Jill Makes Herself At Home

Yesterday we continued our excursion down I-75 thru Georgia and into Florida, then cut cross country on SR121 to Spring Hill. We're camped in a real nice park, shower, rest rooms, cable and internet - it's not much but we call it home. Jill's not much of a traveler. I think she was car sick the wholde trip. She looked almost dead when we got home, but she quickly revived and is now making herself very much at home. She's definitely a mommy's girl, I think she blames me for the carsickness because I was driving while mom tried to console her.

This concludes our 2012 vacation and thus completes this blog for this season. Come back next year for more exciting vacation news. Til then, don't worry, be happy. Hope to see on the road soon.

Karl & Pat

More Jill in Georgia

Spent the day strolling down I-75 in Georgia, camped for the night in Elko, Georgia, about 30 miles south of Macon. We only had to slow down once going thru downtown Atlanta. Jill threw up a couple of times shortly after we started out, then settled down for the rest of the day. She got her first bath tonight, we've posted the pictures in our vacation dropbox. Before her bath our neighbor said it was the cutest dog she'd ever seen. We enjoyed a few minutes in the hot tub at the Fair Oaks RV Park before dinner. Tomorrow we drive home, we've enjoyed our vacation but looking forward to getting home for a much needed rest.

Jill's Day in Trenton

We spent the day with Jill, getting her acquainted with her new surroundings, us. We took her on her first leash walk, she didn't like it but we got back home eventually. Tomorrow we head home, with a stop in Elko Georgia. We'll be home Friday. We've enjoyed the road, but we'll enjoy being back home, also.

Jill In Trenton GA

We had a nice quiet day driving from Virginia through Tennessee and finally picking up Jill in Trenton Georgia (20 miles southwest of Chattanooga TN). It was interstate all the way, set the speedometer on 59 and relax, I never have to worry about using the brakes. The trees were very strikingly colorful in Virginia, not so much in Tennessee yet. About midday I discovered I had on my rose colored sun glasses, it made the reds and oranges really stand out. They were gorgeous.

Jill is about 5 months old, about as big as a footlong hotdog, almost a handful, just as cute as a button and not much bigger. She is very timid and it will take a while to make her feel at home.

We'll stay here tomorrow to let Jill get acclimated, then take 2 more days to get home.

Richmond to Fort Chiswell Virginia

We spent a week+ in Midlothian (Richmond Suburb) helping Jerry get his new house ready to move into. He got a good deal on a repo that needed a whole bunch or work, not so much anymore. We did a lot or work on the inside, a contractor worked the outside, so we can't take credit for how good the outside looks, but it was very satisfying. We were camped in the new house's driveway with no TV, internet and very little phone service. It was very relaxing to be unconnected for a while.

 We had a good drive today thru Virginia. West from Richmond, cross country, then south on I-81 thru the Blue Ridge Mountains, very scenic. A lot of the trees are now in their fall colors. We're camped in Fort Chiswell RV Park, full hookup, cable, internet etc. Very nice. Tomorrow we drive to Chatanooga Tennessee and pick up Pat's new little dog.

Ashford CT to Harrisburg PA

We made another scenic trip today, but today was all interstate, I84 & I81. The Highway is lined with trees all the way, dressed out in their finest autumn colors. I guess we're officially out of  New England, we had to settle on a hamburger for lunch, and it really tasted good. Actually, it was a Wendy burger, the first one I've had since one on St Croix made me very sick. Of course at Wendy's I always have to have a chocolate frosty. It was also very good. We're staying at the Harrisburg East
Campground that's full of RV's, how can they call an RV park a campground? It rained on us all morning and stopped about 2pm for the rest of the trip, and it's very overcast and cool, it's only forecast to be 54F tomorrow. We were looking forward to going to Hershey park tomorrow, but found out that it's only open on weekends now, guess I'll have to settle for a candy bar.

Bar Harbor to Ashford Connecticut

We enjoyed another scenic trip from Bar Harbor, Maine to Ashford, Connecticut. Much of the trip was on US-1 along the seashore then cross country through wooded hills, green pastures and picturesque lakes and busy little cities. It was a tiring drive and we didn't get to our campsite until 7:30PM, well after dark. It looks like a very nice campground, I'm anxious to see it in the daytime. It was a nice day to be on the road, pretty cloudy and we got about 5 minutes of rain, nothing hard. We drove through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut today.

