Goodbye Utah:

I know its kind of quick but it's time for an update.  We have been in Utah about two weeks.  In Moab we were very busy, but here in ("here" is really in the middle of no where but we will call it Glendale) Glendale we have slowed down considerably.  Some of that was because we just wanted to slow down for a few days, and we actually had rain (and hail) yesterday.  We decided on a PJ/movie/book day.

Now that is not to say we are not  seeing what Utah has to offer.  Moab, Arches National Park, Dead-Horse State Park, and Canyonland National Monument were breath-taking. ( You will notice as you read I have run out of adjectives)  You have seen many of the pictures (not nearly all) we took, and for the millionth time let me reiterate, pictures just don't tell the story completely.  Hoodoos, the name for all those strange shaped towers of rock, are as unique as finger prints.

Mom hikes too !

There are thousands upon thousands in every color combination and shape you can imagine.  Some are big and some are huge, and all are sculpted by the sea that once covered this desert, the wind, and the rain.  Arches are feats of engineering designed and built by nature over what must be a very long time.  Most of the most spectacular formations have names like Delicate Arch (it's on all the Utah auto license plates), or Landscape Arch (bigger than a football field).  They have rules about what is and what is not an arch.  There are over 2000 on record in Arches NP, from sliver size to towering monsters.


Canyonland NP has a couple of  arches, but their claim to fame is magnificent vistas of the canyons formed by the Colorado and Green Rivers.  It is almost unbelievable what simple water can do given time and power.  Canyonland has the most photo graphed scenery in the  country, free for the looking.  We looked a lot.

 It was funny to listen to the other people who stepped up the the viewing area for the first time. " WoW, WoW, WoW" followed by "amazing", "unbelievable", and a very short list of other adjectives.  You run out of exclamations really fast and just start repeating.  By the way we have needed Becca here many times since she is fluent in many languages.  Many if not most of the people visiting here are not American, so we can't understand what they are saying, but it is always with awe and amazement just like everyone else. Dead-Horse SP was just as incredible especially at sunset.

We moved on to Glendale Utah by driving 300 miles in one day.  By far our longest commute.  Our sight here is really nice and very pleasant on the eyes and ears.  We have a mountain of red and white hoodoos at our back (pictured above with the hoodoo sign) and a pasture full of horses out front.   Sixty miles north is Bryce Canyon NP and thirty miles south  is Zion NP.  There is also Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park about twenty miles away.

 We rested most of our first day here, but near sunset we drove over to Pink Coral Sand Dunes.  There are about 7 miles of coral pink powered sugar sand dunes.  Not little humps like the beach, but big one or two hundred feet tall dunes.  Mom walked down one with me and nearly did not get back up.  They are much harder  to walk up than normal sand dunes.  Of course I had to climb the tallest one just to say I did it.  

That night we had a visitor we did not expect.  I'm sure you saw the picture of the end of "Mickey" but you didn't get the full story.  About 10:00 pm on our second night in Bryce-Zion Campground I was sitting in the living area and out of the corner of my eye I sensed more than saw some movement near Mati's food bowl.  I, of course, dismissed it as nothing.  When I saw it the second time, I focused and saw "Him".  Cute as a button little mouse scurrying on the floor back under the door to the pantry.  Mom was in bed so I sat and watched.  Here he came again, peaking his head out first, then scampering over to the dog food bowl and back to safety.  Short of hitting him with a shoe, I was unarmed so I decided to wait till morning, go to the hardware store and get some weapons of self defense.  I did however warn Mom that we had a visitor.  Went to bed.  2am I hear Mom in the den.  She is sitting in her chair with a flashlight watching the "Mickey show" going on.  He had become very bold and felt free to venture out at will.  I can't stand that, so I get a broom thinking I can trap him under the broom and grab him.  And armed with the broom and my special mouse catching gloves (aka workout, gardening, biking, armadillo grabbing) I situate myself in an appropriate place.  Sitting on Mimi's stool in my underwear wearing my gloves holding a broom with a head light strapped on my head, I wait.  Within a few minutes I get my chance.  Mickey makes a dash for the food. I time my move perfectly and wack the broom to the floor.  I can see that he is "definitely" trapped under the broom.  I ask Mom to confirm my suspicion.  While Mom creeps over to look under the broom I am holding tightly to the floor, what do I see but Mickey sticking his head out from under the pantry door and tauntingly sticking his tongue out at me. "Missed Me". After that he was gone for the night, we went to bed and Plan A (hardware store) was back on top.  And now you know the rest of the story.

The next day we went to Bryce Canyon NP.  As the name canyon implies, you can walk down into the canyon and look up at all the really beautiful formations along the canyon walls.  Mom and I took a really good hike around the Navajo Loop trail and into Queen Anne's Garden.  It is 1500 feet down and 1500 up besides the three miles along the canyon bottom.  Mom did great and we saw some unforgettable sights.  Today we are going to Zion NP so I can climb to Angles landing.  Mom said she would wait for me.  I'll finish this blog tomorrow so I can tell you how I did.

Way down into the belly of the beast

I love to scare Mom

We went to Zion.  It was completely different from Bryce.  I don't think there is a hoodoo in sight at Zion, but it is beautiful.   By the way I got a big surprise when we arrived at Zion.  I had to pay a surcharge because I have a dually truck.  There is a tunnel, about a mile long just past the entrance to Zion NP.  Built in the early 1900's it is not wide enough for my truck and a car going the other way to get through.  Therefore they have to stop traffic through the tunnel and I get to go down the middle by my self.  It is a scam but you aint gettin in unless you pay.  I did.

My whole reason for going to Zion was to hike Angles Landing.  It is rated as hard and scary.   On this they did not lie. Just for fun you might watch this video https://youtu.be/jy6K0KoMrco  It was a really fun, very hard, scary at times, and breath-taking hike.  It is only 2.5 miles long, but rises 1500 feet in those 2.5 miles.  The first two miles is actually a well maintained path up to Scouts landing.  It is steep but not scary.  The last .5 mile, up to Angles Landing is all the other things.  There is a sign as you begin the last .5 miles that says 7 people have died here climbing Angles landing and if you are afraid of heights, don't go.  Again here, they did not lie.  They actually have installed chains in some of the scariest places to help you up.  I did it, but at times it was scary and by the time we got home I could barely walk, but now I can say "been there, done that".

This was just a narrow as it looks

Warning!

Those are my toes and that straight down

So for now. these are just the ramblings of and old Rockin' RoVer rocking and roving on.