alexandriacardinals

[Well, our home away from home for a while.  Let’s go see it!  This is downtown St. George, Utah.  The last time I went through here it was a small town that just happened to be about halfway between Las Vegas and Utah’s national parks.  The population in 1980 was 11,000; now it’s 77,000.  Can you remember another city on this road trip that went through similar explosive growth over the same time period?  If you said Loveland, Colorado, you win a cookie!  I think I kinda prefer Alex’s 2 per cent per year growth rate.  😉   Oh, the “D” on the background cliff is for Dixie State University, but that’s another story.]

[Our hosts and the Super provide perspective . . . and occasionally comic relief.]

[The city is awash in street side sculpture . . . kinda like Bemidji.]

[(Speaking of comic relief.)]

[Book Peddler!]

[I wanna go back to Dixie, take me back to dear old Dixie . . . ]

[Always remember as you limp, stumble, or hopscotch through life . . . CHERISH YOUR LUNATIC FRINGE.]

[Speaking of lunatic fringes, it appears thoughts of the ole feed bag are at hand.]

[Hmmmm, what should I get here when we come back for dinner?]

[Hmmmm, who gets to stand next to the horse’s hind parts?]

[Hmmmm, who gets to stand next to the firetruck’s hind parts?]

[Is that an Aldi’s bag?]

[OK, let’s eat!]

And now for the Fat Boys:

[‘Twas a beautiful evening!  Made even more so by two bottles of crisp and citrusy Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, much to the enjoyment of the interested parties!]

[The restaurant specialty, as well as the special of the day, was beet salad.  Of the four of us, only Jeanne and I were beet eaters.  I ordered it.  Gorgeous, and delicious!]

[As I recall, Jeanne ordered the spinach salad.  That’s Ken’s bacon wrapped duck on the right.]

[The Super’s bacon wrapped tenderloin.  We all also got an order of bacon wrapped almond stuffed dates.  In fact, when I ordered, I said I wanted the bacon wrapped beet salad and the bacon wrapped crab  cakes, much to our server’s chagrin!]

[And here are my crab cakes, sans bacon wrap.]

[Jeanne liked the water, too!  😉  So, if you’re ever in St. George, we can all heartily recommend the Painted Pony!  It appears St. George is becoming a less crowded snowbird alternative to Florida, Arizona, and the California desert.]

A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.  A woman must do what he can’t.  ~  Rhonda Hansome

Up next:  Day Seven.

[We awoke to another high desert morning, bright and sunny with temperatures in the 30’s as the Supervisor brushes up on her driving skills before we head out to the Grand Canyon.]

[But first breakfast in the hotel, where I christened the lobby’s rug by spilling my coffee.]

[Then it was down Highway 89 to the canyon’s North Rim, a side we had never before visited.  Still snow, even in Arizona?  😉  ]

[And then, “Whoaaaa, Neliie!”  The turn onto AZ Highway 67 at Jacob Lake was closed? While we were aware that the lodge there would not yet be open, the consensus around Kanab was that the road should be open because they’ve had so little snow.  The Super went in the diner at the intersection to check on it . . . and came out laughing.  She said I should go in and get pictures of her with the regulars, a collection of the local color.  I did see one guy go in with a black cowboy hat the size of Delaware.  Anyway, they posited that the road isn’t open yet because of government cut-backs, that there were no employees available to do so.  So, in the absence of new photos of the Grand . . . ]

Grand Canyon, 11 years ago . . .

[With the Supervisor, same time of year in 2004.]

Grand Canyon, 32 years ago . . .

[With Basketball Dan (hiking down Bright Angel Trail, he made it, my knees were killing me on the down slope), same time of year in 1983.]

[The only way back was the way we came . . . ]

[So we looked for an interesting route to our ultimate destination, St. George, Utah, where Jeanne and Ken Howell were holding a room for us at greatly weekly rates!]

[We looked on a map and noticed this place on AZ Highway 389, heading in the direction we wanted to go.]

[Turned out to be an interesting place, a confluence of three cultures – Indians, Mormons, and the Feds.  It seems at one time or another they were in conflict with each other, and at different times pairing off to fend off the third.]

