"Congress forcing a government shutdown is as good a strategy as a toddler holding his breath to get his way. Hopefully, they'll pass out." @roginkim
When we were planning for this trip, I spent a fair bit of time thinking about all the stuff that could go wrong. What if the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere? What if we can't find anywhere to stay one night? What if one of us gets sick and we can't find a doctor? What if all the travelling upsets and unsettles the children?
One thing that didn't appear on my worry-list was a US Government Shutdown. To be completely honest, the first time I ever heard this phrase was only a few weeks ago. (I'm not sure where I was during the 1995-1996 shutdown. Probably practicing my Spice Girls moves). Scroll forward to 2013, and I was sitting bleary-eyed in a hotel breakfast room, trying to convince Mr Almost 3 that muesli would be better than waffles this morning. In the background, Fox News was blasting its 'SHUTDOWN COUNTDOWN CLOCK' across our screens. Oh, how dramatic I thought. It's just a budget agreement, it's not like they are actually going to close anything..... ahhhh how wrong could I be.
We were in Cortez, South West Colorado which is part of the wonderful Four Corners Area. The plan was to stay just a couple of nights, but that all changed on our first drive into the Mesa Verde National Park, with the beautiful cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people and the Colorado plateau stretching out for miles ahead. Right up the top we saw a really cool hotel called the Far View Lodge. It's 15 miles inside the national park and we were thinking how great it would be to watch the sunset and rise with the boys from this very special place, so we dropped in and booked a great room. Our check in date? October 1 - the day the countdown clock ran out.
Well, some plans are not to be. Just get over it man. This made me think of Eyjafjallajökull. Remember that? The Icelandic volcano which erupted in 2010, spewing ash into the skies and grounding all flights across Europe for six days. My colleague was at a conference in Lake Como at the time and unable to return to the office. Stuck in a 5 star hotel by a beautiful Italian lake? You poor old thing. My heart bleeds for you.
On Shutdown Day One, we took a deep breath, got over it and made a quick plan B to stay in Bluff, Utah. It was from here that we went to the 'Valley of the God's' which geek-daddy described afterwards as the drive of a lifetime. It's a 17 mile off-road tour through massive rock monuments followed by a harrowing drive up to the Moki Dugway and on to Muley Point, with incredible views of Monument Valley.
We are now in Kachina Villiage, on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona and we should have driven to the Grand Canyon today. But for obvious reasons, we won't be going. I just heard that the National Parks employees are going to get backpay for the time they were 'furloughed', which is good for them, but bad for all the businesses and towns around the 400+ national parks that are currently closed. We talked to a somewhat depressed cafe owner who said that at the first whiff of the parks closing her business took a dive. This is the real sadness and senselessness of the shutdown. In Washington they are talking about the cost of towels in the congress gym (I mean really), but all this petty crap is causing real pain for small town America.
We are now in Kachina Villiage, on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona and we should have driven to the Grand Canyon today. But for obvious reasons, we won't be going. I just heard that the National Parks employees are going to get backpay for the time they were 'furloughed', which is good for them, but bad for all the businesses and towns around the 400+ national parks that are currently closed. We talked to a somewhat depressed cafe owner who said that at the first whiff of the parks closing her business took a dive. This is the real sadness and senselessness of the shutdown. In Washington they are talking about the cost of towels in the congress gym (I mean really), but all this petty crap is causing real pain for small town America.
And as for the Grand Canyon? Yup, I'm gutted. But I guess its been here for a few million years, so it will probably still be here next time I come to the US.
Think I'll keep an eye out for impending government shutdowns before I travel though.
