2000 GS 300 - General Questions

Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen!

As the title states, I've got an a GS from 2000, she's seen some years! Got around 253k miles on her and still runs like a charm; however, the AC recently gave up and now my trusted mechanic is quoting me 2-3k for repairs...mostly because of the labor involved with removing the dash and repairing a hose and replacing some other components. I'm curious to see what others here opine on this cost and this repair. The cost of the repairs is worth as much, if not more, then the car itself, so I'm hesitant to proceed. It's damn hot down here in the deep south so I'd love to have AC again....I have 0 experience working on cars but have thought about learning just to try and rig some temporary fix here.

Any and all comments welcome, I can provide more specific details if yall are interested. Have a good one!