Acadia National Park

We got up early this morning to catch the sunrise out our back window, over the bay. Last time we do that for a while. We found an underground water leak right by our Lazy Daze, so we had to walk up to the office to report it. While they were fixing that we did our laundry, nice laundromat right alongside our Daze. We then spent most of the day taking the Acadia National Park shuttles, walking the Acadia Ocean Path and walking the streets of Bar Harbor. We enjoyed clam chowder and a lobster roll at a small Deli in town.

Tomorrow we head south in earnest. We're tired of lobster and other seafood. At least until tomorrow. Next stop Hartford or close to it.

Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park

We made another scenic ride thru Maine this morning, registered at the Bar Harbor Campground, and backed into this beautiful spot on the bay. We then toured Acadia Natonal Park, eating lunch at the Jordan Pond House/Restaurant. The parking was bad (Sunday noon during a holday weekend), we parked along the road and walked 1/2 mile. But the weather was nice and we rather enjoyed the walk. We then drove up Cadillac Mountain to breathtaking views. The campground closes on Tuesday morning for the season, so we just barely made the deadline.

Mainely Shopping and Eating

We went shopping at the Bangor Mall, then had surf & turf at Captain Nick's. The turf part of the feast was not all that good. They advertise it as a 6 oz sirloin, but it's about 1/4 inch thick and full of gristle. The stuffed mushrooms were great and the whole Maine lobster was an experence. Pat had a hard time eating the lobster, it tried to stare her down.

Bartlett NH to Bangor ME

If you like trees that look like they've all been air brushed you'd have loved to be on the road with us today. We travelled from the middle of the White Mountains in New Hampshire to Augusta Mane through the back coutry. We sampled Laura's Famous Seafood Stew at the Red Barn Drive-In Restaurant in Augusta, then motored up I-93 to Paul Bunyon's Campground in Bango

Time to View Autumn Colors

It was a beautiful day. Finally, a non rainy day. We started out to the Fryeburg fair, but met a 5 mile long line to get into the fair. After staying in line for an hour and traveling a mile we turned around and turned into a canoe/kayak sales/rentals. We left there with something to think about. Then we decided to drive thru the back country and drove thru about 50 miles of beautiful autumn colored trees along the swift river and over the Bear Notch road. The Bear Notch is open during the winter only to snow mobiling.  Be sure to check out our dropbox for more of our great photos.

Monday at Attitash

Another quiet day at Attitash. It cleared off a little so we enjoyed a short walk, thcn went back to Bart's Deli for a sandwich and picked up another home made pie on the way. Tomorrow is supposed to be a non-rainy day so we're planning on taking a drive through the country,

Sunday at Attitash

Today was a lazy daze raining day. It quit raining just long enough this afternoon for a walk around the resort. Other that that it was a day catching up with my email.

Attitash Mountain Vlllage, NH

We took a walk through the forest and enjoyed the sights along the SACO river. The autumn colors haven't reached their peak yet, but are still quite beautful.

Franconia Notch State Park to Bartlett NH

Drove from Franconia Notch State Park today, about 50 miles, through Mt. Washington National Forest.  The autumn colors are not at their peak yet, but were still breaktaking. It was raining a little and we didn't stop along the way to take pictures. Plenty of time left here in New Hampshire to get plenty of pictures. We stopped at a farmer's tent here in Bartlett and got some fresh apple pie, apples, and pumpkin & banana bread - yum. It could easily be the best apple pie I ever ate. We really enjoyed our stay at Franconia Notch State Park, echo lake RV Park and looking forward for another week in New Hampshire.

We were enjoying a hamburger at the Bartlett Deli and Country Store while waiting to check in at the Attitash Mountain Village Resort when a group came in from the North East Lazy Daze Club. They were here from Massachusetts arranging for a club get together here next year at this time. We got a personal nvite to attend. Also found out that there's a South East club whch we'll have to investigate.

Franconia Notch State Park NH

We had a great bike ride through the park today. They have a paved  pathway about 6 feet wide the whole length of the park. We rode about half of it. It was sunny and about 65 degrees for almost all of the day. The colors are changing but still have a long way to go.

Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire

In New Hampshire, Franconia Notch State Park, Echo Lake RV Park. The drive up was spectacular, if you like wooded hills. Some of the trees are in their finest autumn colors.

New London Connectcut

Picture taken next weekend in New Hampshire courtesy of FoxNews.  Currently enjoyng the cool days and cooler nights in Connectcut. Days 70 degrees, nights 50 degrees. Overcast at night burns off at 10am, sunny rest of the day. Will drive to NH Monday.

