Kolob Canyon- A Hidden Gem of Zion

The plans for Wednesday were to pick up Katie, Hunter and Ben at the town of Beaver, midway between Scott and Sam's ranch and St. George.   We were just about 15 minutes out of St. George when Sam called to say they were going to be delayed.  About 10 minutes further north we approached the exit for Kolob Canyon, this is a part of Zion that we had planned to visit last year, but it never seemed to fit in.  So, since we had the time, we decided to exit and see if the road into the park was in good shape.

The park ranger said the road was fine and it was only 5 miles to reach the observation point.  The three pictures show some of the different views on the stops along the road to the top.  This half hour side trip was enough to make us want to return, as there were several hiking trails that are waiting for us to explore.  After our rendezvous with Sam and the grandkids and a break for lunch at McDonalds we headed back south.  As we approached St. George the temperature reached 60 degrees and the plan for the rest of the afternoon was to swim in the pool.

Tomorrow is the last day of January.  The weathermen predict that this month will be the warmest January ever in St. George.  Today it was cloudy with a few rain drops and temps only in the low to mid 50's.  The weather forecast for the rest of the week and into next week is mainly 50's, not as warm as the last 2 weeks, but much better than Wisconsin.  We have 5 more weeks to enjoy the sun and soak in the warmth.
Stay warm,

Bob and Deb

The Big Galoot

 So there is this big red dome called The Big Galoot.  We have no idea how it got its name, but it sort of fits.   Of course, Bob always has to explore things like this.   And as you can see,  with my fear of high places, I am usually far behind, sometimes crawling on hands and knees!  In the picture to the right, I was still on level ground negotiating to stay right where I was.   He was determined to explore it to see if the climb was something our grandkids could handle when they come this week.   I had just seen a family with a little girl about 4 years old come down off the dome, so I figured if she could do it-I could do it!   

 The climb was actually not that bad.   Although, you can see Bob heading for the extra little dome to the left.   He had just said, "Come on up."    I probably don't need to tell you my answer.


I was worried about the hike down, but it was actually quite easy and certainly something Katie, Hunter and Ben will enjoy.  

As you can see, we had another gorgeous day here in the land of the red rocks.   This week will be spent getting ready for the arrival of our three munchkins.   We are busy planning some school activities, and looking forward to lots of exploring as well. 

Hugs to All,

Deb

Snow Canyon From Above

 Today we headed out to do some hiking.   We were aiming for an area just outside the city, but on our way there found this nice, paved trail running along the eastern rim of Snow Canyon.   Snow Canyon is one of our favorite spots in the St. George area.  It was actually the site of our very first St. George experience about 7 or 8 years ago when we took our long camping journey.   We camped in Snow Canyon and sort of fell in love with the area.   Those of you who have been here with us-Scott and family, friends Roger and Marsha, and Jeff and Ruth will recognize it.   All of the pictures are looking down into the canyon.   You can easily see the road which runs through the park.   In the first picture, Bob is facing to the southwest back toward the city.   Hard to believe that just beyond those rocks is a city of 100,000 people!

The next two pictures are facing more to the north.    The white rocks are sort of the end of the canyon.

The dark rocks are all lava.   Such a neat combination-white, black and every shade of red you can imagine.

The exploring continued as we just couldn't resist going down into the park.     You can see what we did on the other blog post from today.

Ballooning in Mesquite-and more basketball in Green Bay

We arose early this morning to drive about 30 miles south to the city of Mesquite, Nevada.   We had read about this balloon festival last year when we were here.   We had planned to take the grandkids down to see it, but just didn't know what to expect.   We decided to go this year by ourselves and check it out.   Well, we certainly wish we would have stuck with our plan to have the kids.   In spite of the fact that our normal clear blue sky was not the backdrop we had, it was still a fun and colorful event.

When we got there this whole parking area was filled with balloons laid out on the ground.   Soon they began to inflate them with these giant propane heaters.

When the balloon was fully inflated the "pilots" got themselves in the basket and away they went.   As you can see in the picture to the right, they were so close together in some spots that they were actually touching each other!




It didn't take long for us to get some pretty stiff necks as we watched the beautiful balloons float away across the dessert.

It was a fun couple of hours.   We could not see where the balloons we going to land, but all of their trucks and trailers headed off after their own balloon launched and we assumed they were heading out to "retrieve" them and bring them back to the launch area. 

The last couple pictures were taken as we walked back to where our car was parked.    Neat to see them with the mountains in the background.


Hope all of you are staying warm.   We can even say that to our Texas folks as we hear the cold weather got down as far as Austin and San Antonio and even got to areas in Florida.   We are still getting into the low 60's each day and supposed to hit 70 by next weekend!  