[The building was a family home, but it also housed farm/ranch workers, and on weekends up to 50 people would stay here where it became Party Central, USA!  😉  ]

[We finally made it to the Howell vacation home.  When we first arrived in Hurricane Valley (the Howells immediately advised us the locals pronounced it “HER-ah-kun”), our first task was to get a car wash.  We’d forgotten what color it was!  The Howells only had the right half of the duplex, but it still slept 22!?  😉  ]

[Then Jeanne and Ken took us for a neighborhood walk – to include their golf course, which interested me not.]

[An option during our stay here was a trip to Monument Valley.  We have never been there, but alas we all decided it was just too far for a day trip.]

When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping.  Men invade another country.  ~  Elayne Boosler

Up next:  Day Six.

[Saturday morning we left Green River and drove south on Utah Highway 24.  There are no people here . . . ]

And the following video proves it:

[We were going to stop here . . . but I apparently have been banned?  Something to do with either being on TSA’s “no cruise” list or having an overdue library book from third grade.]

[This was a luck of the draw, meaning it was on our route.  We had never heard of it?  Capitol Reef is a relatively new national park – from the early 70’s.]

[It began with the usual neat national park stuff . . . ]

[And before we even hit the visitors’ center, this – petroglyphs!  They were hard to see – I spotted most of these on the return trip back along the wooden walkway.  Thank goodness for cataract surgery!]

[Then it was on to the visitors’ center to find out what this place was all about.]

[Then, before I knew what was happening, the Supervisor said, “Let’s go this way.”]

[We were on the Hickman Bridge Trail, “only” a mile hike to see a stupendous natural arch.  Well, that “mile” took an hour to get through elevation changes, lost trails, scrambling on all fours at times . . . ]

[Well, as noted by the occasional hiker we ran across and as you can see, it was worth it. While taking the photos of the Super under the arch, I was hanging on for dear life.  If the Super’s left foot had slipped out from under her, she would have fallen hundreds of feet creating at least a bad hair day.]

[And when we got back down, this is the sign I should have noticed before we went up!]

[Thank you Capitol Reef for the nice interlude.  Now we would continue on Highway 24 looking for Highway 12 out of Torrey.  Of course, we missed it.  We stopped at a sporting good stores, the Super went in with our map, and when the proprietor heard we were looking for Highway 12, he said, “The most beautiful drive on the planet.”  So, here we go . . . 120 some miles that takes a tad longer than the drive from Alex to Minneapolis.]

[It began going up the mountains in Dixie National Forest.]

[The grade changes and switchbacks over the top of Boulder Mountain (9,600 feet), the highest timbered plateau in North America.]

[Yes, we’re still on scenic Highway 12, and it was here I saw the whale shark (above).  Who’da thunk you could have whale sharks in the desert?]

[And it was about this time that Highway 12 skirted Bryce Canyon National Park, before it dead-ended at US Highway 89 which took us to our evening destination, Kanab, on the Arizona border.  We had hoped for visit to Bryce on this trip, but never found the time.  Fortunately, we have been there twice before so let’s venture back in time for a moment.]

Bryce Canyon, 11 years ago . . .

[With the Supervisor, this same time of year in 2004.]

Bryce Canyon, 32 years ago . . .

[With Basketball Dan, this same time of year in 1983.]

[The Super made me do this.  It was in our Kanab lodgings.  The owners are from Seattle – and are big Chihuly fans.  So is the Supervisor (the latter, that is).]

[And here are our cute lodgings.]

[And these, of course, are for the Fat Boys Walking Club.  While there, a couple we recognized from our lodgings were at the table next to us.  We exchanged greetings and later I heard them talking to each other in a language my trained ear recognized wasn’t English.  So I asked where they were from. “Lichtenstein,” was the response.  The proprietor was passing our tables at the time and said the restaurant had hosted several Lichtensteinians – in fact, he said one night 17 difference countries were represented in the restaurant.  Another reason why we like Kanab.]

[And walking the town streets were learned Kanab is known as Little Hollywood because of the number of western movies filmed here.  The were other cowboys beside Tom Mix displayed along the main street.  Kanab is a destination because it is centrally located between Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon.  In the morning we would be heading to the Grand.]

Q:  Do female frogs croak?

