June 27 and 28, 2015 – Zion National Park

Friday was our chore day; laundry, groceries, and general housekeeping. Saturday and Sunday we spent in Zion National Park. Did I mention that the National Park annual pass has already paid for itself?

We visited Zion National Park in March last year. I’ve posted some pictures at the end of the blog from that trip.

Saturday, we took the Zion park shuttle all the way to the end of Zion Canyon to the Temple of Sinawava. It is a vertical-walled natural amphitheater approximately 3,000 feet deep. We took the Riverside walk (a paved path 2.2 miles, round trip) to where The Narrows begin. Once you get into The Narrows, you are basically walking in the Virgin River. There is no set path. The water ranged from ankle deep to waist deep, depending on your course. We wore water shoes. Big mistake. If you ever go, be sure to wear sturdy boots with ankle support. Our hike only lasted about an hour, round trip. I was amazed at how many people attempted it, though. Some of them only wearing flip-flops or sandals.

There was one man on the Riverside walk that had to be rescued for heat exhaustion, and a stupid kid that was climbing down into the canyon using a rope and fell about 30 feet. Both seemed to being doing well, but you should definitely carry a lot of water with you in Zion and be smart.

Sunday we took the shuttle to the Temple of Sinawava, again; however, this time we took our bikes. The shuttles have room for 2 to 3 bikes. If you start at the Temple of Sinawava, the ride is mostly downhill through the Zion Canyon. There was one small incline where we had to pedal a bit. We stopped and rescued some other bikers. They were with an outfitting company, but they did not have the proper valve adapter to fill a flat on a little girl’s bike. We had an adapter, but it only worked with our CO2 cartridge. Nice ride. Go early and definitely take the downhill ride. :-)

The following photos are from March of last year.

This is Mike on the way to Emerald Pools. Very chilly in the morning in March. By the time we made it to the upper pools, though, we had our coats off.

Upper Emerald Pools

 

June 25, 2015 - Bryce Canyon, Utah

The rumors we heard about Cedar Breaks being a "little Bryce Canyon" were correct. Bryce Canyon is like Cedar Breaks on steroids! We were surprised that it was only in the 90s in the park. The sun was intense, though.

The park shuttle only stops at the most spectacular points in the park. Since parking is hard to find, we took the shuttle to Bryce Point and hiked on the Rim Trail to Inspiration Point and from there to Sunset Point. We then drove to the southern points of the park that the shuttle doesn’t stop at.

We saw lots of prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and lizards. We also saw quite a few pronghorns, but there was never a good spot to pull off the road for photos.

Cedar Breaks, Utah

We are in Glendale, Utah. The campground we are staying at used to be a KOA, but is now privately owned. There are horses in meadows on two sides of us and a creek on another. We've been enjoying feeding the horses apples and carrots. We will be staying here for about a week, as it is close to several of the national parks and monuments.

On Wednesday, we went to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Some people call it a “little Bryce Canyon”. I bought a Passport to the national parks at the visitor center. You can stamp your passport at all the national parks/monuments across the United States.

Navajo lake, on  the way to Cedar Breaks.

 

 

Cedar Breaks is really close to Brian Head. We went through the resort area and it was deserted. I’m really surprised that there weren’t more people there considering it’s so close to Cedar Breaks.

 

Leaving Las Vegas

 

"Welcome to fabulous las vegas sign" by Pobrien301 - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Welcome_to_fabulous_las_vegas_sign.jpg#/media/File:Welcome_to_fabulous_las_vegas_sign.jpg

Most people that come to Las Vegas lose money at the casinos. We came to Las Vegas and spent our money on fixing the A/C in the motorhome (thanks again Johnnie Walker RVs for taking such good care of us), putting new tires and new brakes on the Saturn, registering both vehicles, and getting new drivers licenses (don’t get me started about the Nevada DMV; there were perks to So Cal).

While we were in Vegas, we enjoyed visiting with family. My Mom is doing well after her hip replacement surgery. Thank you everyone for your good wishes and support.

While we were there, we took a drive down to Lake Mead. Since the Hoover Dam was built we have seen both the highest level at the lake (1983) and the lowest level. Back in 1983, Mike filled sandbags as part of the National Guard to protect property around the river. It’s really depressing to see the lake levels so low now.
 

 

We also went to the National Atomic Testing Museum. Lots of interesting facts about the atomic testing and area 51. We know of one person who used to work there, but since he was debriefed (i.e. flashy thingy), he has no recollection of it.

 

It was in the triple digits while we were in Vegas (the car thermometer read 124 degrees F one day). We went to Mike’s brother’s house in Blue Diamond to help fix his car and beat some of the heat. I took some pictures from Cliff's property. The burros get pretty bold in the heat of the summer and come right down into town. They have also learned how to turn on the outside faucets. Cliff has had to remove the faucet handles, because they turn them on but don’t have enough manners to turn them off after they are finished drinking.

 

 

We are now heading north towards Utah. Goodbye Las Vegas, for now.

 

Goodbye SoCal

Escrow finally closed on Tuesday!

It was harder than we thought to say goodbye to all our good friends and neighbors. We didn’t realize how dear they are to us until we had to face the fact that we wouldn’t be seeing them for a long time, if ever again. One goodbye came a lot sooner than we hoped. We lost our sweet Lucy Lou on Monday. We miss our baby girl.

We spent a few days down at Dockweiler Beach tying up loose ends and trying to organize all the stuff we piled into the motorhome. The RV site was right on the beach, but we were crammed in there like sardines. The weather was mostly gray (typical June gloom), but we managed to get some sun yesterday afternoon.

 

At 4:30 am this morning, we began our journey with our trusty mascot, Shazbot. Our first stop is Las Vegas. We’re not looking forward to the heat, especially since the coach A/C is not working correctly.  We will have to get it repaired in Vegas. We will be happy to see our family and maybe catch up with some old friends.

 

Goodbye SoCal!