All is well here-except for Bob's mouth!    He started having some pain in a wisdom tooth on Thursday.   By Friday morning it was really bothering him.   Decided to call a local dentist to see what might be done.   Well, lo and behold, within an hour from when we made the call, that pesky tooth had been yanked out!   He was pretty punky yesterday afternoon and evening, but felt well enough to head to the balloon fest this morning.   He has already taken one little nap today and is cozied up on the couch under a blanket watching basketball now.    He says it feels pretty good as long as he takes Tylenol to take the edge off.   Toughest part is trying to figure out what to eat that doesn't take much chewing.   Last night was scrambled eggs.   Lunch today was ramen noodles and yogurt.   I'm thinking soup for supper.


We were happy to hear it was another victory for Emily's basketball team this week.   Although, they are not supposed to keep score (we sort of wonder what is the point) Emily's team won by an unofficial score of about 42-20!   Way to go Martin Elementary! 

 Hugs to all of you.

Stay well and warm.

Bob and Deb

Down In Dixie

 When St. George was founded 150 years ago-on January 17-it became a magnet for folks tired of the snow and cold of Salt Lake City and points north.   In fact, it was Brigham Young's winter home.   The climate is so mild here that the people discovered they could grow many crops that were grown in the southern United States.   It got the nickname "Dixie" because of it.   As you can see,  it is still called Dixie by many of the locals.   The word Dixie is a part of many streets, businesses, and schools. 

We headed out on this beautiful day to do some hiking .   The trail we took is another that is literally on the edge of the city.   But if you just look the right direction, you would think you are in the middle of nowhere!    In the distance beyond Bob, you can see the mammoth rock formations of Zion National Park which is about 30 miles east of St. George.

 As is the case everywhere you go, there is the red rock and the evidence of millions of years of erosion on the rocks.   It surely makes for such interesting structures!  These last pictures are taken right in a city park called Pioneer Park.   It is sort of a "make your own trail" affair here.   People were climbing up, around, over and on all these rocks and ridges.

 If you look carefully behind me you can see the city of St. George and the ever-present temple in the center.   The view is to the south, so beyond the city you can see Arizona and points south.   It was once again in the 60's and we were pretty warm by the time we finished our hike.  

 We are looking forward to the end of the month when our grandkids will be down to visit us for a while.   Scott and Sam will come get them and spend a few days here as well.


Hope everyone following along is doing well.   We know it is still snowy and cold in Wisconsin so we send you some virtual warmth and sunshine.

It's wine and Old Fashioned time and then grilled salmon for supper.


Hugs to All,

Bob and Deb

Beautiful Zion and Bastketball Too!

Looking at Zion from afar

 Thursday dawned clear and the forecast was for another 60 degree day, so we made a plan to head toward Zion National Park.   There was a remote road that we talked about exploring last year and just didn't get to do it.   Well, today was the day.   Headed out from the little town of Rockville, which is just outside Zion park itself.   The road became gravel (actually more like hardened red clay) very soon and it's a good thing we were the only ones on it.   The scenery was very neat, especially the view that Bob is taking back down toward Zion .    For those of you who have been here, the canyon at Zion is such a massive place that it is difficult to get far enough away from anything to get a good picture.   Neat for us to see it from a different perspective.

We drove for about 45 minutes and made it a whopping 8 miles!   Turned ourselves around and headed back down into the valley.   The two pictures above show the road and our route back down. 

We then headed into the park itself.   We stopped for our picnic lunch just outside the Zion Lodge.    Such a beautiful setting on another gorgeous day.  

After lunch we took a hike up out of the canyon floor to an area called The Emerald Pools.   There are three of the pools which are formed by water and snow melt coming down from the mountains into the Virgin River valley.    Bob is standing near the middle pool and it was so cool to see the mountains reflected perfectly in the water!

The last picture shows Bob on the footbridge crossing over the Virgin River as we headed back to our car.   Zion really is quite an amazing national park.   It is such a gift for us to be within an hour's drive from our condo to get there.     

We had already decided that we wanted to drive a bit from this area toward the eastern entrance to the park.   There are miles of switchbacks and two long, dark tunnels right through the mountains.  

It was another neat day here in Southern Utah!   

It was also a neat day back in Green Bay for our granddaughter, Emily.   Her 5th grade basketball team won its first game!    Bob had helped our daughter coach the team and left it in her capable hands (along with help from our son-in-law, Mark).    Hard for Coach Grandpa to leave just when the season was just getting started.  

