National Parks

In the past week we've been in  Capitol Reef National Park, Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon.  Rain has been following us wherever we go, but luckily our hikes all ended just before a downpour began.  And, it's given Garvin plenty of time to peruse EVERY souvenir shop in each park.

The only damp part was the tipi outside of Bryce Canyon.  Hotels and campgrounds have been full, or nearly so, everywhere we've gone.  Our options at Bryce were to sleep in our tent, or go for a tipi.  At 7:00 on the first night there we were hungry, all the places we'd checked were full, and it was threatening rain; the tipi sounded better than setting up the tent.  Craig rigged a small lean-to inside the tipi with a tarp, so any rain coming in from the top would avoid us.  The tarp worked well, but couldn't overcome the holes in the side of the tipi.  At 8:30 the next night we were in the laundromat of the campground drying one of the sleeping bags.  But, it was easily fixed and all was well.

During our hike to a natural bridge in Capitol Reef National Park, Garvin wanted to pretend we were different nationalities when other hikers came towards us, so he said, "Mommy, pretend you're French and say bonjour." I laughed and asked him what we'd do if the people were French; he thought that was pretty funny.  When the next couple passed, the man turned to me and said "Allo."  We couldn't believe it.  Garvin said "Try German" -- guess the nationality of the next people who passed!  Then he said, "Try Chinese," and laughed saying, "Probably no one would believe we were Chinese, would they?"  The next two couples who passed us were Asian, though I don't know what nationalities. We gave up the game.

From Capitol Reef we headed south to Zion National Park. It's a stunning place -- Craig says he has no memory of our trip here almost 20 years ago. I know for a fact that we attempted some of The Narrows hike, which takes you through the Virgin River in a narrow canyon.  However, I don't have any memory of driving through the park.

We were thwarted in hiking the Narrows this time due to rain. There was a brief shower, but it was enough to cause a small flash flood on the road, a raging waterfall out the side of a cliff, and raise the water level in the Narrows by almost 200 cubic feet per second. We opted to pass and try again next year. We still enjoyed several great hikes, a ranger talk on park predators (did you know there's a wasp whose sole purpose is to seek out tarantulas, kill them and lay one egg in their abdomen?) We also had a celebrity sighting.  Billy Zane sat down at the table next to us for breakfast.  Remember him?  We don't know if he was with his wife and baby daughter, his sister and niece . . . We've been meaning to Google him, but haven't gotten around to it.  He was very pleasant.  We didn't let on we knew who he was, much to Garvin's dismay.

We head to Vegas today.  Garvin can hardly stand it.  Photos to come, I promise!