November 24, 2005

November 24, 2005

Zion National Park, Utah

YEAR 2 DAY 160

 

Happy American Thanksgiving.

Today was sunny and warm.

Yesterday when we arrived here it was already dark, so we extended the slides and connected power only. This morning I completed our arrival procedures, connected water and sewer, and unhitched the truck from the trailer. I did preventive maintenance, did a tiny maintenance job on the water heater exterior access door, then applied the Utah decal to the map on the side of the trailer. That makes 24 states we've visited so far ... and 5 provinces. Oh ... and Mexico. That's half of North America. In 17 months.

Joanne prepared a picnic lunch, and we set off for a day trip to Zion National Park. As we were walking out of the trailer, and getting into the truck, my Ottawa investment broker's assistant Rhonda phoned with details of my latest investment transactions. Oh, goody ... the exchange rate is quite favourable. The Canadian dollar must be strengthening. We drove about 25 miles east on Hwy. 9 to the eastern entrance to Zion. We thought we would have the place to ourselves today, considering that today is Thanksgiving. We were wrong. There were a lot of people visiting Zion today. After entering the park, we stopped at the Visitor Centre to get some information, and have our picnic lunch. Zion is at the confluence of 3 ecosystems : the Mojave Desert, the High Plains, and the Colorado Plateau, whatever that is. The result is such strange sights as Prickly Pear Cacti growing beneath deciduous trees. The deciduous trees this far south are still bearing leaves, in fall colours. Quite lovely. Joanne said she was glad to see fall colours, as we sort of missed fall in Canada this year, spending most of it in the cold rain of British Columbia. There were 2 routes to drive through Zion, but we were prohibited from driving on one of them. On the one we were not allowed on, there is a mile long tunnel that is not wide enough to accommodate a dually. Must be an awfully narrow tunnel. There is a $15 fee to be escorted through the tunnel. We spent the afternoon exploring the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. We stopped frequently to take photos. We took a short, steep hike to the Court Of The Patriarchs viewpoint. We took another short, steep hike to Weeping Rock.

Weeping Rock is a cliff face that water seeps through. The trail leads under a ledge, where you stand behind the falling water. At Weeping Rock, as I was preparing to take a photo, a man with a large family group asked if I would please take their photo. Sure. As the family group was assembling for the photo, a woman in the group handed me another camera. Now I had 3 cameras in my hands. Mine and 2 of theirs. While attempting to put my camera into my fanny pack, of course I dropped one of their cameras. The battery popped out, and the camera was covered in mud. Underneath the ledge the ground is wet. The woman, and her husband, put the battery back into the camera, cleaned off the mud, then fiddled and fiddled with the camera, but it wouldn't work. I apologized profusely, took their picture with the first camera given to me, then apologized some more. I waited around for awhile while they fiddled with the broken camera, then left, feeling absolutely terrible. There's nothing I hate more than damaging somebody else's possessions. It bothered me all day, and still does !

We continued our exploring, stopping at Temple Of Sinawava and finally, The Grotto. Much of Zion National Park that we saw was stupendous red rock cliffs and canyons. On the way out of the park we stopped at a couple of rock and gem shops to browse.

We drove back to the trailer at Zion's Gate RV Resort, getting home just at dusk. I spent quite awhile working on today's photos. Joanne did a load of laundry, and prepared large turkey drumsticks for our American Thanksgiving dinner. We had supper, then watched Survivor and The Apprentice. I did today's accounting, then this journal entry. We're quite tired. We walked a great deal for 2 days in Las Vegas, and again today at Zion. Plus, I'm still feeling just a bit run down from having a cold.

DSK