After visiting Cedar Breaks we headed back to Hot Mama's in Duck Creek for a bite to eat and a beer. You don't have many choices up here and we liked the place yesterday but not the food we ordered or the service. When we stopped yesterday all we really wanted was to drink a beer and be on our way. However, apparently in Utah if you drink you have to eat so we ordered what we thought was something simple which was an order of boneless chicken wings. We asked the waitress whether or not they had to go out back and catch the chickens first but she reassured us they were on the way. About 40 minutes and a pitcher of beer later we got the wings. The problems is Hot Mama's specializes in pizza and she explained the wings are frozen and they bake them not deep fry them. We told her if we would have known this we would have ordered just about anything else since we only ordered these so we could have beer. Anyway we went back there today and were kind of hoping Hot Mama wasn't working today but she came over as soon as we sat down. We told her we know what not to order today so we know it will be great. She laughed and yesterday and me kind of shorting her on the tip a little was forgotten. The pizza was one of the best I ever had. Out back they have some hummingbird feeders and they will have 20 plus hummingbirds at one time. I didn't see 20 today but did see four or five but it was hard to get a picture of them.
We take the dogs to the groomers tomorrow and Tuesday is when were planning to go to Bryce Canyon but we changed our mind on that and it's a good thing since they are having a bike race on Tuesday on hwy 14 which is the highway we were on today and the one that goes to Bryce Canyon. We saw signs today saying to expect delays on Tuesday, August 6th due to the race. Apparently Tuesday is stage one of the Tour of Utah which they say is a noncompetitive bike event. This stage is 112 miles long with an elevation gain of 5,748 feet and it finishes here in Cedar City. There are another five stages that are 78 to 131 miles long each day. I believe the last stage is called the Ultimate Challenge and it is 78 miles with an 11% grade climb and a 14 mile decent. I have read that this is the most challenging bicycle event in the U.S. and will attract riders from all over the world. I think last year there were something like 500 participants for what they refer to as a noncompetitive event.
Here some pictures from today.
Off in the distance on the right is a cone that could have been a volcano.
There are some of the totem pole like structures in this canyon that are called Hoodoos. This is what Bryce Canyon is known for.
A little breezy here. Did I mention that the temperature dropped 27 degrees from the time we left Cedar City when it was 89 degrees until we got here at 10,450 feet where it is 62 degrees.
Here are three hummingbirds feeding at once. There is probably 6 feeders back here behind Hot Mama's. A tip from the Hummingbird expert: If you use the sugar water with the red dye in it the eggs the hummingbirds lay will be off white or pink. The hummingbirds will destroy eggs that are not pure white. Here they boil the water then add four cups of sugar to a gallon of water which some people say is too much but how can you argue with the amount of hummingbirds he attracts. He does agree that the red on the feeder helps attract them.
Hot Mama's would have added another dollar for my garage wall papering project.
This should be really good in snow.
You see these cabins dotting the area around here. At this elevation you see a blend of forests and meadows like this one.
They have a log built church in Duck Creek.
