sueandstevestravels

Day 11:

ZION NATIONAL PARK:
This 47,000 acre park was established as a national park in 1919.
The Geology:
Rock layers and monoliths at Zion were formed by sediments of sand dunes and oceans deposited between 50 and 200 million years ago.
The People:
Zion's first residents tracked mammoths and camels but these animals died out about 8,000 years ago. Over the next 1500 years a community of farmers called Ancestral Puebloans evolved. They grew corn and squash, and stored the surplus crops in granaries. They lived here till about 1300 A.D. From then till the 1850s the Southern Paiute Indians lived and farmed here.
The first white settlers were Mormons sent from Salt Lake City in the 1850s and 1860s to grow cotton in the warmer climate. They called the area Zion (the Promised Land) and were so inspired by its natural beauty they gave exalted names to what they saw, e.g. Angels Landing, Great White Throne, Altar of Sacrifice.

Carmel Junction:
First stop of the morning, and totally unremarkable EXCEPT for the mural on what would otherwise have been about the most boring wall in the US.

Bison

We were lucky enough to see this herd of bison feeding by the road.

Checkerboard Mesa:
There is no other example of this rock formation in the world.

Once we arrived at the Park we had about 5 hours before our rooms were available, plenty of time to walk 3 of the park Trails.

Riverside walk:

2. Weeping Rock trail:

As we began to walk this Trail this sign seemed all-too-true.

3. Lower Emerald Pool:

We saw several Deer.

When we got there we thought it a little disappointing

At least the views of the Virgin River from the trail were spectacular

Day 10:
Bags at 7, bus leaves at 8.
As usual, some fun activities on the bus to get us started:

Chiefs and Squaws: couples had to decide who was chief and who squaw, and then announce to everyone how they could best be named. Sue chose 'Chief Weak Bladder' for Steve, but he wasn't so brave and could only come up with 'Squaw Teacher'!
Kent and Kestina's 25th Wedding anniversary: Today was 'the day' so Kent had to go up front and tell us all how they met......in a retirement home (they were both working there, not residents!).

UTAH:

Today was the first day we'd been driving in the State of Utah, so some facts.

got statehood in 1896, and was 45th state
operates on 'Utah Time', an hour ahead of Pacific Time.
population made up of Ute Indians and Latter Day Saints (LDSs), otherwise known as Mormons.

they don't like to be called 'Mormons' any more because of the stigma (!)
polygamy was an intrinsic part of early Mormonism and Brigham Young, an early leader, had 52 wives!
polygamy was outlawed in the 1890s as it was causing the Mormons to be seen as immoral

you might find it interesting to see how British and American media portray the LDSs

www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/
http://abcnews..go.com/US/mormons-/story?id=17057679

Billie came up to the front of the bus and told about her family who in the late 19th century set up the Reformed Church of Latter Day Saints after falling out with Brigham Young.
Rich, who works as a tour guide in Sacramento, also came up and told us about Samuel Brannan, a prominent late 19th century Mormon who lived in Sacramento who also fell out with the church:

www.historynet.com/latter-day-scoundrel-sam-brannan.htm

All FASCINATING stuff with Romney running for the President. His Mormonism has been the 'Elephant in the Room' throughout his campaign so far.

A taste of what was to come.

ZANAB:

At 5000 feet above sea level, Zanab is dubbed 'The Western Hollywood' with over 100 cowboy films and TV series having been filmed here.

We stopped at Denny's Wigwam for the Rest Rooms (as usual), shopping and a chance to look at the mock film-set in the back. This was an amazing display of cowboy-ism.

Inside was no less interesting.

'John Wayne' didn't look too healthy

There was no shortage of things to buy....or just look at...................

...........unlike the neighbouring shop which was evidence of America's economic problems.

Later that evening, after our trip to Bryce, a number of us returned to Denny's for a BBQ meal ( on Claudia's recommendation, we had the baby ribs, which fell off the bone) to the accompaniment of a cowboy singer. Great stuff!

BRYCE CANYON:
Bryce Canyon is famed for its unique geology of red rock spires and horse-shoe shaped amphitheatres, but amazingly surprisingly few Americans even know about it.

The Geology:
There's more than 60 million years of geology here. The Clarion formation has been deposited, uplifted and eroded by ice, snowmelt, thunderstorms and the roots of trees and plants. Hoodoos and amphitheatres of colourful temples, domes and spires were left standing as billions of tons of ground rock moved out of Bryce Canyon and into the Colorado River.
The People:
For centuries, bands of Southern Paiute Indians hunted and fished on the plateau top while they lived in the warmer valley below. Their life style meant that they left few artifacts for us to see today, but we know that they believed that the colourful rock hoodoos were 'Legend People', animals and birds that had been turned into stone.
In 1875 Ebenezer Bryce (a Scottish Mormon immigrant and millwright) was one of the first modern settlers. He ran cattle in the area, gave the canyon its name, and made the famous remark about the canyon: 'It's a hell of a place to lose a cow'.

Our first sight of the hoodoos was breathtaking. No advance reading of guide books can prepare you for it!

The Navajo Trail:
Becky had suggested different ways we might like to spend our time here, depending on how energetic we felt and how fit we were.
We opted to go with her and others on the 1.3 mile Navajo Trail to the bottom of the Canyon. It took us 2 hours to walk it, and footing on the descent was hairy at times, but it was so worthwhile.