Feels great "on the road again!"

Sunday – Tucson to Zion National Park   

Hello, and thanks so much for coming along with us on our western loop trip!

I am writing from VERY wet and rainy Zion National Park (actually, at the really lovely Best Western hotel just outside the eastern entrance to the park).  Being first from CA (where it never rains, at least according to the song!) and lately from Arizona, we just don’t get all that much rain at all!  So…to start.

Up by 5 a.m. and finished our check-off list and out the door by 6:30 a.m.  Honestly, I’m not sure where we’re going to put Mom, and hope she doesn’t bring any luggage, as the car is packed!  Between the big picnic basket, the Coleman ice chest, suitcases and a crate for miscellaneous…we’re pretty full!  Fortunately, the only time we’re going to have a problem is getting everything/one from Seattle to Victoria (2 days) and leaving Victoria and getting Mom back to SeaTac airport (2 days)…I’m sure we can manage, although it will certainly be tight!

We had a nice, albeit cloudy and humid, departure from Tucson.  It actually rained quite a bit (for us) last night about 9-ish, which was very refreshing … except that humidity always gets to Robert, as it did this morning.

On the freeway between Phoenix and Flagstaff, we ran into the rain – and boy, was it coming down!  Once it started, it wasn’t until we were almost to Zion National Park that it stopped!  We had originally planned to go through Page, AZ to Kanab, UT and thence to the park.  The problem is, the road just south of Page (which is almost on the AZ/UT border, and home to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam) had a cave in some months ago, and has been closed ever since.  They are now re-routing traffic east towards Tuba City, and then north, for a really long detour.  Instead, we decided to head west on 89A, which skirts the Vermillion Cliffs (which are stunningly beautiful if seen on a sunny day!), passes the entrance to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and finally to Jacob Lake.  We stopped briefly there, and thought about lunch – but it was already 1:30 p.m. and the food there isn’t all that good…so decided to head on to Springdale and our hotel, the Best Western Zion Park Inn.  

Reached the Utah border and the lovely small town of Kanab about 2:30 p.m. and then didn’t have too far to go to get to Zion’s eastern entrance.  However, here it really started to pour again, and so it was fairly slow going along the road through the park.  We did pass a turnout spot where a herd of big horn sheep were settled down against the rain – really neat, but didn’t have a chance to take a photo – sorry!

Our hotel is about a mile west of the park’s western entrance.  We’ve stayed here before, and it is very, very nice.  Room 208, second floor, two double beds.  Also – YIPEE!  A window that actually OPENS!!  Much nicer than air conditioning!

 

We got everything inside, and then took a brief walk around the grounds.  The property actually borders the Virgin River, and there was a nice walk and neat bridge over the river.  Fortunately, we had a brief period of non-rainy weather, so we were able to take some photos of the hotel and grounds.  Then, just as the rain started up again in earnest, we headed to the hotel’s restaurant, the Switchback.  

Very, very nice place – excellent wine list, and a good selection of items.  For starters, I had a wonderful homemade tomato soup – with great croutons and served in a stunning serrated bowl – would love to get a few of those bowls, but didn’t think they’d let me take it home… Robert had a salad with blue cheese dressing.  For mains, Robert had their appetizer crab cakes (3 of them, and they were excellent!)  I had their chopped chicken salad – chicken, blue cheese, corn, scallions, tomatoes and tortillas served with a raspberry vinaigrette – it was great!

 

Then, back to the room through the truly pouring rain, and in for the night!  R stretched out reading the paper, which I am going to do as soon as I finish blogging!  Tomorrow we head through Utah and out the top, with our final destination of Idaho Falls.

So…more tomorrow!

Lots of love,

m

xxx