An amazing day today. Amazing for a few reasons:
1. I took the wheel of the car and drove all day and only once went to turn on to the wrong side and that was at the end of the day when I was tired. Norjie is very good but not without her anxiety, indicated not so much by what she said as by the sharp intakes of breath every now and again when she thought I was too close the the edge of a steep cliff. The road was very winding ( how do you spell that?) with a long and very dark tunnel but the roads are in very good nick.
2. ZION: Its hard to describe and even harder to capture with just an iphone. It is majestic, towering, ancient and generally breathtaking. What else can you say. The downside…SO many people, so many ( 5 million in 2024). When we got to the Visitor Centre where the Shuttle Bus leaves from there wasn’t even the hint of a park and there were cars lining the road and pulled into every nook and cranny. To quickly explain, there are two roads through the park. One of the drives is by shuttle bus only and the other you can self-drive, through an amazingly engineered tunnel and under extraordinary and massive rock faces and cliffs. So we decided that the shuttle option should wait and we set off on the self drive option. Round and round we twisted and turned surrounded by sheer rock faces. Through the park and out the other side, to UTurn and head back.
By the time we got back to the Shuttle Point people were starting to leave and we found ourselves a park without too much trouble (I wanted to fight someone for a park but Americans are eerily polite and Norjie made me behave myself, at home I would have had that fucking park).
We got on the Shuttle and shuttled through more amazing country surrounded by these majestic cliffs. We went to the end and then walked along the Virgin River. We found a quiet log to sit on and watch the world go by, then we turned around to get the Shuttle back. There are points all along the Shuttle Bus ride where people get off and embark on very adventurous walks to the top of mountains (Angels Peak e.g.) but no longer for us. Norjie is very much keeping to my pace…I’m not quite sure if she’s just being kind or if she is really enjoying the pace.
Its funny to watch Americans. They are cheerful and loud and all embracing. They get on the bus and start chatting to everyone. They ask permission to sit next to you and always step back for an old lady with a stick!!
3. Our day accomplished we needed to buy some supplies for brekky and for lunches and my need for wine. We went to the supermarket and ,despite having a massive beer fridge, they didn’t sell wine. The kind woman in the s/market was very sympathetic and told us where the wine store was (called DABs). She made it sound so easy but in fact we had to drive miles and miles, way out of town, to find it. It felt like those alcohol free countries where the alcohol is there but hidden. In this case it was a 25 MILE round trip and when we got there there was a big sign telling us to beware of venomous snakes…I kid you not.
Having got there I bought 6 bottles of Californian Pinot…not wanting to have to go back there. I was of course ‘carded’. i’m getting used to it!!
Fun fact: one of the towns we went through, Virgin, passed a law stipulating that everyone HAD to own a gun. This is the country that never stops giving!!
4. Along the way we heard that Bryce Canyon (our next stop) is surrounded by bush fires. You can see the smoke in the air and the haze is everywhere. Hope that it won’t cramp our style too much. There is a ridiculously strong wind afoot at the moment and we all know what strong winds and hot, hot days are like for fires, so fingers crossed.
Now to eat our supplies and drink the newly purchased wine. Then plan for tomorrows adventures.