Sunday, July 2, 2007

Yesterday we did go to Zion National Park. It was just beautiful. The temperature was not as hot as it had been. Still in the high 80’s. We didn’t get going until after lunch. We took the highway there, because we were told that the scenic road had been closed the day before. It was a nice trip there. It was only about 40 miles away.

The views were wonderful. There is a lot of red in the rocks here. Rolling “bigger hills” then MOUNTAINS! Yes, these are mountains. Where we are staying in Cedar City, Utah is on the flat side, but our tip to Zion took us up over a pass that was 9,950 feet.

When we got to Zion we stopped at the gate and the ranger suggested that we park the truck and take a shuttle. (We were not allowed to drive up into the Canyon.) So, we parked our truck and took the shuttle. What an amazing ride. I just could not take pictures very well, because I was too close to the mountains. They were wonderful. How amazing it is to have Mother Nature present such wonderful, magnificent rock formations. As we were riding in the shuttle, the roof had skylights, and at times we were looking straight up and still could not see the top of the “mountains”. I tried to take some pictures as we were riding along, but it didn’t work very well.
(I really wish the internet here at this KOA would work better. I keep trying to upload pictures, but after about 5 minutes of uploading, I get kicked off. One of these days, I will just upload a bunch of pictures.)

Before we entered the park, we found some land for sale. We took a picture of the sign and the area. Just outside of Zion National Park. (A growing area!) Brad would like to move right in, but I have my doubts.

We did find a job for Brad. We don’t even have to change the sign. Brad’s Food Hut! It’s for sale and I bet we could open the doors right up. Might take a little work, but here in Cedar City, the Southern Utah University resides, and I bet we could cater to the college crowd.

We went through the town of Virgin, Utah. They had a Virgin Jail, a Virgin Trading Post, and the neatest thing that we saw was the Virgin Used Book Store. (Christi, this is one for your collection of unusual signs!) The Virgin River runs from Zion Park.

While we were in the Zion Park, we saw the Virgin (rock formation that has a story to go along with it, and the sacrificial alter rock). So I guess the town is rightly named.

After we left the park, we decided to take the scenic route, (and if the road was closed, we would just have to turn around and go back). But the road was not closed, and we could get through. What a great trip. Part of the road was still in the park and if your vehicle was too big (like a bus or a huge camper) you needed to pay a fee to go on the road. At first we couldn’t figure out why they called it an escort fee. (Thought maybe this was some kind of special service.) But when we got to the tunnel (which was a mile long) we figured it out. The tunnel was a two way tunnel, but anything larger, such as a bus or huge camper, had to be escorted through the tunnel, and all the other cars had to wait until it got through.

Before we got to the tunnel we noticed an archway right in the side of the mountain. “What the heck happened? Did they whoops when they were trying to find a passage way through the rock?” Soon to discover (plaques are great, and they are placed all over at the viewing spots) that there were a few of these “arches to nowhere” which were used to get rid of the excess rock and debris, and also used as vents for the tunnel. (As we drove through this unlit tunnel, I tried to take a picture, on Brad’s side of the truck, through his driver’s window, but I only got a great profile of his face!) It was way to dark in the tunnel for any picture to come out.
Once through the tunnel, we stopped at the other side, and Brad (yes, Brad was the one, that wanted to) take a walk UP to the Canyon lookout). The temperature was only 88 at the time, (much better than it had been) so we started our HIKE! Up, Up, UPPPPP we went. Murtle and Taco stayed in the truck. (Hiking is not their thing.)

When we got to the lookout, it was just splendid! We could look over the canyon where we climbed up with the truck. We couldn’t see the beginning or end of the tunnel, only the “arch to nowhere”. We could see all the switchbacks that it took for our truck to get to the top. (Now we were looking DOWN at where the trucks and cars were, so you can tell that we HIKED up quite a ways.) The hike was really well worth it. Again, pictures just do not do it justice.

I have to mention the construction and growth in this area. On one side of Zion National Park, there were resorts, camping areas, hotels, lodging, Bed and Breakfasts, new homes, etc. Then on the other side of the park, no new homes, no open resorts, no camping available (sort of like a ghost area, and these places had been closed for quite a while).