That's Emily just behind the girl dribbling the ball.   They aren't supposed to keep score, but her brother Evan did, and reported she got five baskets!   Not too shabby to get 10 points when the whole team only scored 24.   She was pretty nervous about all of it when we left, but obviously it didn't keep her from playing a good game.    Way to go, Emily!



Toodles to Everyone.

Bob and Deb

Fun in the Sun

Decided to take our first hike today.   This series of trails is literally on the edge of the city.   For those of you who have visited us, it is not far from Snow Canyon.   Bob is looking back down on a residential area on the northwest edge of the city.   It just kept getting warmer as we hiked and by the time we got done with our 3 miles, we had peeled off layers down to our t shirts!  

The picture below is also from the hike.   It is really one of the first official "arches." we have seen other than in Arches National Park.  Not big, but pretty.

After we finished hiking, we were not far from one of the places Bob has golfed.    We headed there and sure enough, he could get on the course right away.   He golfed, I shopped, and then we returned to the condo for afternoon refreshments in the warm Utah sunshine.   The little table is right outside our condo door.  Life just doesn't get too much better than this!

We are feeling especially giddy right now as we just heard from our daughter, Jen, that there are near blizzard conditions in Green Bay and they are predicting 6-10" of new snow.   Yahoo for us!

Hugs to Everyone.
Deb

The Journey and the Destination

 Greetings to Everyone from sunny St. George, Utah.   We left Green Bay at 4 AM  on Friday, January 10.   The temps had been been below zero for days.   To say that we were anxious to get on our way would be an understatement!   Our first day of driving-all 14 hours of it-was dreary, foggy, and rainy.   Nothing terrible and actually ok for driving except for a short stretch in western Wisconsin and into Iowa that was pretty foggy.   We were making such good time, and the sun came out later in the afternoon as we headed across Nebraska.  Guess it inspired us to keep on trucking because it became clear we could make it to North Platte, Nebraska by 6:00.   The good thing about it is that we knew that we could then make it to Scott and Sam's easily by Saturday afternoon.   Except for the usual 70 MPH winds across Wyoming, the trip on Saturday was sunny, dry and warm by our standards with temps in the mid 40's.   We arrived at Scott's right around 5:30.   So good to see them all.   They had a nice fire and some good wine to greet us.   We settled in for the night there and all of us woke to howling winds during the night with snow pounding against the windows.   It didn't look that bad when we got up in the morning, but when we finally got out of our jammies and the guys went to check things out, they reported more snow than they expected and most of all some pretty deep drifts.   Scott decided to take his truck and drive down their driveway and out onto the long gravel road that leads from their property to the main highway.   We were all watching out the window as he tried to blaze a trail.    He made it about a quarter mile and then it was obvious he was stuck.   Well, he decided he was going to need to try and plow the road for us to try and get out, and also to pull out his truck.   The vehicle for the job was across the main highway and on up to their property where the cows are pastured-about 4 miles via the road.    As we sat and tried to figure out what he would do, we saw him start walking.   Only he was not walking back toward us, he was striking out through the hay fields that line the road aiming for their machine shop via the "cross country route"!    We watched as he became just a speck trudging through the fields.   It probably took him 30 minutes to get to the shop.   We continued watching as he got in a farm truck and drove over to the ranch.   About 45 minutes later we could see the small speck heading toward us that was the plow.     It took him a long time to make it back up to where his truck was stuck.   By this time Sam had headed out in her car to help with the whole process.   Unbelievable.   Between the two of them, they plowed the road, pulled his truck out of the snow drift-twice, moved our car all the way down the road to near the main highway so we would have an easy time getting out, and gotten both of their vehicles back up to the house.   It was like watching a movie!  We left there about 3 o'clock.   We are continually amazed at how they just roll with the punches and deal with whatever comes their way.   Their lives are so demanding.   They are like pioneers out there!

Our drive down to St. George was much less eventful and we arrived about 6.   We are staying in the very same condo as last year and it just felt like home when we walked in the door.   We had taken quite a bit of food, but nothing fresh, so our gourmet supper ended up being pancakes and wine!   Monday dawned beautifully sunny and as you can see in the picture of Bob and the right, got to about 55 by the afternoon.   We went for a long walk in just our sweatshirts.   We just keep smiling and smiling.  

The weather forecast is for temps around 60-62 for the next three days.   Of course, Bob is itching to break out the golf clubs, and we both are eager to explore more of this beautiful area.   That is our plan for tomorrow.

Hope all of you back in Wisconsin have warmed a bit.   Special shout out to Greg and Vanessa.   They will be pretty darned excited themselves today as they leave tomorrow heading for their beloved Puerto Rico.    They will REALLY be warm.

Hugs to you all.

Bob and Debbie