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The unexpected

Yesterday was a day of dealing w/ unexpected disruptions. In related news, looks like I don't get to go on vacation to the Grand Canyon in June.

Fun fact 1: the North Rim of the Grand Canyon will apparently have no water until (at least) the end of July. 300 feet of water main got damaged in winter storms.

Hotels sent out cancellation notices for affected reservations this afternoon.

Side note: I knew of the water issues. It's been on the park hotel website for over a month--but those posts strongly implied the repairs would be done before summer, which made sense since that's the tourist season & a LOT of people's livelihoods depend on Grand Canyon visitors.

Fun fact 2: TripAdvisor updates in real time. The % of hotel rooms available near Bryce Canyon NP went from 45% to 11% in the hour that I was online. That was an unexpected bit of entertainment.

I feel for the staff at those hotels. And for the whole area, to be honest. It isn't just the Grand Canyon Lodge & cabins on National Park land that are affected. It's all the concessions & all the hotels NEAR the park too. Grand Canyon will lose out on its peak visiting season, and the other parks within a day's drive of Las Vegas (and there are at least 6 of them) will get utterly swamped.


Anyway. Just wanted to share.