East Lyme CT

Managed to motor to East Lyme Connecticut today. I can't really say that driving thru NYC was a pleasure, but we managed with small displeasure. The George Washngton bridge was a real pain, plus $39 in tolls. Altogether we paid about $80 in tolls today. There were no delays in our direction, but the other direction was backed up about 5 miles at the bridge plus another one mile futher on. We just gotta find a better way to go south.

We're camped about 3 miles out of town, about 6 miles from the coast. It's beautful. The weather is great, 50 at night and 70 in the day. No rain forecast for next 10 days. We'll be here 4 nights then move on to New Hampshire.

Clarksboro, NJ

Spent a perfectly perfect day in New Jersey today. A complete reversal of yesterday, which was stormy all day. We took a bike ride to get Pat a perm, then did our weekly wash and enjoyed on our patio the rest of the day. Just perfect, or did I say that already?

Richmond to Clarksboro NJ

Made it to Clarksboro, NJ from Richmond today without incident. Went thru downtown Washington DC and Baltimore. Followed the GPS thru Washington, itn took us on some very strange roads/streets. We had it set for no toll roads. But once we got into Baltimore we changed it so we took I95 North from Baltimore which is a toll road for a while. Our little bike trailer gives us a third axle so the tolls were twice as high.

We're in a very rural RV park, very picturesque, about 100 miles south of New York City. The weather is  perfect. We'll be here 3 nights then move on to Connecticut for the start of our New England experience.

Richmond, VA

We spent Saturday & Sunday with Jerry & family. Saturday was spent visiting their new home (closing set for 24th), then shopping for things they're going to need once they close. They're going to paint, recarpet, redo the hardwood, and fix some things before moving in. They expect to move in by the end of October. We'll be returning by the middle of October and maybe they'll let us help with a few things.

This morning we spent at a yard sale at their apartment complex and a free hotdog at the leasing office. Then we spent the afternoon walking around Belle Isle in the middle of the James River in the middle of downtown Richmond. It was a great day.

Tomorrow we'll drive to New Jersey.

Santee, SC to Richmond, VA

Drove from Santee So Carolina to Richmond Virginia, I95 all the way. Set the speedometer on 59 and didn't have to brake except for gas stops til we got to downtown Richmond during the rush hour. Not much to see along the way except for trees, both sides of I95 were lined with big trees all the way.

Our time at Santee State Park was nice - did 't need the AC at all. No mosquitos but lot's of gnats, fleas and flys. We sat outside, rode bikes and walked through the woods. Squirrels and great big spiders were the only wildlife we saw.

Our park here is the closest one we could find to Jerry (about 25 miles). No shade, but the driveway is graveled and the yards have grass.

We should be in New England in plenty of time for the colors - it's still fairly warm - but Pat is saying snow around the great Lakes this weekend.

Santee, South Carolina

Our trip from Spring Hill, FL to  South Carolina was almost uneventful. We had a couple of people honk at us as I pulled out of a Pilot station onto the hiway but that was the the big event of the day. 400 miles yesterday makes it the longest planned day of our vacation.  The scenery was nothing but green fields and trees, very pretty. We're camped on the shore of Lake Marion, in Santee State Park - far from the civilized world, no cable or phone, but I did fiud a wifi spot at the office. It's73 degrees with a slight breeze and 50% cloudy. Today is a restup day and tomorrow we drive to Richmond and meet up with Jerry and his family.

Blue Springs State Park

We decided to go camping at Blue Springs State Park in Florida with John, Roger & families last weekend (7/27-30). Despite rain the last day it was a great weekend. The 400,000,000 gallons a day out of the springs stays consistently 73 degrees year round. The water flow makes it the biggest springs in the US. We enjoyed tubing on the chilly water and swimming with the manatees. The smores were great and the women outdid themselves with enormous quantities of great food. The springs is about 30 minutes northeast of Orlando, about 3 hours from home. We are lookinjg forward to our New England trip starting the first of September.

Karl decided to get sick this weekend - he came down with a severe case of vertigo. We ended up in the Dr's office yesterday afternoon. He's feeling much better today - not back to 100% yet but no dizziness. He can actually walk upright without help.

