We left Santa Rosa on a rainy day and arrived in Las Vegas to party cloudy and warm. We wanted to get out of Las Vegas before looking for a place for lunch. In the little town of Mesquite we found the perfect place.
We had the universal small town America professional waitress - the kind that is older, incredibly efficient and calls you "honey." She made up for the fact that we were eating small town American food. As always, I was amused by the signage. Read it carefully as you consider the importance of punctuation.
Of course I had to lose a few bucks in the nickel slot machines.As we left this town we were suddenly, unexpectedly and briefly in Arizona and got our first glimpse of canyon lands.
We were on the very scenic Highway 9 East on our way to Zion and shortly arrived in Utah. Jim hadn't been to Zion before and the last time I was there was in 1962 as a very young person. We were so happy to be coming in to the park in March before all the crowds. If you come here during high season, which starts next month, you park your car and take a shuttle on the scenic drive. We got to do the drive in our rental car and pulled over many times to take photos of great views such as this:
Zion follows the twists and turns of the Virgin River. Near the end of the scenic drive I decided to go on the river walk while Jim took a nap in the car.
The scenery was so amazing I had to stop frequently for photos.
Here's the river again.
On this 2 mile walk I heard German, Chinese, some sort of Slavic language that was not Russian and I walked behind an East Indian family who sounded like they were from California. There were kids in strollers, kids in backpacks, young folks jogging and old folks with canes.This interesting shiny black strip which I thought looked a lot like onyx is actually a seep in the rock.
I was quite surprised that I didn't see a lot of birds or other animals on this walk, since it was right near the river. I did see one raven, a few squirrels and then this wonderful woodpecker. It was quiet enough to hear the tap-tapping of his beak on the tree.
After our scenic drive tour of Zion we headed out of the park toward the north east. This drive proved to be just as lovely as the designated "scenic drive." As our road climbed we started seeing more snow on the high cliffs,
while we were in shirt sleeves with the windows rolled down.
When we saw this, we had to stop because it looked man made but it also looked impossible - a tunnel to nowhere.
Luckily there was a roadside plaque which explained it.
I was pretty excited to see this mile long tunnel which was made in 1930, so I had my camera ready and the window rolled down (and yes, I was driving and there was no stopping in the tunnel).
I had never fully realized how long a mile long tunnel is and how dark it is inside. Now I understand the need for and value of the window we had seen from down below the tunnel.
The tunnel is so dark and so narrow that bicycles are not allowed inside. After the long tunnel we went into several shorter tunnels...
and when we came out on the other side the terrain was quite different.
Suddenly we had pine trees and lighter colors rocks. Our road continued to climb up and up and finally we came to the pass which was at 7,700 feet. As we headed down the other side our beloved Highway 9 ended at Mt Carmel Junction where we could go right to Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon or left to Bryce Canyon. We turned left. Within a half hour were seeing totally different rock formations, and I knew we were getting close to Bryce.
Tonight we are hunkered down at a huge hotel, restaurant, general store and gas station complex right outside Bryce National Park so we are poised to enjoy the park first thing tomorrow.Until then,
Audrey
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