Musings

So, I didn’t get to post yesterday, but I have an excuse. I was staying at the El Tovar on the rim of the Grand Canyon last night, and I was beyond cell service, and there was nothing indicating the hotel had internet service. Which was actually fine. When you’re in that place you feel like you really ought to be camping. Although it would have been a cold night. It snowed most of the afternoon and the temperature dropped down to 20 degrees last night.

But let me back up. I left L.A. around 9:00 am after stopping for breakfast at Chez Nous, my favorite breakfast place in L.A. I had a very cute, wannabe actor as a waiter who was so busy being charming that he sort of forgot about the service part, but you just learn to sigh and roll your eyes. I’m also convinced that these kids have radar that tells them a.) you are in the industry, and b.) that you have been a producer. When I was just starting out in the business I never got the full court press from actors.

Anyway, I drove to Williams Arizona, and arrived at around 3:00 pm. It was very cloudy with a few snow flurries, but I decided to push on to the Canyon. Then I ran into the dishonest rubes from Hell. I gassed up my car, and had this guy at the 76 station start telling me that my tires were shot. I blew him off because Mercedes had done a trip check on my car a week ago today. Then his boss came out and told me all four tires were shot and I was going to have a blow-out and die. I was getting madder by the minute, and then the owner said I could go across the street to the Bridgestone store and get a second opinion. But gosh, he jumped in his truck and rushed over there as I was pulling out, and I saw him talking to the owner of the other garage. And amazing, amazing that guy told me my tires were shot too. I called the Mercedes dealership back in Albuquerque, and was assured that a trip check included inspecting my tires. They saw a woman alone in an expensive car and tried to stampede me into buying new tires. That left me in a bad mood as I headed up 64 for the Canyon.

The snow got very heavy, but it had been warm enough that it wasn’t sticking on the road. (I drive a sportscar and it doesn’t like snow very much). There were a steady line of cars leaving the park, and that gave me hope that I could get a room at the Rim. I pulled into the El Tovar and sure enough they had a suite and a room available. Since I haven’t heard about the movie yet I opted for the room over the suite. El Tovar was built in 1905 from boulders and pine logs and it is magnificent.

When I went back out to get my luggage seven Elk does were grazing on the grass in front of the hotel. They looked like dream figures in the snow. I headed off along the Rim to a restaurant in dense white fog and snow. And then, while I was waiting for a table, the fog cleared. And not just cleared. In an eye blink it went from dense white to clear just as the sun was setting. The last rays hit the rocks and turned them gold and carnelian, and wisps of cloud came twining up out of the depths of the Canyon like dervishes trailing white scarves. It was breathtaking.

After dinner I walked back to the hotel in the moonlight. A planet (I think it was Jupiter) looked like it was balanced on the Rim as if the Canyon had decided to wear a diamond. I curled up with a mystery, read until 11:00 pm and fell asleep.

I woke up at 5:00 am and got up so I could watch sunrise over the Canyon. It was both great and disheartening that so few people were out on the overlooks to watch this breathtaking sight. After breakfast I headed off for a hike. I went some distance down the Bright Angel trail, then back up to watch the mule riders head out. It was great fun watching people (most of whom had never ridden) meet their mules and start down the trail. I’ve decided that I’m going to go back this November for my birthday and treat myself to a mule ride down into the Canyon. I went back down Bright Angel to a particularly heartstopping view and just sat there for an hour. Then it was time to head home.

The drive was agonizing because of snow and road work, and I didn’t get home until 7:00 pm. I’m fried, and rather dreading a weekend because no one will be making a decision. Maybe early next week we’ll hear. My manager talked with the producer who thought both pitches went extremely well. Now I just have to wait.

I’m heading off to sleep and then I’m going to see my horse in the morning. Between the flu and the trip I haven’t seen him for two weeks. Okay, not totally true. I stopped last Saturday as I was driving out to give him a pet, a hug and a treat. I expect he could care less about the pet and the hug, but rates the treat as primo.

Melinda

This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 7:52 pm and is filed under life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.