As we continued on our scenic route, we smelled, and saw smoke from the wild fires. Some places received rain in the afternoon, but of course it only sprinkled on us. (It doesn’t rain on a Presby parade! …much). The trip that we made to Zion National Park, was a loop, and it was within this loop where the fires were burning. We went up to Cedar Creek (which was way up on a mountain top) and we saw where the fire crews had a command center. Trucks, rangers, heavy equipment and much more. We tuned into the local radio station and got the news on what areas were closed to the public.

Again, on this trip, we were at an elevation of around 10,000 feet. I didn’t notice much difference in the air, or breathing as long as I wasn’t exerting myself. After walking about 10 steps, you wonder if your lungs are failing or if OLD AGE really did sneak up on you to fast. Everything had to be done in slow motion. Brad stopped to take a picture of a huge white tail deer and walked about 50 feet to get a better shot. When he returned to the truck, (huffing and puffing) he said that he thought he was out of shape, but I believe that the elevation was around 9,500 at that time.

We were so fortunate to see the one thing that we missed in Yellowstone. We saw a long horn sheep, standing in a silhouette high atop a rock formation. Brad did some tricky driving, pulled over on the opposite side of the road, I jumped out of the truck with camera loaded, pulled up and got some wonderful shots of it. Of course my camera is just a baby bed bug and does not have a gigantic zoom lens, but I got some great pictures of it anyway.

We found some interesting rocks along the way. We thought at first that maybe while the road was being made, the crew had dumped black rocks into the woods and beside the road. But there was way to much of it for that. We tried to find a place to pull over and take a picture of it, but of course we had a native that wanted to get home, and we were in the way. When we did find a place, lo and behold there was a plaque explaining that the rock came from a lava flow billions of years ago! (Hmmm, we didn’t pick any up and bring back with us, I wonder if the same tale is true here inland as it is in Hawaii where Pele, the god, gets upset if you remove lava from Hawaii???)

We did find ATV heaven! At Cedar Creek, US Forest Land, there were ATV’s all over the place. (Actually on the radio, remember the station that I mentioned? They said that some of the trails were closed to ATV’s because of the fires.) Some of the riders were covered in mud. Some place it rained on this mountain and things were wet. We came across come mountain bikers also, and they were covered in mud from head to toe.

Down the other side of the mountain, the Creek was brown, and had a lot of swift water in it. (Most of the creeks, in other areas, were dry as a bone. Oh, at the top when we stopped to read the plaque about the lava, the temperature was 57 degrees. Brad thought it was cold, but I actually enjoyed the coolness. (It is just way too hot out here for me. I know what people say about it being dry and a different kind of heat, but in the humidity, my body is often cold, but here, I am just HOT and unbearable.)

We extended out stay here at the KOA for another night. We thought that we would go to Bryce Canyon tomorrow, but the weather is not promising. We opted to stay around the campground. We did some shopping, and sight seeing here in Cedar City. We saw the Southern Utah University, the industrial area (lots of big companies), the new housing developments. (Thad, you should see it here! You would need to hire extra crews just to keep up!) Big houses, too. We drove into a new development and picked up a flyer for a new home under construction. 3 bedroom, 2 bath, lots of room, for a mere $399,999.99! Beautiful view, you can see for miles.

The area has grown so much in the past few years, Wal-Mart changed into a super center, Home Depot, fast food chains, etc. that NUVI didn’t even have the new roads on the map. We were driving in never-never land. She kept telling us to make a U turn, make a U turn, and we were on a four lane road. (Nici, you would have laughed at her. She sounded angry with us!)

As we were driving around today, it did rain, and it rained hard for a short period of time. Hopefully it was hard and long enough (and in the right places) to help with the fires that continue to burn out here. This was the first real rain that we had fall on us since we left the 28th of June! Not to bad for the Presby Parade!

Tomorrow I think we head for Boulder City, Nevada. It is located just outside of Las Vegas (no, we don’t want to gamble, we want to walk the strip! CSI fans that we are, maybe we can find a film crew!) Hoover Dam is also very near to Boulder City. It will be up in the air where we go from there. Maybe California, maybe the Grand Canyon. We aren’t sure yet.

So until next time, Murtle and Taco are having a ball. Will post pictures when I can. (Oh, if we do put a quarter in the slot machine in Vegas, and win… you might not see us for quite some time. We are having the time of our lives. But if you do see us with a brand new camper, you will know that we won!)