. Zion Park is about rock formations and canyons formed by water and wind erosion.

Driving from Zion Park to Kanab, UT. There are these windows in the tunnel that goes through the mountain. Hard to get good pictures when you can not actually stop while driving.
My hands are out because I'm catching the water that is dripping from the rock cliff I'm in. Above me is all rock and and looks like someone cut part of the mountain away but actually it is natural and they call this The Weeping Rock. Water seeps through the Limestone but once it reaches the slate in the mountain it can't seep through anymore and drips out causeing a delicate garden of hanging plants to grow above my head. And this picture of Gary is the same place. (Sorry I can't figure out how to rotate the picture)

This is called the checker board.

I've got more pictures but they aren't that good so you will have to wait until we go again.

Driving, driving, driving......

2008-06-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

June 5
Good morning at all who read this. I've be driving or riding alot for the past 2 days. Tuesday is our Saturday and we took a shuttle ride to Zion National Park. It took almost 3 hours to get there and we got to stay 3 hours and then do the 3 hour ride back to the RV. It saved us gas money and wear and tear on my blazer but it sure worked on our nerves alot! The driver of the shuttle drove 60 miles in 2nd gear at 70 mph average and did not realize what gear she was in. Of course Gary and I did just from the sound of the engine!
The short time we had at Zion we really enjoyed. I have pictures I will post next time I write. We definately will return using our own vehicle and most likely spend the night there too.

Yesterday, Gary had fire safety training so I volunteered to be the shuttle driver to St. George, UT for a shopping trip. (I got paid too!) It takes 3 hours to get there and all was fine on the ride there. I had 9 passengers of which 5 were from Singapore, 1 from Italy and 3 from different states here in the states. First we went to the shoe store so I could take care of my over charge problem I had with them and ended up just getting a new pair of sneaks. Now I can get rid of my old ones that hurt to walk in. Then I took us to eat at a Chinese buffet and you'll never guess what happend...the waitress was from a town 1/2 hour away from where the Singapore kids came from! So they all had conversations with each other for an hour and the kids thanked me for bringing them to this great resturant that was so much like home. Then we went shopping at Walmart.

When I came out after an hour the wind was starting to blow and it was lightening. We had to wait another 1/2 hour for the last kid to get his shopping done and by then the weather was getting quite bad so I decided no mall and just get going home. The wind and rain stayed with us for most of the 3 hour drive back to the Grand Canyon until we got to Jacob Lake then it turned to snow. So for another hour I drive in rain, sleet & snow depending on the alttitude. By the time we got home the temp was down to 38 and it was snowing really good. I of course was dressed for a nice sunny, hot day in St. George! Shorts and a short sleeve shirt and the girls all had on either shorts or a sun dress, we were definately cold by the time we arrived home. By the time I went to bed it was like a winter wonderland here once again. Most of the guests were not happy at all, expecially those that had been in the bottom of the canyon at Phantom Ranch where it was close to 100* most of the day.

So I have some other good news! Last week when I drove to St. George to pick up new employees Gary recieved a dinner gift certificate for 2 to the Lodge here. He was told it was for the wood splitting he had done in the last week. (All the guests were fasinated watching him and took lots of pictures.) He was so excited and couldn't wait to tell me. Then I go to work that night and tell my boss about it and she says "I sure am glad you told me that because every department has a gift certificate to be given out to the most deserving in each department and I chose you. But since Gary already has one would you mind if I gave it to someone else?" I said "Sure give it to someone else, we don't want to be hogs about it and just knowing that you thought enough of me to give it to me is great." "Well you have just taken over things here and do everything that is asked of you and so much more so you are the one that truely derserves it" she says. That was so nice hearing her say that. I have since been promoted to being the Tee-shirt lady. I'm in charge of the inventory and making sure we have enough shirts, jackets, sweats, ect. in the back of the store to accomadate the guests. That means going to the warehouse and taking inventory there too and pulling what I need at the store. It gives me alot more freedom in the store than just walking around and making sure things are where they are suppose to be and of course more respect from everyone and thus treated better than I was before. I love it and of course I am good at it too!

Quick trip to town

2008-05-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

There is no such thing as a quick trip to town from here.......Here's how it happens.

