(Tusayan, Arizona, U.S.A.)

It is easy to write about the good things on a trip. It is not as easy to write about the things that go wrong. 

We arrived at the Grand Canyon late on a Thursday afternoon. It was swimming in fog: we couldn’t see anything more than a few feet from the South Rim of the canyon. However, we weren’t too disappointed, as we would be staying in the area until Saturday morning. Some snow was predicted for the next day, but we figured that would only enhance the scenery (like the snow at Bryce Canyon had done a couple of days before).

When I woke up the next morning, the hotel room was cold.  And very dark.  The power was out. And yes, the heat was out too. I looked out the window: more than a foot of snow had fallen (see photo at the top of this post). This did not look good.

There were varying estimates on how long the power would be out.  The hotel could not serve breakfast, because the generators were needed to keep the hotel up and running at a minimal level. In fact, no restaurants anywhere in town seemed to be open. Not only were we cold, hungry, and without power, there appeared to be no prospect of an imminent return. The road to the Grand Canyon was closed.  And the snow continued to fall.

Interesting things happen when you are faced with no food, no heat, and no power.  All of a sudden, it’s changed from vacation to survival. Which explains why people jammed the only open business: a gas station with no power but some stranded staff. 

What do you buy when this may be your only chance to get food for several days?  When a large part of the store consists of products in the “chips” category? And when you know that it will take more than an hour to check out, because the line-up is huge and the bills need to be calculated by hand? Making the best of a bad situation, I loaded up on trail mix, and hoped that the power would return soon.

The walk back to the hotel was miserable, with high winds and even some freezing rain pelting my eyes. By Friday night, the gas station was closed, and power had still not returned. The roads into Tusayan remained closed too.  

One power-restoration deadline after another passed. With a nasty cold on top of everything else, this was not my finest hour. I’ve never worn a coat to bed, but there is a first time for everything.  You just don’t know how much colder it is going to get.

(To be continued)