What a day!! It is late but I really wanted to post so forgive any typos. We started out at 8:30 going 40 miles in the opposite direction from Zion to go to church. Grace Episcopal was a beautiful new church with the design greatly influenced by Native American Culture. The church is in transition with their priest leaving last week. They have a retired priest in the church and Russian Orthodox deacon that was in the process of becoming an Episcopal Priest. The service was the most un-energetic church service and it was hard to stay focused. Church is supposed to be a praise party for God but this was dry and monotone. The priest preached way too long and he told too many stories. Glad we had communion. As Chris always said, "even if you get a bad sermon you can always get good communion."
After church we headed back to Zion. You are supposed to park outside of the park and take the shuttle to the park. There was no place to park. People everywhere. It was like Gulf Shores during the Hangout Festival. We had hoped to camp in the park but all campgrounds were full by the time we showed up. We decided to drive through the park as we traveled to Bryce. It was a beautiful drive but we had no time to stop because the tunnel closed at 7:00pm and we needed to get through the tunnel to get out of the park. Vehicles our size had to have the tunnel closed to other traffic in order to pass through the tunnel going in the center. There was a 15 dollar charge for this. But it was worth it to get a chance to see Zion for a little while.
The views in Zion were incredible. The walls go straight up hundreds of feet and the boulders are bigger than our RV. I snapped a few pictures as we drove but mostly I had to watch Chris to be sure he was not doing too much looking. I have this rule that he can only look 30 degrees left or right of center. I caught him doing 90 degrees and we were going around a curve with a sharp drop off. It was a beautiful drive but harrowing. One lady looked at us as we passed the pull out and her mouth hung open as she stared at us like we were crazy to be up there in an RV. Maybe we are.
All of a sudden the canyons disappear and you are driving through flat lands. We drove about 50 miles when all of a sudden these strange red hodoos appeared. It is amazing how each area is so different in just a matter of a few miles. As we entered Dixie National Forest all I could do is squeal like a little child going to Disney. I could not believe what I was seeing. There was a campground in the middle of this incredible beauty and it was about 5:30 but Chris wanted to get to Bryce because it would be so much better. WELL...when we go to Bryce all of the campgrounds were filled so we had to turn around and leave the park. We stopped just outside of the park and found a public campground but it was full. All they had was dry camping for $30. That means no electricity, sewer or water. They were telling all of us late comers to go to the tent area and grab any site. It took us about an hour to get leveled. By then I was hungry and tired so we walked to the nearest restaurant. As we waited in line, our German friends from yesterday walked into the restaurant. Chris recognized them right away and started up a conversation and before I knew it he had invited them to eat with us and they accepted. Now they speak a little English but to have a conversation is a little extra work. However, we had a delightful meal together and it was nice to have someone to eat with. I am still amazed that we ran into them again.
Well the night stars are waiting for me to look at through the binoculars and Chris is ready to tell me all the names of the constellations.
Peace to our family and to all our friends, Barbara
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