Bear and I finished our Parent Teacher Conferences on Mar. 4th, 2010, and headed for Zion to relax. We left Sandy, Utah with 4" of snow that had fallen that night. The prediction for St. George was stormy and cool, but the weekend was fabulous! We saw snow, but it was sunny and it reached 60 degrees...better than 100, and it wasn't crowded at all!
Bear is 62 now, so we got the Golden Age passport for $10.00! The ranger said that we would see a lot of snow on the Zion Mount Carmel Highway. Here is Checkerboard Mesa.
We should have brought our snowshoes.
We were comfortable without a jacket.
We went on a quest to find the formation depicted on the Zion centennial stamp 2009. This site was close, but we couldn't find it. Apparently, no one knows where it is. All the rangers that we talked to, said that it was the mystery picture. Isn't it a shame that they couldn't choose one of the many recognizable places in Zion? Look up the stamp on Google. It's a sad little picture.
We did a little rock climbing, and explored places that we hadn't been to before.
We drove through the tunnel and I got this shot out of the tunnel window.
We were amazed that our new GPS system would work in the Zion tunnel! It was cool to be able to see which way the road would turn. This shot was approaching the double windows.
I love how the trees can sprout out of obscure slanted cracks. This tree was at the ranger station at the opening of the tunnel. He told us that there was a family of Desert Bighorn Sheep close by.
It is so rare to see these sheep. There were 3 young and two adults.
This was the first time that we had ever seen a Bighorn sheep in Zion. They were nearby the road to the tunnel and they let us get so close. One lamb scampered up the mountain. It was amazing to see them.
We had a great time hiking around this incredible bridge by pine creek.
Here is another bridge that we all know and love so well.
A kind tourist from Canada took our picture on this moss covered rock on the Emerald Pool trail.
This formation above the trail looked a bit like the bear claw that Bear draws on all of his golf balls.
Emerald Pool's waterfalls were very active that day. I remember crouching under this cliff during a flash flood in '68 when trees were thrusted over into the pools. I'll never forget that.
The sun was glistening through the waterfall to create a sparkling shower. There were waterfalls all over the canyon with the recent snow and rain storms.
There were several waterfalls down by the Temple of Sinawava behind the Pulpit.
Notice the snow on the peaks behind the cabins at the lodge.
Bear loves this tree. It was interesting to see it without leaves.
It smelled like spring, with the grass greening up, and the buds on the trees.
It was pleasant on the deck of the lodge.
Bear and I had a delicious lunch from the dining room at the lodge. The fire alarm went on while we were eating, because the cooks burned something in the kitchen. Bear never did that. He got hired in '66 right after the big fire that burned the lodge to the ground. He helped clean some blackened bathroom fixtures and got promoted from kitchen help to fry cook before the lodge opened that year.
There was this poster in the lobby of the cabin restorations. They are trying to make them look like the cabins when Union Pacific owned the park. (only nicer) I heard the desk clerk tell a dude that a cabin was $99.00 including breakfast in this off season. Next time Bear and I will have to stay in a cabin.
We had such an enjoyable time. It brought back such great memories of our reunion back in October '09. The only thing missing was you.... We hope to see you again soon.