First, you get up early..6AM and get on the road by 6:30 or 7. Drive 45 miles to get to Jacob Lake and then another 32 miles or so to get to Fredonia. (This morning a log truck had tipped its second trailer over and lost all the logs so that was a slow go there for a bit.) In Fredonia you can get gas at $4.29 a gallon (I got mine at $3.33 in the Park before I left). You can also get lottery tickets and other things that gas staion convenience stores offer. You can get a motel room and if you can catch the only resturant open, a meal. We continue on through town to go to breakfast in Kanab, UT. only 7 miles more. Then we come back to Fredonia and take a right to go to St. George.

I had a podiatrist appointment at 1:30 (UT time-different from AZ time) in St. George, UT and after stopping in Kanab, UT for breakfast we get there 1 hour early, just enough time to fill out paperwork and look around abit. I love this Dr.! He took very good care of my feet and made casts of my feet for new arch supports, I'm a very happy person by the time I leave his office. Of course when I go and buy the shoes he has recommended I take a deep breath at the price, but they feel soooooo good!

So, Gary and I decide that we deserve a night in a hotel and go to Holiday Inn. Very nice. We get all checked in and then go to find the movie theather. We have missed the movie we want to see by half an hour, oh well ,lets just go cruz'n around town. Never did find another theather but did find Olive Garden so we stop for some supper. Yummy! We continue to drive around and now feel comfortable that we can find most things so back to the hotel we go.

Very nice nights sleep. We get up and go to the Palms Resturant in the hotel and was thourghly disappointed. They failed the Keysar surprise shopper test! My order was all wrong and Gary's was half wrong. Yes, we did fill out the comment card!

So now I have a Dr. appointment in Kanab at 11AM for my test results from last week. We get there just in time! But great news...all my counts are right on the $$, right where they should be. Dr. Hernan tells Gary "looks like she'll be around at least another 30 years!"

Is the day over? Can we go home now? NO! Now we have to continue to Page, AZ to get our prescriptions from Walmart that we missed getting by 2 minutes last week.

So off we go. We have been on the road about 20 min. when we hear this really loud engine and a HUGE shadow pass over us!! It's a C130 military cargo plane about 50-75 feet above us going the same direction as us. (Good thing too, cause I'm sure we both would have peed our pants if we had of seen it coming at us that low!) Our first thoughts were of course-is he going to crash? But no he just keeps going following the road to Page. He dissapears in a couple of minutes and we never see it again. We stop at the BLM Visitors Center about 20 min. later and that guy never heard a thing. Finally we make it to Page and stop for a bite and then go to Walmart. We get our prescriptions and a few other things and NOW we are on our way home.
125 miles later (and about 30 deer) we reach the RV and unload the car. Finally home, sweet home! But the price of gas here in the Park is now $3.99!

That was our weekend, how was yours????

Got snow?

2008-05-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

May 24
It's been snowing for 2 days now and we still can see the grass!! Off and on it snows all day and night with a bit of sleet now and then. Today is nice and sunny but still it snows once in awhile. Got our new hot heater and boy does it feel good to have running hot water again. Haven't seen many deer lately, they must be out in the meadows more now that the tourist are here and in thier way.

Our weekend (Tues & Wed.) is already full. Tuesday we go to St. George to see a foot doctor and get me new lifts and Wed. we go to Kanab to get blood work results. Maybe we can spend the night in Page and go to the dam again and actually get to see the tour of the inside of the dam.

Not much else happening today, just work as usual. Slowly we are getting more items in at the gift shop. But sadly for the tourist no winter hats or gloves :(. Lots of sweatshirts though.

The season has started.....

2008-05-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

May 10
Our hot water heater died. I've been heating water on the stove for dishes and a sponge bath while waiting for the new one to arrive. (Just like growing up in N.H.!) The big wigs are here and finally setting up the store, it's looking really nice. Since I am mechanically inclined and rather strong compared to the rest of the girls, I have been choosen to help put shelving together and do destructive work too. There's some wood shelving in Building 500 where the UPS driver leaves all our packages every night that need to come out so today I get to get really dirty tearing them out
What a day! My boss Terri had me working like a man all day! First I got to move all the trash with her, (she's about half my size if even that) and we really should have had the big strong young men doing the trash. It was all the display units from the gift shop that the big wigs didn't want to reuse, then she had me ripping out those shelves. That took me about 3/4 of a hour if that. Nancy, 1 of my co-workers, invited me to take a shower at her dorm room--what a shower!! Lots and lots of hot water. Oh how I've missed my showers. Can't wait for our water heater to arrive!! I got a few bruises today but it did feal good to be doing physical work again.

