This last week I had the opportunity to accompany my parents and aunt to Southern Utah, the Dixie land as they call it. We stayed in St George, home of the first LDS temple in Utah, central location to many cool National Parks (and forests might I add), location of the most AMAZING breadsticks in the world and the area that Brigham Young sent many Mormans to attempt to grow cotton as they were pushed out of the southern states...hence the nickname, Dixie.
On the first day out, we went to Kolob which was a small part of Zion National Park. Here we experienced just a taste of the fun we were about to have over the next week. We took a short 1 mile hike to warm up our bodies for the change in elevation and drove around to view some of the beautiful scenery. Dad also scoped out the cell phone situation and yes....we did indeed get cell phone reception way up there!
Our next day out, the adventures began. We made our way over to Bryce Canyon National Park. Words cannot begin to describe the beauty that we found here. The striking scenery is definitely what makes Bryce Canyon so unique. Bryce is filled with rock formations known as 'hoodoos', also to be described as a rock column. These hoodoos have been formed over years and years of wind erosion and the uplift of the ground from moving faults. The sandstone cliffs do experience a small amount of erosion from its mere 18 inches of water a year through the 200 freeze-thaw cycles that happen a year. We made several stops around the canyon's amphitheater to see these amazing rock forms and then I took a short 1.5 mile hike down into the canyon to see what it looked like from below. The mud and steep climbs were worth it as I saw some amazing landscape.
We also had the chance to go to Zion National Park and do a day of major hiking. Zion, unlike Bryce, was formed by the uplift from faults and water erosion. Although it is also mostly sandstone, the look of the canyons is completely different due to the difference in erosion. We took several hikes through the bottom on the canyon, to see the Emerald Pools, the Weeping Rocks, through the campground and along the Virgin River which runs straight through the canyon, adding up to about 7 miles of hiking for the day. It was another beautiful day and we even encountered five deer along one of our trails that were no more than 10 feet away from us. Once again, we were amazed with the beauty and creativity that God has placed here for us to enjoy.
On one of our final days out in Utah, we drove to visit Best Friends Animal shelter in Angel Canyon. Best Friends is the largest no kill animal shelter in the United States. They rescue unwanted animals from the streets, people who cannot take care of them, or animals with illnesses that would otherwise simply be put down if they did not take them in. They house over 300 cats, 500 dogs and many other types of animals including horses, birds, bunnies and yes....pot bellied pigs! Angel Canyon was also the location of several western movies from back in the day like Apple Dumpling Gang and Lone Ranger bits.
The day before our trip ended, we spent the day in Las Vegas to see the city, try our luck at some slot machines, and see Cirque du Soleil. We stayed in a castle which was pretty cool. I always knew I was destined for royalty. We saw the Bellagio fountain do its thing and boy can it shoot that water way up into the sky! The show was saw was pretty awesome and to top it off, I left $1.05 richer than when I arrived. Overall....Las Vegas was a success!
In the end we had to leave the warm weather and beautiful blue skies but I know I was blessed by getting to see some of the most unique and beautiful creations that God has placed here on this earth. Its amazing how creative and original He can be. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the extremely long blog!