Paul Lynde:  If you hold their little heads under water long enough.

Up next:  Day Five.

[The day we bit off more than we could chew.  Not sure how I thought we could leave Loveland in the morning, drive through Denver rush hour, head west through the mountains stopping on a whim to enjoy Vail, cross into Utah with plans of visiting both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks before heading “home” (motel in Green River) for the night?]

[With the mountains on our right (to the west) on the drive into Denver on I-25, you can see a bit of smog hanging over the city.  It’s geographic setting makes smog a continuing issue there.]

[But then we turned west on I-70 heading into a bright blue sky.  🙂  ]

[So, we’re off!  My first time driving through the mountains of Colorado.  The Super, long before I knew her, allegedly enjoyed multiple ski trips along this corridor.  My idea about skiing has always been that attaching boards to your feet so you can hurtle down mountains at high rates of speed over snow was inherently dangerous and to be avoided at all costs.]

[Attempting a revival through gambling, unsuccessfully so far according to my sources.]

[Let’s just sit back and enjoy the mountain scenery for a while.  The drive was made easier because of the unusual absence of snow.  Uncle Tom had a ski condo in Breckenridge for many years.]

[Breckenridge, here we come.]

[Them’s ski slopes, I’m told.]

[This rest area was the only place we saw copious amounts of snow.]

[Where we were, in relation to where we weren’t.]

[We hadn’t planned any stops through the mountains, but Vail was right there.  I had never been to a big time ski resort before, so why not.]

[The Super used to come here in the 80’s . . . until I brought sanity into her life.]

[Obviously, she didn’t recognize it anymore – from a sleepy little ski town to multi-story condos everywhere.]

[So, let’s just take a tour.]

[Here she caught up with March Madness in the visitors’ center.]

[And on the road again.  Some original neighbors when we first moved back to Vacationland USA now live in Steamboat.  Hi, Tina and Noel!]

[I can see how one could have issues traversing this highway in real winter!]

[Well, no wonder I couldn’t find it!]

[More big time ski areas.]

[And then we came out of the mountains . . . ]

[Seems like we’ve done a lot already, but it was just time for lunch . . . ]

[At Enzo’s in Grand Junction, Colorado.]

[And now the signs tell all.]

[This was our first visit to Arches.  Not much need for narrative here – just sit back and enjoy nature’s beauty (OK, it’s just a coincidence that we begin with a phallic symbol).]

[As you can see, there are people up there.  It either required a trail hike or an all-terrain vehicle to do so.  We didn’t have the latter, and didn’t have time for the former.]

[Remember when you were in kindergarten and you placed your arms thusly?  Then you said, “This is the sun.”  In this instance, “This is an arch.”]

[There are people climbing on that rock.  What would possess anyone to do such a thing?]

[Elephants?]

[Hang in there, kids.  The parade is on!  We’re soon coming to the park’s namesakes!  🙂  ]

[Yup, we’re looking for “windows.”]

[We begin the climb with this in mind.]

[And a sight so uniquely rare certainly requires a “selfie,” particularly if the supervisor is in the background.]

[You go, Supervisor!]

[I have no explanation for these guys?]

[Your Cub Reporter at work.]

[Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains . . . ]

[The Super kept sprinting around, ignoring her arthritic knees.  🙂  ]

[I’m an amblin’ man, made a lot of stops, all over the world . . . ]

[The road less taken . . . though it leads to the parking lot.]

[As we left Arches, it was plain to see we would not be visiting Canyonlands National Park on this day.  And we couldn’t see how we were going to fit it in some other day?  Some other time then, though we’re always subject to its constraints.  As we left the park heading north back to the interstate, this was a Friday evening and in the inbound traffic to Moab was bumper-to-bumper.  We suspected spring break . . . ]

[We would spend the night in Green River, Utah, a speck on the map with what appeared to be one restaurant and a Subway.  We opted for the Subway because we wanted to eat in. In a town of about 30, there must have been a hundred in line at the Subway.  But with all the time-outs, I don’t think we missed that much of whatever basketball games were on that night.  In the morning we would head for Kanab, Utah, hard by the Arizona border.]

I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.  ~  Gloria Steinem

Up next:  Day Four.