Along today’s drive, we saw so many different, interesting, and amazing things. The landscape was full of so many colors! Deven said it best, “Utah looks like those tall glass jars you fill with sand at carnivals and fairs, the ones that have different layers of strange-colored sand and then you make the top look like a weird bird.” That’s exactly what Utah looks like! Our day was full of more park sprinting, as we were hoping to see the highlights of three different parks. Throughout our drive across Utah, we were up and down from 5000 to 10,000 feet, in temperatures ranging from 60 to 100, dealing with weather changes from blazing hot sun to heavy rains and lightning storms, and landscape changes from red rock to sand dunes to canyons to mountain-top, lush aspen groves! Our first stop was Capitol Reef National Park. This 378-square-mile park is a historic pioneer settlement (the town of Fruita) and is named for the 100-mile-long rift which early explorers called a reef because it was a barrier to travel. This place had very interesting land formations – something I’ve never seen before, but similar to the other parks in Utah. There was also a lot of history here. We stopped at the little one-room schoolhouse that functioned from the early 1900s until 1946 (shown in the picture). I imagined one teacher educating 12 – 24 students ranging from ages 6 – 18 and it made me thankful for my current job. Not to mention, she had to do all of her educating during the winter months, as the students were needed to help out in the orchards during the rest of the year. We also toured an old farmhouse and a blacksmith’s shop. Some of the areas we were excited to see were inaccessible due to flashfloods, so we didn’t stay long. From here, we drove up and over a few mountains, through a lightning storm and along the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. President Clinton designated these 1.7 million acres as National Monument in 1996 and it is truly amazing. The area is known for its waterfalls, canyons, ruins, petroglyphs, 4-wheeling, backpacking, rock climbing and hard-core mountain biking. We felt adventurous enough just driving through due to a 2-line highway that had steep cliffs and no guardrails on both sides! All of a sudden, out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere was a sign for a coffee shop. We pulled in, totally caught off guard by this fun little surprise! Kiva Koffeehouse (www.kivakoffeehouse.com) was amazing. It is an eco-friendly place with a great view, built to look like a kiva by a man with an amazing dream, and they served good coffee and delicious, healthy food right out of their own garden. We stopped for coffee and lunch and I ate the best quesadilla I’ve ever had (summer squash with spinach – yummy) and Deven had a really good falafel sandwich. We chatted with the owner for a little while, relaxed, and again marveled at the number of Europeans traveling in Utah! From here, we made our way to Bryce Canyon National Park. Immediately, we didn’t love it. It was so crowded, very hot, and had a lightning storm rapidly approaching. An entire page in the park’s guide was about the dangers of lightning and there were warning signs greeting us at every outlook. We learned a little bit about the dangers of lightning: if the time between the lightning and thunder is less than 30 seconds, it’s not safe to be outside; it’s not safe to go out until 30 minutes after the last thunder (this is called the 30/30 rule); if you’re outside, you’re not suppose to stand near or under a tree, but rather crouch down with both feet together. We also learned that lightning has killed 3 people and seriously injured 5 others in the past 18 years at this park. So, we quickly made the rounds and took pictures of our favorite sights, but skipped the hikes due to the weather. We could see multiple lightning bolts very close by – I tried really hard to get a good picture, but it didn’t work. We didn’t spend much time here because we were irritated by the crowds from the minute we drove through the entrance gate. People were stopping right in the middle of the crowded 2-lane road (the only road through the park) and were out of their cars taking pictures of a group of pronghorns grazing. Deven and I were expecting a T-Rex with all this commotion and when we realized what all the fuss was about, we wanted to tell them to go to Jackpot Valley (remember – our nickname for Hayden Valley in Yellowstone). We realized now how truly spoiled we have been by all of the wildlife sightings we’ve had. After sprinting through this park, we made our way through the mountains towards Zion National Park. We were right in the middle of the lightning storm for a while and the lightning was so close and frequent that it seemed as if the thunder came before the lightning. I told Deven it’s probably because it’s Utah – they do everything a little different here! We started thinking we might want to stay in a hotel for a night (which I was really pushing for – so I could watch the season finale of the Bachelorette…isn’t that disgusting?!), so I called ahead and we were lucky to get the last available room. Without the stress of worrying about where we would stay, I started reading up on Zion. We were thinking it would be like the other parks in Utah – just a bunch of crazy land formations. Well, it is that…but Zion feels different. First of all, it’s very hot here (100 degrees, HOT for us Seattle girls) and they have tarantulas! After entering the park, we drove through a mile-long tunnel through a rock with only a few lookout points – it was amazing. There are so many people here, yet it doesn’t feel crowded. There are so many structured activities to choose from: ranger-guided hikes, self-guided hikes, ranger-led information sessions, free shuttle tours, and so much more. The Visitor Center is new, built using sustainable architecture and eco-friendly practices. It even uses only natural elements to heat and cool the building. The whole park is very eco-friendly. Worn out by the heat, we gathered information at the Visitor Center and decided to call it a night (plus, I had to hurry to the hotel to see my show!). We had a relaxing night and enjoyed what has become the unnecessary luxury of tv, a real bed, a real bathroom with a shower, and a night free from bug spray and bear-proof food lockers!
