The decision apparently was made Friday that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar would arrive at Mount Rainier National Park Monday night and visit with park staff and community partners on Tuesday.

Salazar was returning from Alaska and was next scheduled to be in Milwaukee today. So the decision was made to make a visit to Mount Rainier.

That left his advance planner scrambling to find a place for the secretary to spend the night. She found out, like so many other tourists, that find rooms at the last minute can be difficult at best.

As Salazar explained to the crowd of park partners Tuesday morning, there were no rooms at Paradise Inn or National Park Inn at the park. There also were no options in Ashford. So Salazar and his small traveling party spent the night in Eatonville.

During introductions, Ray Harper, the mayor of Eatonville, got plenty of laughs when he thanked Salazar for visiting his community.