May 15

We open today! When I walked into the gift shop this morning everyone stopped what they were doing and just awed at me. I had my make-up on (I hadn't worn any since arriving) and my crisp white shirt under my navy blue pullover sweater vest and my best instantly-slims-you kakhi pant and black shiny shoes. I was a show stopper! Everyone said "Edie you look great!" my reply "I do clean up pretty good don't I!" And John our 19 yr. old says "you smell really good too!" Just goes to show that being 50 isn't that bad after all.

May 19

Tonight is that start of our weekend! So I thought we would take a picnic supper out to one of the points. Theses are a few pictures from Cape Royal.

Notice this window (hole) in the rock? We also went up on top of there but it was to dark to get any good pictures.

Now for some sunset pictures!

And some full moon pictures!

And now for some random Grand Canyon pictures.

This was Sunday May 11, 2008.

May 20

We have the worst luck. Today we went to Kanab, UT for our first doctors appointments. That all went fine. Gary now weighs 161 and I have gone down to 198!!! That's why my shorts are almost falling off me :)! We were so looking forward to eatting at Houstons Resturant. We had breakfast there last week and it was great. Lunch today was a big disappointment. We got an order of wings, 5 little, tiny wings for $8. Definate rip-off. Then we go to Page, AZ and stop at the Glen Canyon Dam to take the tour of the Dam. There was 1 ticket left for the 2:30 showing so Gary got it and I got put on the waiting list. We thought since Gary got the last ticket that I was 1st on the waiting list-NOT. There was 6 before me so Gary just didn't go without me. And of course by then the 3:30 showing was full so we didn't get to go down into the Dam. So we go to Walmart and do some shopping and then remembered we have prescriptions to get filled and wouldn't you know it we didn't here them call our name and when we went to get them at 6:03PM-the pharmacy was closed. Keep in mind we live 125 miles from this Walmart. I go back to the doctors next Tues. for my blood work results so maybe we will just wait and go back to Page next week or maybe Gary will decide to go tomorrow, I don't know. All I know is that it is a really long ways off just for $18 of prescriptions!

May 21

Another day off and so much to do, wash, clean the RV and of course more exploring of the area. The Grand Canyon National Park opened for business on the 15th. It was a busy day and has slacked off a bit every day since. But 1 more week and it will be full blown crowds every day until Sept. The gift shop is a very expensive place with lots of Native American made pottery and jewelry. We have alot of different tee-shirts too, which we constantly have to refold. We have to restock the shelves all day long as most items we have only a few or even 1 of the item on the floor at a time besides tee-shirts and jewelry. We sell a chocolate bar for $3.50 and it's not very big! Employees get a 40% discount but not on paper goods (books, postcards, ect.) and only 10% on food items. I certainly won't be spending much $$ there. The Lodge let the kitchen staff practice on all the employees for dinner the night of the 14th. It took 3 hours for some to get there meal and I over heard a couple of guests yesterday say that it was still just as bad of a wait. We in the Gift Shop are quite good at getting the customer out pretty fast except Monday all the computers went down and of course our registers are computers and we had to do everything by hand for almost an hour. Most customers were understanding but a few were not, oh well, we did our best. Hope it doesn't happen to often but I'm afraid it will all summer.

Maintanence has been very busy since April. For the most part now they have everything caught up and taken care of but every day brings a new problem too. Gary still has to get back up on the roof of the Lodge and finish the shingle work he started last week before opening and snow. I'll get some pictures of that when he gets back up there. He'll be the talk of the town when he gets back up there, everyone will be taking his picture because he will be on the back side of the Lodge where if he falls he will most likely go down into the canyon! He won't fall though, he wears the safety harness and is very careful. He also loves the view from up there.

It looks like rain may come today. We better get the tarp back up on top of the RV since the roof still leaks. Slowly we are getting things fixed but I don't want to sink a lot of $$ into this RV cause we are planning on getting a better one maybe this coming year if we can. Someone told Gary that in Yuma, AZ in the fall you can pick up a really good one for about $5000 from people who just don't want to live in them any more for one reason or another.

Well it did sprinkle a very small bit this morning but mostly it has been snowing off and on all day. I didn't think it was cold enough for snow but sure enough that is just what it has been doing. We may wake up in the morning to a few inches!

Our days so far....