Siloam Springs to Spring Hill, Florida

Picture of Joe on his horse. Unfortunately when Karl tried to climb on he got tossed on his backside, he's sore all over.We enjoyed visiting with Joe and his family. Joe and Maria have 5 very talented and good looking children. We finally got the radio installed. The country is too hot all over to do anything during the day, so we decided to go home. We'll do the New England thing in Sep/Oct, when temperatures cool off and the crowds go home. We made the trip in 2 long days. Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are nice and green, they look far different than Utah and Colorado, which are burning up. We got some great news, the home is in pretty good shape, the plants are in great shape and no lasting defects from the flood a couple of weeks ago. We got the RV unloaded and washed today before putting it in short term storage. Keep in touch!!

Siloam Springs

Still in Siloam Springs. Enjoyed a stroll through car show in the park in Gentry, Arkansas,and Natural Falls State Park, Oklahoma, yesterday, the 4th. Still trying to get my new radio installed. We'll probably be here till Monday.

Colby KS to Siloam Springs AR

A long day, about 10 hours driving. The further East we got the cheaper the gas. When we filled up the first time in Colby Kansas the gas was 3.37, I thought that was cheap, but then it was 3.25 in Salina, 3.15 in Wichita and 2.97 in Oklahoma. Hallelujah.We to Siloam Springs about  7:30 and are camped  in an RVun park ran by Super 8 Motel. This has a pool which we will probably use everyday since daytime temps reach 100F. Did you know that Kansas actually has a hill and some trees in the SouthEast corner. Siloam Springs is the far North-West corner of Arkansas, it's ozark country. Joe and his family came over and we visited til about 11pm. I think I gotta go to bed now. Nite-nite.

Estes Park To Colby Kansas

The Elk is from yesterday not today. There's really not much to see or do East of Denver. We've stopped at Colby Kansas, Whistle Stop RV Park - and that says it all. It's right next to I-70 so we didn't have to waste time or gas to get here. It has full hookups, WiFi, showers, restrooms and laundromat but no pool. We thought that the interstate traffic might be too noisy to sleep, but the AC noise drowns out the traffic noise. The park has a Walmart right next door so if we get hungry we won't have far to go to stock up. We got a new radio for the motorhome, Daze, at the last stop and I spent some time tonight hooking it up, I may have mixed up some speaker wires and burned up the radio, it only played for about 10 seconds. I'm glad we bought we cheap one.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We had an extremely great day. Yesterday was pretty hazy with smoke from neighboring fires. Today was fairly clear, just a little bit of haze. We did a little bit of shopping downtown (t-shirt, fudge, Christmas ornament, some hardware), then boarded the Green Jeep Tour vehicle for a 3 hour ride through the Rocky Mountain National Park. Got some good pictures of big horn sheep, marmots, elk, mountains and high valley lakes. Also some pretty flowers, including the state flower, Columbine (didn't turn out very clear, but I kept it anyway). It got feeling real nice up on top, 12000 ft, 50F and 50 mph wind, maybe it'll help keep us cool through Kansas. We ended the day with salad and pizza downtown then a shuttle ride back to our little home on the hill. We're really going to hate to leave tomorrow, we're exchanging 80F day/50F night for 100F/75F night for a good part of the rest of our vacation.  We'll really be ready for fall when it gets here.

Estes Park

We enjoyed walking around town. A lot of chocolate, t-shirt, fudge and jewelry stores. Karl got a Rocky Mountain National Park t-shirt and Pat got a thimble. We really enjoyed walking along the Big Thompson River down in the middle of town. They've got all the shuttles running now, this was the first day for full complement of shuttles, so there's no problem getting around without having to drive the motorhome. We got just a drop or two rain this afternoon, but it was really breezy at times. We enjoyed a Mexican lunch downtown, but Pat got sick immediately afterwards. I guess the Mexican water doesn't agree with her. Tomorrow we take a jeep tour through the park and Sunday we head towards Arkansas

Colorado Springs to Estes Park

We finally said goodbye to the wildfires and drove up the mountain to Estes Park (Rocky Mountain National Park). Spent about 30 minutes driving thru Denver, the traffic fairly heavy - just stayed in the right hand lane and had no problem. We went from 100F and wildfires to 80F and flash flood warnings. It's raining, first rain we've seen in a few months. Actually feels good. We'll hang around town tomorrow and take a jeep tour into the park Saturday. Sunday we'll head out to Arkansas to visit Joe's family.

