3000 miles
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 12:26 am
Hi there folks,
I want to jot this down before it gets blurry in my mind. By the time I get home I will have driven 3000 miles.
I had a really nice trip with my mom to visit her brother. At least that was the main reason for the journey. She wanted to fly, but cannot really travel alone anymore. I do not like to fly in jets...(give me a prop plane ) It is an arduous journey to an airport from moms house anyway, so I said …"let me drive you!" She liked the idea and we might have a chance to camp too! She likes to get into the woods to "clear the cobwebs of her soul." Me as well!
Her (little) brother is in very poor health and it is just a matter of time before he takes his journey. Moms sister was to be vacationing just a few hundred miles away during this time so we made plans for us all to meet at little brothers house last Friday.
CENTRAL COAST CA. TO MESQUITE NV., St GEORGE UT. & ZION NATIONAL PARK
I had just bought the new (used) Subaru Outback and was ready to break it in. I drove from my house in the San Fernando Valley to moms in the Central Coast to pick her up. So we took off the Monday before last.
Away on the looooong trip through the desert!
Our first stop was Primm Nevada where we had lunch in a casino, kinda late 2p.m. ) Then back on the road we went through Las Vegas where the traffic was horrible and the temp was 110, good test for the cars AC to be sure. That slowed us down quite a bit and finally made Mesquite NV at about 7pm, I think we drove for 9 hours, that was to be the longest stretch in the trip. We stayed at a Casino Resort but didn't even step foot in the casino...way too tired. A quick dip in the pool and we ate out of the Ice chest crackers and cheese. The next a.m. we had the rank complementary coffee in the room, ate an apple and hit the road to make Saint George Utah in just a couple hours. Stopping in at the visitor center we picked up a bunch of maps and went to the Mormon Temple there in town to marvel at the interesting architecture and listen to a couple docents spout off about the place. Then we lunched in a park (where I had slept 40 years prior when hitchhiking to Michigan!) the place really hadn't changed much except there was WAY more town.
After feeding the birds and ourselves it was back on the road, our goal this day was the Zion Lodge within the park. https://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm
We had made reservations, it's the only way one can drive into the park these days. They have a bus/tram system for all other travelers. We had such a beautiful view from our room of the canyon. We could also see the main Lodge and the huge grass lawn out front was covered with people in the day and deer at dusk and that night. Supper at the Lodge was interesting I had a bean cake and local brew, mom had Indian taco. We watched the deer take over as the people slowly left. After dinner we took the bus up the canyon to the end. After mom found a resting place, I hiked in a bit and was able to make a connection with the land. Such a beautiful and scared place. One could see all manner of faces and images in the red rocks. Hummingbirds flitted about and the gurgle of the creek was mesmerizing. I could envision the native peoples having a grand summer evening by the creek. Took lots of pictures then headed back to the tram. The sun was dusking as we traveled down the curvy road. Saw turkeys and deer and people hiking back out of the park. When we got back to the lodge, I told mom I was going to take a quick hike up a trail we only made part way earlier in the day. It was to the Emerald Pools.
The sun was seriously setting and I had little time to trot up there to get a pic. She worried, gave me her cell phone, then said she would call the ranger if didn't return by 10. I had to laugh I'll be ok I told her, I'll use my Druid eyes, and brought a flashlight but didn't use it. I managed to get some pretty good shots of this grotto kind of area, and I could see this would be the place to be when it was topping out in the high 90's and low 100's in the day. It was pleasant and cool by now and the water misted coming off the falls. I sat and meditated, was visited by a bird I did not recognize, and who would not sit still enough for a picture so he is still a mystery, though I felt him to be a type of flycatcher. Always on the move bird... I chuckled and thought I had better get on the move as my flashlight didn't exactly have reliable batteries. I was making my way back when I notice golden columbine growing out of the rocks. Took some pics with the flash and without, just gorgeous. Right then a couple showed up on their way down the trail so we hiked together on the way back. Around one corner was startled by a deer standing right near the trail, we communicated for a bit but had to rush off, I wanted to stay with the couple for safety sake. By now it was dark.
When I got back Mom was asleep so I went to visit the deer on the lawn. As I sat on the bench piano music began to fill the air, I could see a young man with long hair playing a piano inside the conference room adjoining the lodge. There was no one else around. I enjoyed the tinkling of ivories an attempted to take night photos of the deer. Most of them did not come out very well. I strolled around the complex some and in returning to the room ran into the man playing the piano. We sat and talked some, he was a theology major and his assignment was doing some kind of final in the parks leading Sunday services. He was practicing the songs for the service. A very nice and interesting young man, I thought I might tell him I was a witch but then decided against it. We parted and I headed to the room, I was exhausted.
In the am we ate on our balcony some goodies out of the ice chest and watched the sun grow across the massive red rocks. We plotted our next stop which was Bryce canyon, we hoped to camp there. After loading the junk in the car I swung by the gift store for souvenirs, and ran into the theological student running the cash register there... Hello again! he greeted me, frankly I was surprised he could recognize me, after all it was pretty dark the night before. It made me feel good and I recalled all the people that said hello on the trails. It's the thing that I love and it always gets me when I travel or camp, people say hi..and it's ok!
More on Bryce tomorrow...and pics!
