Zion, Place of Peace and Rest

Sorry for not updating last night. After some not-so-hot sleep at the Grand Canyon (the kicking, bed-hogging Gilligan was my bed mate, after we decided that he needed to sleep on a bed instead of an air mattress sometimes...he's back to the air mattress now), 6 hours of driving, and a 2 mile hike under our belts, I was pretty tuckered.

I LOVE ZION! I have always said that it's my favorite National Park (of those I've been to--can't comment on the others). We're staying at the Zion Lodge. It was one of our splurges, and I'm so glad we did!! I've taken a picture of our view this morning as I update from the back patio of our room. This morning it's cool and windy, but even yesterday on our hike when the temperature was in the mid 80s, it felt great because the humidity is so low in the high desert here. I also love the fact that, aside from guests to the lodge, the only traffic permitted on the roads during the high season is shuttle bus traffic. So there are less parking lots and less motor noise and pollution. Someone is really thinking about how to protect and preserve our National Parks, and that makes me very happy.

Let me back up a bit and share a bit about our day yesterday. After our little date with the sunrise, We had our coffee and did our computer work (that might just become part of our routine--this is fantastic right now). The Professor returned to our room and roused the crew while I finished up with the update of this blog, and I got back in time for the loading of the Wessel Vessel. As we were loading, we had a surprise diner of breakfast in our parking lot: an elk nibbling on one of the trees--fuzzy antlers (or are they horns? I can never remember) and all!! He was quite non-chalant about the whole thing as a crowd lined up to take his picture.

After our little encounter with nature, we piled in the van and headed off to take one last look at the rim. One just wasn't enough, so we had to stop again at a location farther east, before we exited the park. I think it's amazing the difference a few hours can make in the appearance and play of light on the canyon. Also, it was nice to get a different view from the east, as the river was a much more prominent feature there than in the main viewing areas of the park. Even more amazing is how the landscape changes to the immediate east, and then to the north, of the canyon. The roads we drove yesterday were, for the most part, stark desert. There was a little section of nauseating windiness as we approached Lake Powell, but really kind of a boring drive, made worse by the fact that we had to take a detour to the south of Zion Canyon because the East Gate is under construction and closed during the week...

Our other little quirk is that, back at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, we were 3 hours behind "our" time; Utah DOES observe Daylight Savings, so they are only 2 hours behind. Nothing like messing with our body clocks! Tomorrow, as we head to Las Vegas, we will once again be on Pacific time, 3 hours behind, where we'll stay until after the 4th of July.

But alas, we finally arrived at Zion around 5 (or was it 4?). We quickly unloaded and set up housekeeping so that we could explore a bit before sunset. Not terribly inspired by our first "Grotto Trail" hike, we decided to cross the river and head for the Emerald Pool trail (one of them, anyway). That was a much more interesting hike! I especially loved the cacti along the trail. We were rewarded with beautiful views of the river and some picturesque waterfalls for our efforts.

Unfortunately, we worked up a good appetite along the way, which was not quelled at the little fast food hamburger place at the lodge (it closed at 6:30; it was 7:30 when we finally straggled in from our hike). I finally conceded that we could try the (really expensive) restaurant upstairs, but alas, since we didn't have reservations, it was going to be 45 minutes before they could even seat us...so we returned to our room for a diverse offering of bowls of cereal and sandwiches, and I drank one of my Grand Canyon Amber Ales (not bad). I love this place because there is no TV!! We do have 2 computers with us, so the kids played on them, but at least I didn't have to listen to Sponge Bob or anything!! They were also able to update their (I suspect) neglected travel journals. Another plus!!

Today's plan is to do the river walk, and maybe begin a bit of a hike into the Narrows. We'll see how far we really go, as apparently 60% of this hike is spent wading or swimming IN the river. We really didn't appropriately prepare for this degree of a river hike, so I suspect we won't go far. I want to take the shuttle down to the Visitor Center (we didn't stop on the way in), and maybe hike around there a bit. The Professor has some work-related deadlines to attend to, so I'll probably just take the crew for some "mandatory fun." I think this evening we'll go out to Springdale, the town just outside the park, and see what offerings for dinner they have. My plan is to update again before we leave for Las Vegas tomorrow, but maybe I'll feel perky after our day of hiking....hmmmmm.