Bryce Canyon National Park

One of my favorite places in the world is Bryce Canyon. My family came to Bryce several times when my dad had a ranch in Utah. I used to think I would like to work at the Bryce Lodge. The college-age young adults used to wait tables, then sing to the tour buses as they would arrive or leave. They looked like they had so much fun. I never did get to work there because I needed to make more money for college by the time I was old enough. But I did get information now about how to apply to work or volunteer there. Not sure John was as interested as I was! We also looked into camp hosting. But it is still rather chilly. It snowed lightly one night so we were glad we had extra blankets.

We took several hikes along the rim, but didn't go down into the canyon this time like we did several years ago. It was threatening rain, and when the lightning and thunder came along, we were glad we were back in our trailer by then. Camping in National Parks is the way to go -- we get into the National Parks free with our Golden Age Pass, and camp for half-price. ($7.50 a night!) No hook-ups, but the natural setting is wonderful.

One of the surprises was meeting up with my cousin, Jack and Wilma Pickrell, at one of the scenic viewpoints. I had just commented that we hadn't seen anyone we knew unexpectedly on this trip, and there they were! What a surprise! We had a nice short visit!

We enjoyed the ranger talk on geology -- amazing stories about how the earth has been shaped in this part of the world. An evening program had beautiful photographs of various Utah landscapes -- the photographer went into out-of-the-way places, and yet still hasn't seen it all. Neither have we! We wish we could spend several months here visiting all of the national parks, staying much longer than we have been able to do! So much to see -- so little time!

Cedar City, Utah

We spent several days in the Cedar City area of Utah. About 35 miles from here, in a community (Newcastle) so small there are no stores, my dad had a ranch, the Bar V Ranch. He drilled wells for water and turned a fair amount of desert acreage into farm land with cattle, alfalfa, and eventually a pellet mill. We spent several summers here during my high school years. I was able to find it, especially when we saw a road sign that said "Bar V Rd" and the old pellet mill, now abandoned. We talked with an older couple still on the property who remembered stories about my dad, saying he was known as a progressive farmer with some of the things he did. Since my dad died last year, it was good for me to get stories about him.

Even though I never enjoyed the Newcastle area much, I did love going camping and fishing in the mountains nearby. John and I found out we really do like Cedar City. It is high desert, with red rock and views of hills with snow still on them.

We drove about 45 minutes up into the mountains to a lake to go fishing -- a wonderful way to spend a Sunday. It was a beautiful drive, with snow everywhere at the 9000 ft summit. We felt like we finally had winter! The lake was lower, with just a little snow. There are so many outdoor sports people do here -- year round.

The best part -- we caught about 12 rainbow trout between us. The worst part -- we had to throw all but 3 of them back because they were over 15". And even worse than that? We didn't know exactly how to measure them correctly, and when the Fish and Game Warden came by, and measured our fish, one of them was 16". So now I have a criminal record in Utah! I have to call the court to figure out what my fine will be! And on top of that -- he took the 16" fish away and gave it to someone else! But we did enjoy two fresh-caught trout for dinner, even though it turned out to be an expensive dinner!

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is the only national park we've been to before that we've now returned to. It is one of our favorite places.

It is said to be one of the most beautiful places in America and is a masterpiece of towering cliffs, deep red canyons, swirling rock, and massive monoliths.

We stayed at a campground in the park with a fantastic view of the majestic rocks, and the Virgin River just below us. Because we are Golden Eagle pass holders, we camp at half price -- $8 p/night. We took hikes every day. We loved seeing all the wildflowers, red rocks, water falls, water drops seeping through the rocks that were 120,000 years old.

Zion is high desert and cool at night, but was very comfortable during the day, except one afternoon/evening when the winds were ferocious. Gusts up to 65 mph; branches and sticks blowing everywhere, along with dust. We rescued one of the tents that was blowing across the campground, and we were more than happy to be enclosed in a camper! A couple of the evenings we did enjoy eating outside, though, with a great campfire. The stars were very bright.