Another Smoky Day in Colorado Springs

Another lay low day. We've got the worst of two worlds. Our Florida home is under water and our Colorado RV is right up against the biggest fire in Colorado. Just  got a warning notice of smoke and potential fire danger. We're leaving tomorrow for Rocky Mountains National Park and hope we make it through the night. We did take a little bike ride on the walk/bike path along a cute little stream. Pat's got a taste for carrot cake so I gotta go back to the Safeway we found on the bike ride to pick one up. Vacations are tough but someone's gotta do it.

Old Colorado City

With the fire raging up the hill we've kinda hunkered down while we're here. Unfortunately the RV Park we're in doesn't have a pool or we'd spend all day in it. We did take a little walk around Old Colorado City, a kind of resort section of  town. Pat picked up some lace and a table setting.

Speaking of the fire, they have now evacuated the AF Academy, which we visited yesterday.

Air Force Academy

We had a ltttle meeting with Gordon Taylor about the direction TaylorAssociation.org is headed, then he drove us out to the AF Academy. We toured the Visitor's Center and the Chapel. The chapel is separated into different sections - Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and other. The Protestant section was the largest and had a big balcony with organ and choir seating. They graduate about 1000 2nd Lts a year with BS degrees. The classroom space are huge buildings, but classes are small so that students can have personal attention - the goal is to develop leaders.

The fire is still raging.

Cortez To Colorado Springs

We made it across the Colorado Rockies, no small accomplishment. The trip from Cortez to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park thru the Telluride ski area was awesome. The hills were nerve racking to drive but the views awesome.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison had an awesome view of  a 1500 ft canyon - straight down. We stayed 3 nights but a one hour drive would have been sufficient unless we wanted to hike the 12 mile rim - then one day would have done the trick. It was cool though so it was pleasant. We enjoyed one Ranger nighttime presentation, but the second one wasn't that good. After the 1st one we got to view the stars through six different telescopes that they had set up. In the daytimes we saw several deer and some very cute birds.

The trip from Black Canyon to Great Sand Dunes National Dunes National Park was also awesome. The Blue Mesa Lake was large and scenery beautiful. The Blue Mesa RV Resort looked great and very full. The hills were quite a trial for my little 350 cu in engine. The drive down CO-114 from US-50 was really awesome. It went thru a narrow canyon, sometimes widening out into green fertile fields. The road was a narrow 2 lane road and top speed limit of about 35 mph for about 20 miles.We drove 62 miles on 114, it was awesome but not real steep except for about 5 miles of it. It was a great drive.

The Great Sand Dunes National Park was anti-climatic. May be a good place to visit with little ones who can run up the dunes, but for two old timers it wasn't a big thrill. A pretty good sight tho, the tallest dunes in the USA. In the springtime it has two streams flowing around it, but during the summer it's pretty well dry. We took about an hour to drive through it and see all there was to see. We stayed one night in an RV park just outside the park.

We are now in Colorado Springs for 4 nights. Wouldn't you know it - a forest fire is 6 miles away up the mountain. I guess it just started within the last couple of days. The whole valley is filled with smoke. In fact the Great Sand Dune valley over the mountain was also filled with smoke, maybe from the same fire.

We're getting together with Gordon Taylor, president of the Taylor Family Association, tomorrow to talk over the TaylorAssociation.org web site. We may also go out to visit the AF Academy.

Cortez

We had a nice R&R day in Cortez. Did our wash, did some walking, watched TV, napped and hung out. We visit Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Great Sand Dunes both are in the middle of nowhere, so we may be out of touch for the next 5 days.

Monument Valley To Cortez

Traveled from Monument Valley, Utah to Cortez, Colorado with no incident. It fact it was quite a good trip, some good scenery. Saw portions of the San Juan River, including Goosenecks State Park and the Mexican Hat Rock. Had lunch/dinner at Pancho's El Burro, not bad, not the best I've had either.

Monument Valley - Rest Day

We walked down to the Museum and gift shop this morning, about 1 mile. Then we jumped in the pool. Then we took the rest of the day off. We plan on going to the John Wayne movie tonight.Tomorrow we'll travel to Cortez, Colorado and be through with Utah for this trip. Be sure to catch Pat in the latest John Wayne movie, Stagecoach, made here in Monument Valley.

Monument Valley

What a day, we took an eight hour tour of Monument Valley. We wanted to break it up and take it in 2 days, but they wanted too much money to do it our way. Besides this way they served us a hamburger lunch. The hamburgers were cooked over a wood fire and were really good. We got lots of good pictures of rocks, some with holes in them and some with pictures on them. We wanted to go up to the lodge for a John Wayne movie but just couldn't make it tonight, maybe tomorrow night. We plan on spending tomorrow in the pool and R&R so we shouldn't be too tired tomorrow night.

