We woke up fairly early this morning because Jeff needed to go back to the rental car place to trade in our church van for something a little easier to drive. Luckily, there was one SUV there, a Buick Encore, which is really very nice. I think he enjoys driving it, it’s really quiet, and it has Sirius XM radio so he can listen to all the songs he wants. Breakfast at the Hilton Home 2 Suites was really crowded this morning because a group of businessmen were at all the tables, I assume to getting ready to go to a convention or something. The lady at the desk told us that there had been about 80 of them come in around 3:00 in the morning, a first for her. Jeff and I got a couple of breakfast sandwiches in packages and took them to our room to eat. They were okay. Then we checked out immediately after and started driving toward the Walmart in Mesquite, Nevada, where we intended to pick up snacks, drinks, and a styrofoam cooler to keep it all in. As much as I dislike going into Walmarts most of the time, there is something comforting about them in that they all generally look the same, so we could find things easily. From there we headed to St George, Utah to grab a bite for lunch. We ate at Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, where Jeff got a hot Italian and I got something called the Bobbie, which is basically Thanksgiving on a bun, with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. It was pretty good, but not something I would normally get.
Next we went to Zion National Park. Parking was full in the actual park, as we expected, so we had to find parking in the nearby town of Springdale. This town makes its living off of parking fees, I think, but compared to some of the other parking lots, I think we got a good rate where Jeff parallel parked near City Hall and pay $12 for the afternoon. We walked a little toward a shuttle stop, where we caught a shuttle from the Springdale line up to the visitor center. After that, we paid our admission and switched to Zion’s park line, which took us up to something called the Temple of Sinawava, which marks the beginning of the trail we were going to take along the Virgin River banks. It was extremely crowded because it was a Saturday and a gorgeous one. Nevertheless, I can understand why this park was named Zion. There were places where the vegetation and the rocks came together in such a way that I wondered if that was what Eden looked like. It’s difficult to explain the scale of the place. Solid rock faces are juxtaposed with rushing water and wildflowers, and above it all, glimpses of a clear blue sky. It really is an oasis in the middle of the desert.
We left the park as the sun was getting ready to set because we wanted to get back to St. George before dark. Sunset in the desert is beautiful, though driving into the sunset is not so fun.
We had supper at what we believe to be a family-owned pizza place, Roy’s Pizza and Pasta. They had really good service and really good pizza. We are staying the night at the Comfort Inn in St. George, where Jeff soaked for a little bit in the hotel’s hot tub and delighted in complimentary cookies at the front desk. I didn’t go to the hot tub with him because I really don’t want people seeing me in a bathing suit. But Jeff looked good in his kitty cat swimsuit. 🙂
Tomorrow we will go to church at the St George Church of Christ and leave immediately to travel to Page, Arizona, where we will go on a boat tour of Lake Powell. I’m looking forward to it.