The geology of Zion is very interesting -- about 2 billion years in the making. At times it was covered by the sea; at other times broad rivers traversed its surface; at still other times it was swept by desert winds with huge sand dunes. Rocks were consolidated into conglomerates, sandstones, shales, and limestones. Later, underground forces uplifted rocks more than 10,000 feet. The Virgin River worked its magic with erosion. Many of the cliff peaks were named by a Methodist minister, with religious references. The name Zion was coined by Mormons, a biblical reference of the "everlasting home." It felt like home to us.

The first photo was from our camp site. The photo with John in it is on top of a mesa we climbed with an overlook -- a "moderate" hike. The unbelievable site was rock climbers up steep vertical cliffs. We took the shuttle up the same path twice to see them. We counted 6 -- (not visible, but they're on the last photo--different sides of the cliff.) We can't wonder what motivates rock climbers for those life-threatening thrills!

Glen Canyon; Lake Powell

We planned to spend one night at Page, which was started by the builders of Glen Canyon Dam, and the resulting Lake Powell. It was more interesting than we had expected, so extended our stay by several days. We took a guided tour of the dam the first day. It is the second largest dam in the US, and supplies water and electricity to four states. Pretty impressive. Just a few miles away there was another electrical coal plant that burns a thousand tons of coal an hour. They supposedly have a filtering system so that it reduces the air pollution, but we did see a haze over the area. We took a boat tour of the Lake, with its interesting rock formations.

We fantasized about renting a houseboat there sometime -- looked like fun!

Another day we went on a tour of Antelope Slot Canyon. It was awesome! The ride to and from the canyon was an adventure in itself! It is on Navajo nation property, so we had to pay to enter the area, then pay a hefty sum to ride in and out on the back of an old pick up. The Navajo young adult driver seemed to enjoy bumping along the sandy road. We had to hold on for dear life as he drove 50 mph, lurching and swirling around. But the slot canyon was so worth it! We've never seen anything like it. Flash floods have created this narrow canyon, with swirling rock patterns. We were there at noon, just as the light came shining through. The photos don't begin to do justice, but I took a lot of them!

We also took a hiking trail to Horseshoe View of the river (Colorado) below the dam. Had to stick my camera out over a ledge, since I wasn't too keen on leaning my body over the rock with its sharp drop off!

We're on to Zion National Park!

Flagstaff

If we wanted to move to Arizona, Flagstaff is where I would want to live -- at least, in the summer. They get lots of snow in the winter -- in fact, they're #2 of the metropolitan areas (if 52,000 people qualifies as metropolitan) for the amount of snow they get per year. (Syacruse, NY is #1). It's at 7000 ft, so quite cool this time of year. In fact, the RV park where we're staying just opened for the season last week. There are more ponderosa pines here than anywhere. And did they blow last night -- very windy -- kept us awake part of the night because our trailer rocked a bit.

But today was beautiful. We went to the Arboretum of Flagstaff, with an interesting tour about their efforts of planting native plants, ecological sustainability, water management. They also had a great talk and demonstration about raptors -- with an owl that flew over us several times as part of the demonstration, and a red tailed hawk, among other birds.

We also went to the Lowell Observatory, which was built in 1896. One of the original telescopes is still in use. We got to see the structure built for it -- very interesting -- and see how they move it into position. This is where Pluto was discovered, as well as some other amazing things they've researched. They had a neat Pluto-walk, too, that spatially informed us the distance between the planets.

Phoenix area

We have spent the week at another great RV resort park in Mesa, Arizona. We had planned to be at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon by now, but found out the roads into the park from the north don't open until mid-May. So we extended here, and have enjoyed playing tennis and shuffleboard every morning, swimming/spa every afternoon, exercise room, library, computer room, game room, ping pong, poolside restaurant for lunch .... those kinds of things. The weather has been wonderful -- mid 80's generally.

The first afternoon here we went to visit John and Charlotte Gunter, former CCUM members now living in Scottsdale. It was fun to see them in their new home/environment. (Unfortunately, the pictures I took of them won't upload for this blog -- some things are a mystery to me!)

Sunday was the best day. We worshipped at the Asbury UMC in Phoenix. The minister, Jeff Procter-Murphy, is one of the interviewers/producers of the Living the Questions series that we used at CCUM -- a wonderful collection of interviews with progressive theologians. We recognized the ceramic pots on the worship table from the video.

