BEAUTIFUL SIGHTS

We are still volunteering at Glen Eyrie and it has been extraordinary busy for the past three weeks.

After we came back from the trip to Utah, we hit the deck running with many guests visiting the Glen. We started our regular hospitality work at the Pink House on the 1^st day of this month. Because it was so busy the dining room staff was nearly overworked , so we were asked to help out on numerous occasions. This was in addition to our regular duties at the Pink House. I also conducted many Castle Tours during the past three weeks. We were finally able to take day off on the 16^th of October. We went out for breakfast and did some shopping and were able to be re-energized for our hospitality activities.

Nearly three weeks earlier, on Sunday, September 22 we took the shorter road trip from Cedar City to see the petroglyphs near Parowan and then continued on to Cedar Breaks national park.

It was a cold, windy day although we has a lot of sunshine as well. We could see the snow coming in from the west while we were visiting the gorgeous overlooks of Cedar Breaks. The way back to Cedar City, was via route 14, where we had encountered the lava fields on our way down, just two days previously. 

We had selected Monday to visit Zion N.P. Cars are not permitted in, so we took the shuttle. We were surprised how busy it was, even on a Monday in late September. The shuttle stopped at may locations where one could get off or on to go on side trips. Most of the day we were inside the canyon of Zion national park. 

 After leaving the park we opted to take the scnic round trip home, following highway 9. This route takes you through a 1 mile tunnel after which the scenery changes to high desert, or more a steppe landscape. 

The red rocks lie behind us and we again wind up on highway 14 to go back to Cedar City to spend another night there.

  On Tuesday we went into the left edge of Zion NP, to go to Kolob reservoir. This time we traversed the ancient lava field. The road was not busy and the scenery was breath-taking. We had to come back the same way. The road continues as a gravel and dirt road back to Kolob canyon, where we visited Saturday, but we thought it would better to take the hard-top back. 

We were very glad that we had made an extended stay in Cedar City. It would have been impossible to see and do as much as we did in any less time. One could easily spend more that a week here. On Wednesday we left here to visit Brice Canyon, but that is for another “blog,” – to come.

Kolob Canyon

I promised to write a bit more about our trip to SW Utah. During our trip to this area, we found so many scenic sights on the way, that we decided to take three days on the way back to experience these sights in more detail. We arrived in Cedar City just before supper time and checked into our Bed & Breakfast. The owners told us about the ongoing Shakespeare festival, which was ongoing about a block away from where we were staying; however, we were not really interested in that, since we wanted to see the natural beauty of the area. Moreover, being Dutch, we really don't have (the proper) appreciation for old English. One of the benefits we did get to experience; though, was meeting artistic folks at the breakfast table. We actually met a professor and his actress wife from England and we had some lively discussions! 

Our first excursion was to the North-west corner of Zion national park, called Kolob Canyon. It was not very busy when we got there, the weather was sunny, the view breathtaking. It was very clear and the surroundings were astonishing. 

 We took the Taylor Creek trail. There had been some flash-flooding about three weeks before and some of the trail had washed away. None the less we could find our way with relative ease, partly because of our experience here at Glen Eyrie, where we have been on many hikes over the years we have been volunteering here. 

 After a few hours hiking. We went to an overlook area. One of the pictures in the previous blog was taken there. It shows the steep, deep V of the “deepening” canyon, - with me in the foreground. We came home “on time” so we could relax from all the sights and activities of the last three days. Tomorrow would be Sunday, and we had plans to rest and take a shorter trip with some more relaxed activities. It proved to be another extraordinary trip, more later.

After the flood

We were able to return to the Glen on the 16^th of September. The flood fortunately did not cause any major damage to the property. We moved back in to pack, because we already had made plans for an extended road trip starting on September 19 to go to South-west Utah.

 There are a number of National Parks in this region and although we had visited Monument Valley, Lake Powell, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and the southern part of the Escalante National Park, we had never visited Zion, Brice Canyon, Cedar Breaks or some of the other parks in this region.

We opted to take the scenic route, rather than traveling on the express way, which would get us to Cedar City, Utah, at the end of a two day trip. 

We thought that Cedar City would be a good stopping point because of easy access to most of the sites in SW Utah from there. We spent five nights here at a Bed and Breakfast and were able to make day visits to Zion, Kolob, Cedar Breaks, and do some special sight seeing on the way to these special spots.

During our trip to SW Utah, we found so many scenic sights on the way, that we decided to take three days on the way back to experience these sights in more detail. The last 2 days we would take to get home from the Moab area, after seeing the Arches National Park again.

We took way to many pictures, which is a bane as well as a benefit of digital photography, but I'll refrain from sharing too many, – even one a day would be 11 pictures. How can one share the beauty of creation in such a limited way? I did not even finish our Mediterranean Cruise travel blogs yet...

Maybe I'll spend a blog on each of the special places we visited, it would give me data for about 10 more blog posts. I'll plan to finish last year's cruise as well.