Zion NP & Provo

Our trip is winding down now. Darren and I have reached Zion National Park, our last National Park in the Western U. S. Although this park is beautiful, it is getting late in the year and as such is very, very cold. The beginning temperature of our hike to Angels Landing was 1 below zero and maxed out at 22 degrees above zero later in the day. As long as we kept moving we were fine.

The hike to Angels Landing was beautiful and the last half mile was very intense. The path becomes very narrow with sheer cliffs on both sides. The park service installed chain link ropes for hikers to hold on to so they do not fall to their deaths enjoying the outdoors. The hike was well worth the views we enjoyed once we reached our final destination; however, I learned I am not at all interested in mountain climbing.

We also hiked upper and lower Emerald Falls and Hidden Valley while we were in Zion. We were limited to where we could hike on these trails as many had frozen areas with massive icicles. As a result, the park services closed many trials and parts of trails due to the danger these conditions posed. Darren, the man we all know and love, tried very hard to convince me to ignore the closure signs and press forward. However, Tracy’s good sense prevailed (read nagging, paranoia). The excruciating sound of ice cracking as the massive icicles fell certainly helped make my argument. Better luck next time Darren.

We stayed in the little town of Springdale while we visited Zion National Park. We went exploring and found some very unique shops. Alex, we went into this one shop that reminded Darren and I of you. They had outdoor furniture made of metal. One was a chair and ottoman in the shape of a large and small leaf, and the other was a butterfly where the arm rests were the wings. They were really cool. We also visited a ranch that raised buffalo and elk. Very different from our Yellowstone days. They are much better to observe in their own habitat.

We attended a Christmas musical while we stayed in Springdale. The stage was a simple Christmas scene and the cast consisted of 6 people. The show was impressive considering the low cost production. Our favorite musical number was a Christmas song written to the “Raw Hide” melody. Hilarious!!!!!! We liked it so much we bought the CD mostly for that one song.

After Zion we spent a few days in Provo, Utah checking the area out and riding our bikes along the Provo River. Nice area, close to the mountains, lakes, skiing, etc. but more populated than we expected and the drivers were downright rude.

We are now at Darren’s dad and step-mom’s house. We are spending a few days here relaxing and getting re-aquainted with reality. Translated: Tracy has to do all of her Christmas shopping in three days. One hour at the mall and I’m very stressed out. So much for 12 months off and being care free.

Sometime next week we should be back in the Bay Area. We are going to stay at Tracy's parents through Christmas (look out Gibby, Tracy's got a guy in her room!) then head back out and down to Yuma. Hope to see some of you. We are really looking forward to seeing our friends and family!

Cedar City, Valley of Fire, Bryce

We had a lot to be thankful for this year. My Dad and Diane driving down to meet us for Thanksgiving was a wonderful surprise and of course being able to take this trip is something we are very thankful for.

When we got to Valley of Fire it turned out the campground was full. But no problem, the ranger pointed us to some BLM land on top of a Mesa. It turns out there's a number of snowbirds who spend the winter there. No water or electricity but the price is right (free). Moreover it is a relatively warm location, with views of the desert surrounding the mesa (if you like that) and Lake Mead and the town of Overton are about 15 minutes away. When we arrived there were already 30+ RV'ers and a half dozen or so more were arriving daily but it's a big mesa so everyone is far apart from each other. It made me think of a scene out of the movie Independence day after all the city's had been blown up and a bunch of RVer's were hiding out in the desert. The place however was surprisingly clean and orderly for something that is completely unorganized with no central authority.

Anyway we had a great Thanksgiving there. Tracy made a full on traditional dinner: 10lb turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, biscuits, pie and ice cream, etc. All cooked from scratch, in a motorhome, with no access to water or electricity other than what we carried or generated ourselves. We played games, watched a little TV (actually got two stations out of Salt Lake City), visited around a campfire with neighbors and took some short hike's in the Valley of Fire park. Come Sunday we left for Cedar City and my parents for their home, all a little heavier and having enjoyed each others company.

Cedar City is a small town (maybe 30k permanent residents) but it has a surprising amount of things to do thanks to the university located here and tourism. Cedar is also known as Festival City because it has so many festivals. The Shakespeare festival is the biggest: it has won a Tony award, lasts 9 months long and has up to 7 different plays playing at one time during the height of the season. It is very much like Ashland, though I'm guessing not quite to their level of sophistication. However in addition to the Shakespeare festival, they also hold music festivals, the Utah summer games (an olympic like event), a road biking event ala Tour D'France, and various other festivals. Hence the nickname Festival City. Furthermore they are a 1/2 hour from Cedar Breaks National Monument and Dixie National Forest (lakes, hunting, hiking); 45 minutes from Brianhead ski resort; 1 1/2 hours to Bryce or Zion national parks and you can even make a long day trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon if you wish. I would recommend it for a week or longer vacation. It's probably too hard to get to, to make anything much shorter worthwhile. Jeff you should really give it a try sometime in addition to the normal Ashland trip.

There are regional airline affiliates that fly to Cedar from Vegas and Salt Lake but if it were me I would fly into either of those two airports and then rent a car to drive from there. It's about a 3 hour drive from either but you are going to want a car once you get here anyway.

While staying in Cedar City we took a day trip up to Bryce (pretty drive) and did some hiking. Wall street, the most popular hike, was closed due to rock falls but we did get to hike all around that area and it was very beautiful (picture at top is of hoodoo's at Bryce). We also got to meet a great couple while there, Bob and Donna from Minnesota. We hiked and had dinner at Ruby's Inn together (good place to stay if you are in the area). We decided not to park the motorhome at Bryce however as the local RV campgrounds were either closed or they had turned off the water and electricity. A cold storm came through while we were here (apparently lots of snow in Seattle and the midwest suffered through a blizzard with a number of deaths). Even in Cedar City it was in the 20's during the day and single digits at night, much colder than normal for this time of year. Bryce at a few thousand feet higher was well below 0. We just didn't want to subject our motorhome and ourselves to overnight in those temperatures if we didn't have to, especially with no outside electricity.

Cedar City was great, real estate was relatively cheap with some great views but it's high desert. I've decided the desert is a great place to visit and I'd love to come back on vacation for a week or two but I don't want to live there. We've only spent about a month in it so far and already I've had enough.

That being said, next stop Zion! Ugh, more high desert.