Zion National Park

Today after taking care of Sydney and Tanner off we went to Zion National Park.  It took us about one hour or less to get there most of which was traveling south on highway 15 with an 80 mph speed limit.  We found Zion National Park, one of the post popular parks in the national park system, to be a combination between the great outdoors and Kings Island.  We parked our car in Springdale, since I already knew that the parking lot at the Visitors Center would be full (we later confirmed it was full).  In Springdale we caught a shuttle to the park entrance which was only five miles or so away.  Once we actually paid and got into the park we took another shuttle down the scenic route which goes down the canyon.  They no longer allow private vehicles on this road due to the congestion that was being created.  You could get off on any one of about eight or nine stops as the shuttle made it's way to the end of the canyon.  We found the canyon to be very beautiful but we have seen many of these canyon sites, maybe on a smaller scale, in the last week or so. 

After leaving the canyon we headed to an area which is not commercialized.  There is a national monument not a national park not far from our rv park called Cedar Break that we headed toward.  This site is at an elevation exceeding 10,000 feet.  On our way we stopped at Hot Mama's in a little town called Duck Creek, Utah.  This is about as remote as we could get.  Outside there were more four wheelers parked at the restaurant than there were cars.  One reason I wanted to go this way is because I wanted to take the rv that way yesterday and was met by six big warning signs talking about 6-8% grades for 12 miles which also warned semis not to go this way.  By us going around route 14 we probably drove 60 miles out of our way.  After traveling in the car today on route 14 there is no reason we shouldn't have taken it yesterday in the motorhome.  If it were winter it would be a different story but we were on several similar roads yesterday with no problems.  We decided after leaving Hot Mama's to go back to the motorhome and drive back to Cedar Break tomorrow since we also decided we did not want to travel to Bryce Canyon.  We found more neat sites on the back roads that we really liked better than the more commercial sites so that is what we are going to do tomorrow. 

Here are a few pictures from today.

 

 

The rest of the pictures are after we left the park

I think this is a mountain goat but not sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Hot Mama's - another bar with people trying to paper the ceiling and walls in dollar bills.





 



Our Trip to Cedar City Utah

We got up and got things put away and ready to go.  Tanner has always been a good eater even when he has some weird episode he still can't wait to eat his two meals a day.  This morning he didn't eat his breakfast which I believe is a first.  Janet took them for their morning walk while I was getting things ready to go and ended up having to carry him back to the motorhome.  At times he gets where he can't or won't walk anymore and one of us end up carrying him home.

The drive today was through some very beautiful country.  The mountains were great to look at and the motorhome did good going up and down the mountains.  We went up and down some 8.5% grades that were several miles long.  We won't win any races to the top but it did great.  Mileage wise we were at 7.5 mpg for the day.  The only issue we had on today's trip is when we got to Cedar City and were trying to get to 1121 North Main St.  Our GPS had us get off on an exit about seven miles south of town and we were out in the middle of no where.  Huli called the rv park and asked about the address we were trying to find.  The person at the park laughed and said you are probably south of town about seven miles in some little town.  Huli said yes and then the lady told us how to get back into Cedar City to the park. 

We are getting ready to go check out the town and see what's what. 

 

This is Lake Powell as we are leaving Page, AZ.

 Here we are at the rv park in Cedar City.



Huli's Big 60th Birthday

Today is Huli's big day which she said she can't believe and really hasn't been looking forward to.  Being 60 other than being alive another decade brings no real rewards with it.  It's not like being 62 where you could draw Social Security or get a national park pass, or turning 65 when you become eligible for Medicare.  I am glad her day is here so we are the same age again.

After breakfast and taking the dogs for their walk we took off for Horseshoe Bend which is a bend in the Colorado River that is not far from the RV park.  We got there and you were immediately confronted with a sign that said DANGER you are entering the desert and you should have hats, sun screen, plenty of water etc. etc. and there is no shade.  The first part of the hike to get to Horseshoe Bend is a fairly steep up hill climb.  On the way up I heard Huli asking people coming down if it was worth the hike to see the river bend and they all said yes, yes, it was very beautiful.  She ask several and they all said the same thing.  The problem was everyone she ask looked as if they could run a marathon.  I said, "Huli, ask the fat people if it was worth it".  I said this hike in this 100 degree heat is nothing to these skinny people.  I want to hear some fat people say it was worth it.  She kept up her asking on the way to the bend and on the way back asked people "hi how are you doing".   They all thought she was weird but that's my Huli.   What do you know we were the only people from the U.S. at Horseshoe Bend.  If it weren't for the Europeans and Japanese the tourist industry in this town would be dead.  In the rv park 80% of the people I have met are from Europe. 

