Brrr-ryce Canyon

On Wednesday, Ron & I decided to make the trek to Bryce Canyon.  It was about 80 miles away, but we didn't want to miss it.  It was about 70 degrees when we left our campground.  We did not take into account that the altitude at Bryce Canyon is 8000-9000 feet.  We drove up to Cedar City - a really cute town, then over the pass in Cedar Break, where the altitude was as high as 11,000 feet and the temps dropped into the upper 30's.  It was beautiful, but there was still a lot of snow in the mountains.  Then we dropped back down and all of a sudden we were in Red Canyon!

This just rose up out of regular brown dirt!

Fun rock formations.

Onward to Bryce Canyon.  As we drove into the canyon, we were advised to drive all the way to the end of the road, then stop at every stop on the way back.  First up:

Rainbow Point!!  And, yes,  it was cold up there! 

The canyon is unlike anything I've ever seen before.  The formations are called "canyon fins", then as they erode more, "windows", then, the freestanding formations are "hoodoos".

Besides the beauty of the canyon, the elevation also provided fantastic views of the landscape many miles away.  Again, I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

This guy was begging for food!

I always wonder how these things happen, so I had to find out.  The weather has a lot to do with the formations.  Snow and ice seep into the formations and the freeze/melt/refreeze erode the sandstone.  There are 180 days a year that temps swing between warm afternoons and freezing nights.

I thought the choice of name for this point would have worked everywhere we stopped!

 

 

Needless to say, we really enjoyed our trip to Bryce Canyon, despite the cold & snow (which made us feel like real wimps!). Hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I hope everyone puts Bryce Canyon on their Bucket List!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Road Thru Zion

Last week, Ron & I finally drove up to Zion National Park.  It is only about 35 miles from us, so I am surprised it took us so long to get there.  Boy, was I ever glad we did. 

Even the approach to the park was jaw droppingly beautiful (my computer is telling me that's not a word, but it does describe it).

The layers of rock are different colors.  The layers have exotic names like: kayenta mudstone, shinarump conglomerate, chinle formation (which is petrified wood) & Navajo sandstone.

The Virgin River runs through the park.

Everywhere we looked, there were amazing vistas & rock formations & colors.  This post will be mostly pictures - it was hard to decide which ones!

Because there is quite a bit of water in the park via the river & little streams everywhere, there is a lot of wild life.  We saw lots of little lizards - not one would sit still long enough for me to take its picture, though.

Now we know where our mallards spend the winter!

It's also hard to imagine how they built a road through here!  There were two tunnels,

this one was a MILE long!

It even had "windows" in it.

More colors.

We saw these Desert Mountain Goats - they are supposed to be shy, but these were right out there.

I found the layers of rock so interesting.

This is called "Checkerboard Mesa".  It is made of Navajo Sandstone which is formed from sand dunes that are compressed into rock!  The wind, rain & ice have caused the "checkerboard" grooves to form.

 

 

There are lots of hiking trails, both long & short.  Some are tough, but you can take your time.

This one had a stairway up the rock.

A lot of these pictures were taken as I was hanging out the window of the truck - sometimes I was even sitting on the window -

some of the turns were hairpin, and the drop over the edge was steep and long!

On the way back to Leeds, we passed through this area called "Coalwash".  The rock was scattered around and was pitch black!  It did look like coal.

 

Hope I didn't bore you with all of the pictures of rocks!  I have plenty more.  It was a wonderful place to see, and is another I highly recommend.  More rocks to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little of St. George

We decided we needed to take a trip down to St. George to see the old part of the city.  The area was originally settled when, in 1861, Brigham Young came down to inspect the cotton fields.  He wondered if cotton could be grown in the valley, and it was thriving.  Young sent 309 families down to what they called Utah's Dixie.  Despite the searing heat and frequent flash floods, the town was established and plans for a tabernacle were hatched.

The St. George Tabernacle was started in 1863 and completed in 1876.  It is really interesting, and though I didn't take the tour, one of the guides filled me in on a few of the fine points.  The bricks were carved from the red limestone cliffs that surround the area.  Each one is a little different, and you can still see the chisel marks in them.  There are 2,244 panes of glass in the windows that were ordered from New York City.  To get them to Utah, they had to put them on a ship that sailed around South America to the port of Los Angeles.  The interior of the tabernacle is simple, but beautiful.  There are two spiral staircases, designed by Miles Romney (Great-grandfather of Mitt), that he called his crowning achievements.  They lead up to the U shaped balcony.  When Brigham Young came to visit the tabernacle, he discovered that people in the balcony couldn't see the pulpit.  With the help of 200 men, jacks & braces, the pillars holding the balcony were cut and the balcony was lowered 5 feet.

 

There are a number of old restored buildings in this area.  Many of them are shops and restaurants.  One group of homes is a unique Bed & Breakfast.

Wouldn't it be fun to stay in one of these homes for a weekend?

 

The old City Hall is full of visitor information.

Notice the sculpture in front of City Hall.  There are art pieces placed all over old St. George,

Like this huge guitar in the middle of a round-a-bout, made of scrap metal pieces.

 

There were 4 stained glass pieces on this tower/archway in the park.

 

This Bug watched over the park walkway.

And, King & Queen Frogs reigned over the waterfall/wading pond.  What a beautiful park!

After walking around, working up a thirst, we actually found a restaurant with a bar that served beer brewed in Utah!  That with a side of homemade chips, salsa and guacamole made it a great day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW DIGS!!!!

When Ron & I set out on this adventure, we promised each other that we would try it for a year and then decide if we wanted to keep living this lifestyle.  Well, we are just short of a year, and we are loving it.  Can't imagine stopping now.  Unfortunately, our 2007 Outback isn't built to be a fulltime residence.  We've had to repair a few things, and have been constantly worried that something major will go, so we decided to start looking for a new 5th wheel.

After much online research, noticing what is in the RV parks, looking at RVer's forums and shopping around, we knew which models we were interested in.  We found a Keystone Montana in St. George that we loved, and made an offer......they took it!

Our new "Drassal  Castle"!

 

I thought moving day would be a piece of cake after moving out of the house in Stillwater.  Boy, was I wrong! We pulled the new trailer door to door with the old & transferred all of our "stuff".  At first, I was very organized about how we put things in, but after 4 hours, we were just sticking it anywhere it would fit.  We drove the new trailer back to our campground and fell into bed (king size!). Spent a couple of days organizing and reorganizing - and we love it!  Here's a tour:

Living area - TV & fireplace (electric) to the left - full size couch for anyone who wants to visit!

Reclining chairs with Guido staking out his spot on the left.

Kitchen - we are especially happy about the full size refrigerator, microwave/convection oven & large pantry (out of sight to the left).

Dining area (also, my workspace)

Bathroom - yeah, big shower & linen closet!

 

Bedroom (notice the cowboy hats)

Other side of the bedroom - huge closet on the left, bench in front of the window has a hamper under it, dresser with 4 drawers - wow!  Living in luxury!

 

We would love to show it to you anytime!

 

Big shout out to our Alycia - she just got accepted to nursing school!!! Way to go!  We love you!