BB, Firebird
I want to jot this down before it gets blurry in my mind. By the time I get home I will have driven 3000 miles.
I had a really nice trip with my mom to visit her brother. At least that was the main reason for the journey. She wanted to fly, but cannot really travel alone anymore. I do not like to fly in jets...(give me a prop plane ) It is an arduous journey to an airport from moms house anyway, so I said …"let me drive you!" She liked the idea and we might have a chance to camp too! She likes to get into the woods to "clear the cobwebs of her soul." Me as well!
Her (little) brother is in very poor health and it is just a matter of time before he takes his journey. Moms sister was to be vacationing just a few hundred miles away during this time so we made plans for us all to meet at little brothers house last Friday.
CENTRAL COAST CA. TO MESQUITE NV., St GEORGE UT. & ZION NATIONAL PARK
I had just bought the new (used) Subaru Outback and was ready to break it in. I drove from my house in the San Fernando Valley to moms in the Central Coast to pick her up. So we took off the Monday before last.
Away on the looooong trip through the desert!
Our first stop was Primm Nevada where we had lunch in a casino, kinda late 2p.m. ) Then back on the road we went through Las Vegas where the traffic was horrible and the temp was 110, good test for the cars AC to be sure. That slowed us down quite a bit and finally made Mesquite NV at about 7pm, I think we drove for 9 hours, that was to be the longest stretch in the trip. We stayed at a Casino Resort but didn't even step foot in the casino...way too tired. A quick dip in the pool and we ate out of the Ice chest crackers and cheese. The next a.m. we had the rank complementary coffee in the room, ate an apple and hit the road to make Saint George Utah in just a couple hours. Stopping in at the visitor center we picked up a bunch of maps and went to the Mormon Temple there in town to marvel at the interesting architecture and listen to a couple docents spout off about the place. Then we lunched in a park (where I had slept 40 years prior when hitchhiking to Michigan!) the place really hadn't changed much except there was WAY more town.
After feeding the birds and ourselves it was back on the road, our goal this day was the Zion Lodge within the park. https://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm
We had made reservations, it's the only way one can drive into the park these days. They have a bus/tram system for all other travelers. We had such a beautiful view from our room of the canyon. We could also see the main Lodge and the huge grass lawn out front was covered with people in the day and deer at dusk and that night. Supper at the Lodge was interesting I had a bean cake and local brew, mom had Indian taco. We watched the deer take over as the people slowly left. After dinner we took the bus up the canyon to the end. After mom found a resting place, I hiked in a bit and was able to make a connection with the land. Such a beautiful and scared place. One could see all manner of faces and images in the red rocks. Hummingbirds flitted about and the gurgle of the creek was mesmerizing. I could envision the native peoples having a grand summer evening by the creek. Took lots of pictures then headed back to the tram. The sun was dusking as we traveled down the curvy road. Saw turkeys and deer and people hiking back out of the park. When we got back to the lodge, I told mom I was going to take a quick hike up a trail we only made part way earlier in the day. It was to the Emerald Pools.
The sun was seriously setting and I had little time to trot up there to get a pic. She worried, gave me her cell phone, then said she would call the ranger if didn't return by 10. I had to laugh I'll be ok I told her, I'll use my Druid eyes, and brought a flashlight but didn't use it. I managed to get some pretty good shots of this grotto kind of area, and I could see this would be the place to be when it was topping out in the high 90's and low 100's in the day. It was pleasant and cool by now and the water misted coming off the falls. I sat and meditated, was visited by a bird I did not recognize, and who would not sit still enough for a picture so he is still a mystery, though I felt him to be a type of flycatcher. Always on the move bird... I chuckled and thought I had better get on the move as my flashlight didn't exactly have reliable batteries. I was making my way back when I notice golden columbine growing out of the rocks. Took some pics with the flash and without, just gorgeous. Right then a couple showed up on their way down the trail so we hiked together on the way back. Around one corner was startled by a deer standing right near the trail, we communicated for a bit but had to rush off, I wanted to stay with the couple for safety sake. By now it was dark.
When I got back Mom was asleep so I went to visit the deer on the lawn. As I sat on the bench piano music began to fill the air, I could see a young man with long hair playing a piano inside the conference room adjoining the lodge. There was no one else around. I enjoyed the tinkling of ivories an attempted to take night photos of the deer. Most of them did not come out very well. I strolled around the complex some and in returning to the room ran into the man playing the piano. We sat and talked some, he was a theology major and his assignment was doing some kind of final in the parks leading Sunday services. He was practicing the songs for the service. A very nice and interesting young man, I thought I might tell him I was a witch but then decided against it. We parted and I headed to the room, I was exhausted.
In the am we ate on our balcony some goodies out of the ice chest and watched the sun grow across the massive red rocks. We plotted our next stop which was Bryce canyon, we hoped to camp there. After loading the junk in the car I swung by the gift store for souvenirs, and ran into the theological student running the cash register there... Hello again! he greeted me, frankly I was surprised he could recognize me, after all it was pretty dark the night before. It made me feel good and I recalled all the people that said hello on the trails. It's the thing that I love and it always gets me when I travel or camp, people say hi..and it's ok!
More on Bryce tomorrow...and pics!
BB, Firebird