So we woke up early, 9am our time, 7am Las Vegas time! and fed the kids McDonalds breakfasts as the rumors about cheap buffets weren't substantiated in our experience, while George and I drank our protein vitamin shakes. Then we headed northeast towards the Utah border and
Zion National Park, which Father Stephen had so compellingly recommended. The geology was very diverse along the way varying from sand dunes to dramatically erupting dark stone edifices and chasms to striated sedimentary sandstone cut outs. But those scenes are on video, so I'll try posting them later. Here's some from Zion though.
It's frustrating that you can't get a sense of the immensity of the mountains through the photographs. They just trigger a memory of how overwhelmed I felt but now can't convey. It was a beautifully cool noontime as we drove through the park eating our sandwiches we made in the rental van after stopping at a grocery store. I already showed you a window in the 1.1 mile tunnel that Father Stephen had told me about. The switchback drive up the mountain to get to the entrance was gorgeous.
Here's a lady rock climbing near the entrance. That is really zoomed in as she was hard to spot on the cliff above us.
The terrain was different on the other side of the tunnel with neatly stacked layers of rock rather than eroded ones. When I get to heaven I would like to see a time lapsed movie of how the earth was formed, and the whole universe for that matter.
Then after all that drama, there was virtual flatness until we got closer to the Grand Canyon's north rim. tbc
[this is good] I'm glad we visited Mt. Zion Nat'l Park, even to the detriment of additional time at the Grand Canyon. It's hard to put a finger on what it was about the park at Mt. Zion - a cozy-ness even amidst it's immensity.
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