Miss Flossy,Zion & Doggy Dude Ranch

Sitting in Pahrump watching lightning over the mountains,glad for the rain in the mountains (wish it was here!) and hoping for no fires. Been a wonderful interval since the last post. We dropped off the van in Vegas for routine maintenance(thanks Lou for the tip)and headed for Zion Canyon in Utah. Spent the nite in Mesquite,Nev on the state line. Prettylittle town and really booming-lotta folks from Utah find the new casinos in Mesquite all they need and 2 hours closer. Great dinner in a place we stumbled on,(Follow your feet,grasshopper>) Then it's up and on to Zion(I hear Bob marley). Perky wll now describe Zion with asides from el Escargot. Zion....man oh man...Zion canyon was created by the Virgin River. At one time the river was at the top of the walls. Gravity and sandstone created what you see today. And what you see today makes you awestruck. We have seen some fantastic, awesome sites on our journey. We did discover that there is a Grand Circle, which we accidentally have seen most of! Fortuitous blunders! But Zion is truly indescribable. You stand at the bottom of the canyon and look up, and look up, and up! At the top of these rock canyons are trees! Granted they are not huge, but they are there! There are little crevices in these massive rock walls where dirt has accumulated and plants are growing! Once upon a time Paiute Indians lived along the Virgin River which wends its way thru the canyon. Then the Mormons arrived. They cut down all the trees, hired the Indians to do their work and the rest is history. I dreamed and fanticized about living there back in the day. What an incredibly peaceful place. It truly restores your sense of wonder. I fully understand why the native people revered the earth. If you take the time to really look, and be, it is truly humbling. We all live surrounded by so much concrete, road rage, smog (I believe they call it inversion layer now), that we don't see the world. This journey has brought our mother earth back to us, and we are so thankful for that. Zion has "outlawed" cars! Whoopee! There is a shuttle that takes you through the canyon. One shuttle replaces 28 cars and in 2006 reduced CO2 emissions by 24,201 pounds per day . The shuttle runs on propane. So, because we have THE Cody dog we cannot ride the shuttle, nor can we go in the canyon. We couldn't leave him in the motel room, or the car...so we can't go. We looked at the map and decided to take this road up to the Kolob Reservoir. The road looked long on the map to me...but off we go! Now, we noticed that the car's right front tire was very low. We put air in it in Mesquite. We watched it and it seemed ok. Didn't go flat again....We figure the road to the reservoir will be beautiful and it will assuage our not going up the canyon. Well...it was fantasically beautiful. Ever changing terrain and colors of the rocks. Red, gold, tan, even some black striations. Up, up we go, round and round, utterly neck wrenching! Well, we got almost to the top and there was a sign that said Lava Point Outlook. Off the paved road we go. Onto a graded gravel road, only a couple of miles! The outlook was stunning! We were above Zion and all the mesas. The vista was stunning. Never did figure out where the lava was or why! We did see houses along the road, not many. A sign that said Kolob Freeway 125 mph, Sane people, 25 mph! It was 69 degrees up there!! Absolute heaven! Overcast, perfect! So, we go back out the gravel road and I say to Sammy, we should check the tire before we hit the road. Yep! It was flat! On the rim....ok, this is not good. We are in the middle of nowhere, I mean, where else should one have a flat tire? On the freeway? How boring! So we tie Cody to the fence, empty the trunk, and along comes an angel! 2 gravel trucks came out of nowhere, and a 3rd pickup behind them. This sweet, sweet, samaritan stopped. He changed the tire and followed us down the 22 miles back out to the main road to make sure we made it all right. By the way, people only live up there in the summer. No electricity, no snow plow in the winter. Can you picture us changing the tire? We could have done it but it wouldn't have been pretty! We got back, took a shower and had a wonderful dinner at Switchbacks. Met a great, fun couple at dinner. We checked out the next morning. Decided to drive thru the tunnel at Zion, and then go on to Bryce Canyon. Now that was another incredible drive. Beautiful formations all around us. Huge rock walls and formations of all colors. When we emerged from the park we were in open terrain. Rock mountains surrounding us in the distance, simply beautiful. The colors don't quit! We arrived at a junction, Mt. Carmel, where we see a sign that says Bryce Canyon 60 miles. Oh no, what do we do now? So, we went into the Thunderbird Restaurant to have a piece of homemade pie and talk about what to do. It is 2 pm, we've been driving, oohin and aahin and we're tired! We decide to go back to Zion/Springdale, the town. Sammy had seen an ad for a motel that is pet friendly, yay! What a perfect place! Our room was huge, patio in the front and back, overlooking the beginning of the canyon, surrounded by huge rock walls. A field next door with cows, pecan trees, meadow down to the river, grass! Absolute heaven! Decide that we need to simply relax, and the Driftwood Lodge is our new home! No more driving! Just communing with our surrounds. Great dinner in the outside dining room with canyon views, Springdale has the very best restaurants and wait-staff of any place we've been. Up in the AM and on the shuttle(totally free and runs thru the entire town of Springdale;everyone welcome).Into the park and change shuttles. The Golden Passport FREE pass for seniors came in handy. Up the canyon into the greatest geological history lesson I've ever seen. You can spend all day on the shuttle getting offf at the severalstops to hike,take pix or just hang with yer mouth wide open. We got to go on the shuttle because there is a Doggy Dude Ranch just outside of Springdale costing the same as the pet charge at the motel. We woulda paid more. Turned out to be win-win. Cody got to spend time with loving folks and lottsa dogs and we got the canyon. Gotta Go
el Escargot&Perky