Red Sox Nation convenes in Zion

Before you start to read today's post. Let me be a bit indulgent and just show you what I witnessed in the past hour. The photos do not do the experience justice, but we'll try here anyway...

(this will also be the last photo on the post...)

Can you see the rainbow?

And now the storm. Ok, you've seen it. Now, you'll read about this later.

Friday, July 25, 2008

We've been traveling for exactly one month now! One more to go...

We decided to stay another night in Zion. And, we made the right choice, as Zion National Park is one of the most beautiful places we've ever been. Even now, as I'm writing this entry outside the motel room, I'm stunned by the beauty of these rocks. There is a storm coming in, and as you will see at the end of this post (and earlier now!), the colors of the stone are completely different from yesterday's last shot. Neil took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda, and I am cherishing these rare moments alone. But let me not get ahead of myself too much...

 We entered the Park this morning around 9AM, no 10AM. We've gone through another time zone. We got on the shuttle bus that takes you around the Park (they discourage private car use here), and started with a formation named the Watchman. We liked the name, and it does rise up like the Watchman, but I never photographed it.

Back to the shuttle. It takes you around the Park and drops you off at trail heads. I know it seems a bit like cheating and riding a monorail (Las Vegas even had a monorail!), but it was perfect for our family on a 100 degree day like today. I don't think the kids would have lasted as long as they did.

While I am on that topic, at some point I should tell you that while I document all kinds of quotes that reveal Alex and Eleni's occasional pain on this trip, overall, they are generally happy. They have 24/7 attention from their parents, they make up ridiculous games with each other, they get to stay up late, they eat gum, ice-cream and sugared cereals (and that never happens in real life!), and occasionally, they "get it" and stare in wonder at the amazing and eclectic things we've seen. So, please don't feel badly for them if I ever gave the impression they were miserable. They have their moments, and goodness, Neil and I do, too! 

Ok, back to Zion.

I think this one was called the Alter of Sacrifice, but I could be wrong. I didn't take any notes, and, like my time spent in Yosemite, I spent more time in awe than looking up names anyway. Apologies.

And this one, I believe, is called the Three Patriarches

I took this photo near the Weeping Rock. Eleni humored us by walking the whole path (a mile)! She kept busy on this walk by "reading" each of the informational sign posts and telling everyone the stories on them. 

Some of the run off water from the Weeping Rock creates this river bed. The water stays in the sandstone after a rain, and it is estimated that it takes up to 400 years for it to finally seep through this Navajo sandstone.

We hung out here for at least a half hour - we watched red and blue dragonflies, tadpoles, and those water spiders. Eleni and Alex got completely drenched and we were a sight to be seen when the shuttle bus picked us up later!

You can see the hats here...Alex and Neil rarely wear their hats, so maybe we've just missed a trick, but we've had more people talk to us today because of the Red Sox. We've heard, "Hey there's a big series this weekend!" and "I have Yankees toilet paper, you know?" (umm...too much information?), and "Go Sox!"

Here is where it drips through.

Alex was loving the drips. He asked me to take this photo as he was one happy dude feeling the drips!

Brett, this formation is called Pipe Organ!

This is Virgin River; the river that carved these canyons! Beyond this is a spot called the Narrows. I believe John, Arlene, Alex, and the Senior "Arizona" trip waded through this part in May? That takes some nerve, bravo. Alex wants to return so that he can do this hike someday!

We had lunch in the park, read books and watched a film about Zion, and then headed down the road a bit. We had our ice-coffees and ice-cream, went swimming, watched Totoro, and made mac and cheese in the motel room. More mundane events on the list included cleaning out the car and emailing friends and family. All good. Neil left with the kids and I've had a few conversations with the people who manage this place. They were just visiting Zion from Tucson, Arizona 2 years ago, and realized they couldn't go back. Here they are, and here they stay. Freddie told me, "It's in my soul now. Every minute, hour, day is different. Sure, I work 16 hour days, but I'm surrounded by beauty."

Here is the scene from our room at 7:30 PM when I started writing this. I thought this was as good as it gets...and as you can tell from the photo additions above, it got even better.

It's 9 PM now. I've seen the light, the rainbow, and now, the dark outline of the rim barely discernable from the sky. I've felt the much needed breeze, the sprinkles, (whist I am protected here by the overhang), and now, the complete works - it's pouring and I can hear thunder (my regret about not camping faded pretty quickly!). 

I'm just completely at peace. Take care all and be well.