Page To Monument Valley

We thought we needed some more rock pictures so here we are in Monument Valley, Utah at Gouldings Campground - a have everything RV park. We've registered for a whole day tour tomorrow and plan on resting up Sunday before traveling on to Cortez, CO.

Upper Antelope Canyon

We had a very nice day in the desert heat. Did our laundry, shopped at Walmart, did some laps in the pool, sat in the hot tub and took a tour of Antelope Canyon led by a local native Indian. The canyon is about 1/4 mile long and is very stunning. If you haven't been thru it be sure and catch our pictures in Dropbox - if they ever get uploaded (internet's not working very fast).

We're in Page tonight. Tomorrow we travel to Monument Valley and will stay there 3 nights.

Lake Powell

It was another hot day in the desert, but we beat the heat by basking in the air conditioning of the Wahweap Lodge then we took the 5 boat tour to Rainbow Bridge. The water was clear and smooth, the rocks red and the cliffs sublime. Rainbow Bridge was awesome. It wasn't as far from the boat as we feared it might be, less than 1/2 mile, fairly level. The lake seems higher that when we were here last, in October about 3 years ago. I guess the level drops all summer to feed the 25 million people downstream. As I was editing the pictures, it occurred to me that we have quite a collection of rock pictures, I guess they didn't name these the rocky mountains for nothing.

Tomorrow's another R&R day, we'll move from Wahweap into Page to save rent money and try to get our laundry done. Friday we'll head to Monument Valley to photograph more rocks.

Bryce To Page

Yesterday we walked the rim at Bryce Canyon fron Inspiration Point to Sunrise Point, about 1 mi. The best scenery in the world. Love it here. The internet & phone service weren't working very good tho. We had a big scare with the Microwave, we tried to cook rice and after about 20 minutes it shut down. I started to take it out to fix but discovered the bottom was very hot, so we decided to let it cool down first. When it cooled down a little it started to work again. We also discovered a blowout on our little trailer - one of the spares blew out, did serious tread damage - strange, it wasn't even on the road.

We din't want to - but we decided to come down off the mountain today. Now we're at Lake Powell - it's not cool, about 100deg but the AC's working good. We can live with that. Tomorrow we take a boat tour to Rainbow Bridge.

Bryce Canyon

It warmed up enough by 10 oclock for us to venture out of our cave. We took the shuttle up to Bryce Point and walked the rim trail down to Inspiration Point (1.5 mile). The cool, clear air is great, we may never come down from the mountain.
You can view our photo log at https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/16216952/1/Vacation?h=428edc

Zion To Bryce

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, Zion, 100 degrees, tonight, Bryce, 25 degrees. The wind was blowing much of the day, it was about 74 - felt pretty cool. We're camped at Ruby's RV Park, just outside the Nat'l park. With taxes it is $46 per night, but like Zion it has free shuttle to the park, pool, showers, rest room, store and more.

We took the shuttle to the visitor's center and then made the loop via shuttle. Tomorrow we'll take the shuttle to each of it's viewsites, may do a little walking along the rim too. We plan on spending 3 nights here.

Zion Canyon

Uncle Claude Hirschi named these four peaks.  The white pillars are the three patriarchs.  Left to Right: Abraham. Issac and Jacob, the red one in front of Jacob is Moroni, a prophet in the Book of Mormon.

Today Karl and Pat stopped at the three Patriachs and then tackled the Narrows.  We hiked up a little over one mile.  With the Red Cliffs towering overhead it was a feeling of indescribable greatness.  Being here in Zion has filled my soul with voices of the past.  Hearing my Dad tell us stories of CC Camp, hearing our own children splashing in the river as we went tubing to the camp ground.  The time all of us went way up the river into the Narrows. Voices of my heart.

Zion Canyon

We toured Zion Nat'l Park today. Took the free Springdale shuttle to the park entrance, then the free Park shuttle to the Zion Lodge where we took the trail to Emerald Pool. The day was getting hot so we decided to cool off at Weeping Rock. We enjoyed the walk, although it was fairly steep it was also fairly short. It's a great place to cool off and get a great view of the valley. The picture shows Pat waiting for the shuttle back to the entrance. We closed the day's activities with a double waffle cone at the Zion Park Lodge.