The people were the friendliest of any church we've been to, and Jeff's style is casual, friendly and engaging. The sermon was great, "Why I Am Still a Methodist", given the less-than-hopeful actions that will come out of our UMC General Conference that starts this week in Ft. Worth. I have given a similar sermon(s) in the past, so obviously thought it was a terrific sermon! There were many gay and lesbians in the congregation, we assume, so his sermon was right on! The pianist and instrumentalists jazzed up the hymns. (It was the same pianist who plays in the background on the Living the Questions videos; she gave us a CD of the music on their latest DVD.) This is also the church where Tex and Peggy Sample are members, and we had heard about the church from them. Unfortunately, they were out of town that Sunday. But his new book was on sale after church: Earthy Mysticism. He had talked about it when we had dinner with him back in Sarasota in February. If we lived in Phoenix, Asbury UMC would be our church!

After church we went to the Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix. It has a wonderful collection of history, stories and artifacts of the 22 tribal communities of Arizona. There was even a Sandra Day O'Conner Gallery -- she was a former president of the Board of Trustees.

On another day we went to the Frank Lloyd Wright winter home, the Taliesen. The tour took us through some of his living quarters, as well as his educational areas (he established an apprenticeship school) and entertainment areas. All very interesting. He did most of his work in the last 12 years of his life -- 80-92. There's hope for us yet!!!

We now head north to Flagstaff, and then will spend several weeks in Utah, visiting the national parks.

Tucson

We were never so happy to get to Larry and George's home in Tucson, Arizona! We had more driving challenges on the way through New Mexico and Arizona than we have had on the whole trip. Between a broken spring on the trailer axle out in the middle of nowhere, high winds, a flat tire, a road we shouldn't have been on with huge dips, confusion finding the RV place to store our trailer, and all exits off the Interstate in Tucson blocked for construction... we finally made it!

Their home is a beautiful southwestern style home. They have furnished it very tastefully, and all the art they have collected is displayed throughout the house with such artistic flair it looks like it could be a museum. Larry fixed a wonderful meal for our first night, and invited former friends/acquaintenances from Santa Rosa to join us. We have enjoyed being wined and dined! We have our own private bedroom and bathroom -- what luxury! -- and a whole house to roam around in. They have a great view from their kitchen-family room of the hills of Tucson.

They have taken us to the Saguaro Desert National Park, and we've seen more cactus than ever. Today we went to a very interesting desert museum. We also saw much of downtown Tucson, including a cathedral, and wonderful gardens at the old Tuscon Inn. The weather? It was the hottest spot in the US these last couple days, according to the weather reports -- 94 F -- but with a breeze, it didn't seem so bad.

We went to the UCC where Larry may become a member. While in Santa Rosa, Larry was on staff at Christ Church. We used to enjoy "practicing" music for a worship service with his singing and my playing the piano. It was great fun to share music again out of the Faith We Sing UMC songbook.

We leave tomorrow for Phoenix.

New Mexico

We experienced the heaviest winds so far traveling to Carlsbad Cavern area in New Mexico. Gusts up to 65 mph. Not fun driving, that's for sure. After we parked the trailer in an RV park, we drove through lots of dust to get to the Caverns. No wind in the caverns, though. They were absolutely awesome. It was sacred space, for sure. With the low lights and magnificent "decorations" (as the stalagtites and stalagmites and other formations are called), I kept feeling I was truly in a sanctuary. The photos I've added don't begin to do justice to the caverns.

The wind died down during the night. But rather than stop at the caverns again the next day, our original plan, we ended up discovering we had a broken spring under our trailer axle. The wheels had shifted and it was touch and go whether we could drive the 120 miles to El Paso, or whether we would break down and do severe damage to the trailer on the way. Luckily we made it, with John driving 50 mph through the desert. We were directed to a place that made and installed two new springs under the trailer, and they got us right in. We were afraid that since it was a Friday afternoon, we would be stuck for the weekend. Boy did it feel good to get back on the road, feeling safe once again.

Although John was too focused to enjoy it, the Guadalupe Mountains and old stage coach road along the way through the desert were quite interesting. We've lost the mountains and sea, certainly, as we now enter the Desert Southwest where we'll be for the next month or so.

We're now on our way to Tucson to spend time with Larry and George, who moved from Santa Rosa last January.