The Last of Utah!

It is Thurs, 7/27 and the kids all left late this morning.  Really sorry to see them go. It was some real quality time! So I cleaned up a bit and la di daad around. I was thinking of not going to Bryce, you know just more mountains. Boy am I glad I went. Besides mountains, there are hoodoos all over the place. It's like you are in a different country. It is not really all that far from Zion. Just incredible! Again I was there for hours. No more hiking though Gotta give the body a few days of hiking rest, lol! 

  

  

 

So now Friday I have to go back to Ford 1 1/2 hours away on that treacherous road to have the power steering pump replaced. It wasn't all that bad. It was done in 3 hours.  During that three hours Asher chewed thru his leash so when I went to leave I had half the leash in my hand and he was walking out the door! Sooooo, when I left there I stopped at a Walmart, since I was in a big city, and picked up some essentials. One of those essentials was two new leashes. Got back to campground and grilled a nice ribeye with yum yum corn and baked potato. I was a happy camper!!

Saturday I went back to Zion and in and out of shops and just did a lot of sightseeing.  A nice relaxing day.  Today, Sunday I took a two hour tour of Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab, about 25 miles south. It is an animal sanctuary not a shelter. All kinds of animals are there: dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, turtles, pigs, some wildlife that are rehabilitated and returned to their habitat if possible. All the different animals have there own part of the 1700 acre sanctuary. If interested, please google it because I cannot put into words how wonderful this place is. The staff, and volunteers are dedicated like I have never seen. Most of these animals are available for adoption, not all are adoptable.  Some have physical disabilities and some have emotional and/ or neurological problems. They are all cared for, for the rest of their lives. Not just cared for, they are trained, treated for their problems if necessary and most importantly they are loved!

    

  

 When I told this bird to stop plucking his feathers, he kept repeating what I said. When I went to          video it, he wouldn't say a word!

  

My last stop was the cemetery, Angels Rest. Tears, tears, tears!

      

The end of another beautiful day! Going to eat to supper and chill. Leaving in the morning for Jacob Lake near the Grand Canyon!

  

Zion and Bryce

Got to Bauer's Ranch and Campground on Sunday. Just chilled for the rest of the day. Left on Monday morning for the 1 1/2 hour drive to Cedar City, Utah to the Ford dealer. 63 miles on hwy 14.  It was like the sister of the million dollar hwy!  The a/c worked fine on the way there and the technician found nothing wrong. They did do an oil change and then found a substantial leak in my power steering. The part was going to take 3 days to get there. Drove back in the pouring rain on that hwy 14. 

In the meantime my niece Rachel and my great niece, Mariah and my great nephews, Cayden and Cameron drove from Las Vegas to come and stay with me for a few days. She had a hairy ride through Zion Park to get to the campground. They were all exhausted but all was good. The next day was also raining so we decided to hold off on Zion and do other things.  We went to Coral Pink Sand State Park. The kids all hiked up the dunes, I never would have made it. They had such a good time!

    

Then we went to Moqui Cave. It is an interesting story. A man bought the cave and teenagers used to come and party in it. So he  put in a bar and a dance room inside the cave to at least make some $$$$. The bar is still there but not in use anymore.  It is mostly a museum of artifacts. That is certainly the very short version of the history!

  

 

It is now Wednesday and we are going to Zion Natl Park. It is a beautiful day! Another amazing park. Sooooo much walking. You actually drive to a shuttle area and get on the bus.  The bus stops at 9 places.  You can get on and off as you please. We got off at The Grotto which was  a mile round trip. I wanted to see the waterfalls. Well, that was the wrong place for the waterfalls. We found that put about half way in. We got back on the bus and got out at the right place. It was, for me anyway, a long hike. Three quarters of the way up to the waterfalls it was all red, slippery mud. The kids were slipping and sliding and falling.  We were all hysterical. We did make it to the falls, although not much water was running. Still was beautiful and a really fun hike!

 

  

   

 

We saw so much wildlife going through the park. It was  the highlight of the drive, for me anyway!

  

  

  Even a scorpion, yuk!!!!

We didn't get back to campground until about 8 or 8:30. Tired, and hungry! We grilled burgers and dogs and it was pretty good considering it was still frozen and it was late. Went to bed about 1:00 AM after watching a movie and laughing, laughing, laughing! Needless to say everyone got up late! Rachel and the family packed up and headed home. I had such an awesome time with all of them. Nice to get to know the kids. They were rambunctious but what do you want from 4 year old twins and an 8 year old. They were fantastic. I so look forward to doing it again sometime!

   

 The blacksmith made a horse out of half a horseshoe for Cayden!

Torrey, Utah

My drive to Torrey was beautiful except that the a/c is not blowing cold air from the Ford part of the RV. After much time on the phone I have an appt at a Ford dealer on Monday morning.  Keeping my fingers crossed it is an easy fix!🤞🤞🤞 I arrived at Wonderland RV Campground,  yet another fabulous campground in the afternoon! The owners are fantastic and never stop working around the campground.

  

  

Going to Capital Reef in the morning..

          

  

  

  Great lunch !!!!!!!!!

Capital Reef was yet another quite different park. The drive was beautiful with a couple little historical stops and cabins along the way..