After the hike, which really did turn out to be worth the effort, we went to the Glen Canyon Dam and then for some cold refreshments.  We wound up at the Page Bowl bowling alley.  The little bars in this town sucked except for the bowling alley.  They have 10 lanes but it appeared two of the lanes were under repair and would not be useable anytime soon.  They had a big square bar that had people sitting around all four sides.  Nobody was bowling.  Huli got a birthday margarita on the house and I got three or four beers for free.  Apparently a couple of Indians on the hooch ordered a pitcher of beer but did not have enough money to pay for it.  Georgia, our young and good looking bartender, would not give it to them so they left and she kept filling up my glass.  If I had known about this before they left I would have gladly bought them the pitcher.  At least they have good tastes because it was regular Bud and I finished it off for them.  While sitting at the bar we met a man who lived in Page and worked at the Navajo Power Plant back in the 80's.  He said that in 1983 they almost lost the Glen Canyon dam due to high water caused by a number of factors that could not happen today.  He said at the time they had a row of plywood at the top of the dam gates at which point I almost fell off my bar stool laughing.  I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time but to think they are adding sheets of plywood to a structure of this magnitude seemed hilarious.  He said since that time they have made modifications to the dam to insure this couldn't happen again.  We talked sports and since he had gone to some Notre Dame football games and liked Bobby Knight we had plenty to talk about.  He also gave us some advice on Cedar City, UT and what we should visit if we have the time. 

After leaving the Page Bowl we headed out for the Mandarin Gourmet Restaurant which is one of only two Chinese restaurants in the town and since it has gourmet in the name it must be good.  Huli wanted Chinese for her birthday so that is what we were looking for.  It turned out to be so so but kind of what we expected for Page, Arizona.  After eating we stopped at Walmart and picked up a couple of things and headed back to the motorhome. 

By the way, Tanner seems to being doing better today but did not have a good night.  He fell out of bed twice which he has never done.  This morning he was kind of his old self again.  He ate his breakfast and most of Sydney's too.  It just seems the weird unusual events seem to be happening more and more often but we will do what we can for him.  As long as he isn't in any pain we will help him deal with whatever comes.  If he is in pain I will take him and have him put to sleep.  I don't want to see that day come for a long time though.

Huli doesn't like cake but we still celebrated her birthday with a cake that turned out to be smaller than the two candles that sat on top of it.  I kind of cracked the icing putting the candles on it.  That may say a little something about the cake.  I sang Happy Birthday to her and she said she had a good 60th birthday in spite of my singing. 

Tomorrow we head out for Cedar City, Utah.  The trip is only about three and a half hours but I think we are going to take the long way to get there which may add some time to our trip.  We will be in Cedar City for five days.  We plan on visiting Mount Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks while we're there.  We may also make the drive to the north rim on the Grand Canyon but not sure since this is 168 miles one way. 

Here are the pictures for the day.

I posted the last picture of the day first.


 

 

I believe this is a Prickly Pear Cactus.  The red fruit is edible and used to make jelly among other things.  They have these planted all over the rv park.



 

 

You see a lot of boats around here due to Lake Powell being so close.

This is as we are on our way up and I decided to see how far we had come.  It's about here where Huli started asking people if it was worth it.

We still have some walking to do.

This is what we came to see.

 

She's still smiling.

This is the bridge we will cross tomorrow to head north.

 

The white marks show how high the water got when they almost lost the dam in 1983 due to too much water being backed up.  Just think they used one row of 4X8 sheets of plywood above the gates to help hold the water back.  It worked.

This is a close up of the picture above.  I wasn't sure if these were boats or rocks until I took this close up.

These Ravens around here are huge.

This is the entrance to the rv park we are staying in and some pictures of the park.

We are next to an area that has a wall around it that is reserved for tents.