Posts Tagged “utah”

Unfortunately, I was still pretty sick for most of the day today. However, we don’t have time for sick days anymore, so we did walk and drive around Las Vegas a bit before we left!

Brian and I both think we need to go back sometime, no sickness allowed. Oh well; this was supposed to be just a taste anyway.

So we got on the highway and drove north! We passed (very briefly) through Arizona!

This was very exciting since Arizona is a new state for both of us, but today was just a drive through. We got to see some pretty neat stuff, though!

Then we were in Utah!

As many of you know, it’s actually Utah’s fault that we wanted to come explore the west. We came to Salt Lake City last spring for a conference; while we were there, we rented a car and drove out to the salt flats (in fact, the photo in our header at the top of this page is from that day trip) and to Antelope Island. We were soooo pleasantly surprised by how fun and interesting and beautiful and alien Utah was that we had to see more… and now, here we are again. Hooray! Our first Utah destination was Zion National Park!

The part of Zion we were in is Zion Canyon, which is basically made of sand (!), and one of the interesting aspects about it is that it was formed by exfoliation rather than erosion (meaning that big chunks of rock slide off in huge pieces after getting waterlogged, rather than the formations being slowly eroded away by water).

They don’t allow cars through most of Zion. That’s because it’s the 8th most visited national park, and apparently it used to be a constant solid traffic jam, so in 2000, they implemented this shuttle bus system. You have to take the shuttle bus up through the canyon. The bus stops at a few points along the way where there are trails you can take and the like. With me being in the state I’m in, though, I just wasn’t really up for that, and we got there kind of late anyway due to the fact that we forgot about the whole time zone thing. But!! We actually got really lucky because the bus we happened to choose was driven by one Chris M., who is extremely passionate about Zion and told us all kinds of interesting information about the park as we rode along (in fact, he had made his own mp3 recording that he played as we went). That’s how I know about that whole exfoliation thing. Chris was truly informative and a delightful guide! So we stayed on his bus all the way up the canyon and all the way back.

In general, though, I don’t know if I’m 100% behind the shuttle bus system. It’s definitely a greener choice for the park, which is awesome obviously, but the design of the buses is such that it’s extremely difficult to see anything while you’re in one (there are heavily tinted windows and lots of blind spots), and also I don’t think the other bus drivers tell you all kinds of fun facts. Because we had Chris, we had a really good bus experience, but sans Chris, it might have been kind of lame. Oh, but Chris did say that winter is a really good time to visit Zion. It’s not too cold, it’s not crowded, it’s cheaper to stay in the lodge in the park, and the shuttles aren’t running, so you can drive your own car in.

Anyway, here’s something else I learned:

See that? That’s a trail you can take. The walking path up there is only about 3 to 4 feet wide… and it’s a drop of 800+ feet on both sides. But people do it all the time, apparently! I would pass out and die, I think!

We did enjoy Zion, and now we’re holed up in a Super 8 that’s in transition to become a Rodeway Inn in Kanab, Utah. Tomorrow, I think we may stay in Kanab but move to a different motel — this one is okay but kind of expensive and there’s no guest laundry (and I am about to be in a desperate laundry situation). Other than the laundry situation, though, I think I’m starting to feel better, thank goodness!!