2008-05-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

April 17, 2008
What a day! We made it to the North Rim today. The road was plowed but not all that good. We got the camper all parked, leveled and most things back in there proper places. We start work tomorrow. I have the hard job-going back to Jacob Lake (45 miles) and letting people in the gate on Rt. 67. We had a super supper! They were having a steak BBQ at the Lodge tonight. (Just for us!-no not really) It was the best steak I've ever had I think. We had a hugh fire place with a fire going. How hugh? Well lets see the measurements for this outside fireplace were about 9'high x 11'wide x 5'deep. And on top of all that we got to look at the Grand Canyon the whole time we were there. What a sunset that was! We just love it here. We're back in the woods and it's really dark at night and quiet too.

April 22
It sure is pretty up here but....things are moving slow. We just got sewer and running water today. Gary & I and all others in campers had it easy compared to those who are in the dorm rooms. Most of them have had to use outside port-a-pottys. There was one building that had 6 dorm apartments of which one was used as the kitchen to feed everyone and let people take showers. Of course that building was 1/2 mile away from where the other dorm rooms are and the main building for all the offices and the real dining room. So after finally getting the water on late this afternoon everyone is now happy, clean and sweet smelling once again. There must be about 100 people here tonight. Then you have the National Park people and the Forest Service people and we still have less than half of all the personel that will eventually be housed and working here for the summer.
Yesterday Gary & I had the day off to go to St. George, UT. I had to go to the Social Security office because someone in the main office wrote my number down wrong and Homeland Security sent a letter to HR Office saying I had 8 working days to go take care of everything. We got there 10 min. after closing (and $50 in gas), so I still have to go back this week sometime. But this time I'm taking the company car and getting paid for it, after all it was not my fault or HR's fault for the screw up.
We cannot get a cell phone signal unless we go 1 mile away to the Lodge which is right on the rim of the canyon.

April 26, 2008
Today Sam was baptized but we couldn't go, I really need tires on my SUV and they are now 6 hrs away 1 way. Chris's parents made it and Kristal posted a picture on her blog. My best friend, Penny, is now in Las Vegas visiting her daughter. Tanya is having twin girls any day now. Can't wait to see them all.

April 28
Got a call from Penny! The twins were delivered today and all are doing great. Guess we will have to take a trip to Vegas soon!

May 4
Things sure are moving slow still....Last night we found out the hard way that the water had been shut off. Luckily we have our reserve tank in the RV to use. Those in the dorms just can't flush! Lets see what has been happening since last I was able to write. Gary is in maintanence so he's working very hard along with 4 others to get everything working and all the water turned on but they keep finding leaks and what's worse is they don't find the leaks, thus we have to have the water turned off at night now. We also now have about 200 people here. We had a little over 2 million gallons of water when we arrived April 17 now there is less than 1 million and only 600,000 in the waste facility. Where did the rest go???? Out on the ground! And the pipe going down the canyon to the spring that fills the water tank is busted so we can not get any more water until that is fixed. Gary has had 2 days off since arriving here, I've had each weekend off. So what do we have here? We have a dinning room that feeds everyone in the dorms and any RV'ers that want to pay $3.00 per meal, unless you are a manager or suprvisor, then your meal is free. We have a camp store, a general store, for us and the general public that comes to camp. A laundry and shower house for the campers and all the cabins and buildings for the park service, and of course we have the stables for the donkeys. 4 dorms (with 3 washer & dryers in each) for the Forever Resort employees (that's us) and about 50 RV sites for the Forever Resort employees. A mile down the road is the Grand Canyon Lodge, (over looking the canyon), and the Book Store, the Gift Store, Saloon, Post Office and all the cabins you can rent as a guest-all of these at the rim of the canyon. It is very beautiful here and we get to see mule deer grazing every where. I've also seen 2 porcupines and 8 open range cattle while driving the 45 mile road into the park. We also now have WiFi hooked up in the dinning hall for everyone free of charge. So when I have time & energy to get there with the laptop then I can update things.
I will be in the gift store and because it is under a new company we have been loading, unloading, moving boxes, inventorying new supplies, ect...and still have not put any thing in the store! The floors were waxed on Fri. and supposedly the big wigs will be in this coming week to set up up the displays and teach us everything. Fri. I was told to enjoy my weekend becasue I may not get another day off until after the 15th-opening day. Of course if the pipe from the spring doesn't get fixed we won't open then either. Got to have water! We were told if we run out of water then we will have to move to Fredonia (about 70 miles away) and everyone in the dorms will get hotel rooms and we will have to take our RV with us. This just might be more of an adventure than I had expected!!

