It’s Sunday night - almost 11pm - at the Zion Lodge and I’m just now starting my entry for yesterday, so please bear with me. We had an interesting day Saturday what with visiting the emergency clinic and all, but let me start at the beginning …
So for the last few days we’ve both had this GI bug, that’s been going around at work. I had everything planned out so nicely; we’d have three days off before the plane left, I could spend some quality time with my horse Tessa, the house would be spotless and there’d be no need for frantic less minute packing. Unfortunately, I didn’t plan on my being slumped on the couch in misery for two of those days. But in the end what needed to be done got done and after 4 hours sleep we were on our way to Vegas.
Now I’m not a big fan of Vegas, but seeing those familiar hotels again from the plane’s window was pretty sweet.
Sandy decides to get an upgrade to a 4wheel drive when we went to pick up the car. As an added bonus this means if I wanted to I could drive too … not that I want to though. We decide on a nice deep purple Kia Sorrento.
We pick up some groceries at Wal*Mart and head for our first destination of the day, Valley of Fire State Park.
It is hot, hot, hot, when we get out of the car! We stop at several of the viewpoints, then head for the formation known as the Fire Wave. It’s not on any of the park maps and there is no trail leading to it, so we have to rely solely on a set of vague German instructions.
Random amazing scenery
Several times I contemplate turning around; we’re not used to the heat and there’s really no way to tell if you’re heading in the right direction at all. Amazingly we do manage to find it.
(Sorry, for some reason it won't let me rotate pictures right now)
I like the view even better in the other direction.
We’ve only been out for an hour, but we’re both beet red when we get back to the car. Oh the joys having a car that’s air-conditioned!
The wind outside has picked up and with it clouds are rolling in, until the cloud cover is almost complete:
There’s a short trail with petroglyphs at Moose Tanks and we decide to get out for another walk. The petroglyphs are nice, but what a contrast to our hike earlier! The trail is so overrun with families and small children that it’s hard to call this a nature experience.
At the picnic area the chipmunks are enjoying the sun. Aren't they adorable??
Just as sudden as the clouds rolled in, they’re moving out. It’s almost a blue sky when we get to the Seven Sisters viewpoint.
Petrified log a short distance from the road. It’s eh, petrified … what else can you say about it? Not sure what I was expecting, but it’s a bit of let down.
My favorite picture of the day:
I took it from a big boulder near the East side entrance station.
We exit the park and after driving alongside numerous horse pastures with luscious grass (how unexpected!) we cross the Utah state line.
When we get to St. George we make a quick stop at the Mormon Temple. Sandy stays in the car, while I – not unlike a Japanese tourist – run to the front gate, take a picture, then run back.
By now Sandy is really not feeling too well. We’d initially planned to eat at a cool restaurant called the Painted Pony, but after looking at the menu we go in search of simpler fare which we find at the Pizza Factory. I finish half of my mediocre pizza while Sandy nibbles on a slice and no sooner do we step outside or said slice works its way back up.
We decide to scratch the rest of our itinerary and head straight to the motel. The sun is starting to disappear behind the clouds.
After a while I’m starting to get a little worried about the way Sandy’s driving so when we’re driving to Hurricane and I see a sign for a 24 hour clinic I know it’s time to stop. Of course, this being Saturday in Utah the 24hr clinic is CLOSED!
Picture of the sun setting on the mountains from the clinic’s parking lot.
There’s a number on the door, but it turns out to be for emergencies only. For a split second I debate what to do … luckily they answer right away and they suggest another clinic that might still be open. Amazingly I’m able to access the internet from my phone and I’m able to plug their address into the GPS. I know they say our dependency on technology is a bad development, but I have never been so in love with my phone as I was yesterday.
Sun’s almost gone by the time we get there.
Luckily the clinic is still open, but it takes forever to sign in because Sandy didn’t bring her insurance card with her (I’m sorry to say it, but I guess this is what she gets for laughing at me that morning when I said I was bringing mine. Haha)
Everyone is very nice and after a quick examination the nurse comes and administers phenergan (antiemetic) and Toradol for pain, because she’s got terrible sinus headache too. She also gets a prescription for oral phenergan and antibiotics. By now it’s 10 o’ clock so the only pharmacy that’s still open is in … St. George! So yes, the car is now nicknamed George because obviously he wanted to go back there reaaally badly.
Unfortunately, Sandy’s pretty loopy from the shots so I’m left with the joyous task of figuring out how to drive this monster of a car while it’s dark. Let’s just say navigating unfamiliar streets when it’s pitch black is not high on my list of favorite things …
You’d think that it would be pretty quiet this time of night, but there’s long line when we get to the pharmacy counter. Ugh! I still find this hard to believe, but apparently it’s the only pharmacy open at the time of night, all the way from Vegas to Salt Lake City. Wow!
This has turned into quite the novel so I’ll make it short: we made it to the hotel safely and Sandy already felt a lot, but very tired so we decided not to set the alarm and just get a good night’s rest.
Total miles for today: 244
Restaurant: Pizza Factory – mediocre food and very noisy
Hotel: Zion Park Motel – affordable, clean and in a great location.
Restaurant: Pizza Factory – mediocre food and very noisy
Hotel: Zion Park Motel – affordable, clean and in a great location.
Hello,
It's very strange, but leaving through all your pictures once more, I found out that I completly missed the first day.
Good choice, as it turned out later, to change for a 4wheel drive.
Now that I have seen 10 days already, The Valley of Fire State Park is high on my list of favorite attractions. The rock formation looks like striped porridge, that's still moving!
And then that adorable little chipmunk, applauding the scene.
Your favorite picture looks as if you have been manipulating it with a black fineliner.
You sure made a point Sandy, that the food was mediocre!
Brave you Cat, driving the 4wheel drive. Now you know what I went through, driving an automatic for the first time of my life during rush hour!!!!!!!!!!!!
You where lucky that Sandy recovered so quick.
I marvel at all the wonderfull sunsets you have seen all these days.
Nice little bonus for me since there is no update today.
Love and kisses, take care,
Joeve