Winds

2008-04-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was so windy! We had a high wind warning but it was extremely bad. I really think that if the camper was not hooked to the truck we would of fallen over, we were rock'n all day! And late in the afternoon I went out to the SUV to get something and guess what I found--yep all 4 windows were down-just a 1/4" but the inside of the SUV was full of dirt! This morning we had to unload everything and vacuum the whole thing out. Which actually was good cause we reloaded a different way and got more things in. When we leave out of here tomorrow we will be climbing about 3,000 ft. and the more I take the less weight for the truck.

We went to the Little Colorado River 2 days ago. Here are some of the pictures.

1976-2008

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It all started when my fiance' joined the Army.

In June 1976, straight out of high school, Gary went to Ft. Dix, NJ for Basic Training. By October he had orders for his first duty station-Alaska! I married him anyways even though I didn't want to go to Alaska.

We loved it there at Ft. Wainwright. Of course we were to young and homesick to understand just what a great adventure we had in store for us. We lived there for 1 1/2 yrs and had our daughter, Kristal in 1978. It was an adventure there that's for sure. Sunshine 24 hrs a day in the summer and darkness for 24 hrs a day in the winter, except for the street lights. We were experiencing our firsts of everything as a married couple and took everything in stride. We didn't really think about how different our lives had become from our simple country upbringing back in N.H.

By July of 78 we were transferred to Ft. Hood, TX where our son, Jason, was born in 1979. What a difference Texas was from Alaska! Once again we took things in stride and made the most of it, meeting lots of new people and making lasting friendships.

Then we were stationed at Ft. Bliss, TX (El Paso), Germany (Erlangen) and finally Ft. Devens, MA. By now we were into our 10th year of marrage and wanted a "normal" life so Gary got out of the Army. Well life was alot harder than we thought it could be and Gary reenlisted 2 years later. It was nice to be back home amoungst our relatives but we really missed "the Army life".

As it turned out he joined the Army Reserves and we able to stay in N.H. for another 6 yrs. Then one day out of the blue he calls me at work and tells me we have been reassigned to New Orleans, La. None of us wanted to go there! But we packed up and down south we went. For 4 yrs we tried to make the best of it and finally just had to leave! Gary retired and we moved to TN because it was so much like NH just not as cold and not as much snow. We still had the mountains we loved and the 4 seasons.

These 3 photos are of Cardens Bluff Campground at Watauga Lake in TN.

After almost 9 yrs of the same place we were getting antsy and one day decided to sell everything and move into the camper. We had been living in the camper at Watauga Lake and were the campground hosts there for 2 years so we were pretty much used to the small space of our camper. By now our daughter lived in AZ and we had been out there the winter before and decided that was as good a place as any to move to.

We decided that with Gary's retirement (and no utilities to pay) we could volunteer somewhere and do OK. So he gets on the computer and applies to lots and lots of places, both volunteer and paying positions. The Petrifed Forest National Park (PEFO) in AZ was the place we chose to go to. Gary had always wanted to see it and now he could see it everyday!

We arrived at PEFO Nov. 12, 2008. They had an RV pad for us with most all the ultilities included and we only had to volunteer for 32 hrs a week! I didn't even have to volunteer but I decided I would also. They wanted us to stay at least 6-8 weeks. We stayed 5 mths and loved every minute of it! Well not quite every minute-it did get quite cold and it even snowed some. And we did go through a lot of propane, which they did not provide.

Just as Gary thought it sure was worth coming to see. Here are a few of our pictures that we took while at Petrified Forest NP.

Long logs of petrified wood.

A big piece of petrified wood. You can see where a branch was.
A small piece of petrified wood Gary found at Blue Mesa.

Our Grandson Matthew sitting on a piece of petrified wood.

A piece of petrified wood. You can see where a branch was.

A very colorful piece of Petrified Wood.

The Painted Desert from the Painted Desert Inn at the Petrified Forest.

Elizabeth, Matthew, Brandon & Sam with a Phytosauris Reptile sckull at the Rainbow Forest Museum and Matthew, Brandon & Sam in front of the bentinite clay hills at the Petrified Forest National Park.

So much to see

2008-04-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

This is for my daughter Kristal and my best friend Penny. If I can learn to express myself in print half as well as the two you, then I will have accomplished my goal for this blog.