Three Hours Later

After driving through a deluge, we arrived at our hotel in Springdale, Utah – Desert Pearl Inn.  It was a fantastic place.  Our room faced the Virgin River and a fantastic view of the canyon walls of Zion Canyon.  We were dead tired and fell into the bed, dreaming of the weatherman’s promise of a sunny, 55* day for hiking.

We woke to the knowledge that the weatherman could not have been more wrong!  There was about 3” of snow on the ground and more was coming down.  And the temps were hovering in the 30s.

But we decided that snow was better than rain and left in search of food.  Since it was the off-season, our options were limited so we chose one of the two places that the lady at the desk recommended for breakfast – Oscar’s Cafe.

She was right.  It was really good.  Vol Fan and his brother, Harley Rider, thoroughly enjoyed the huevos rancheros while Woody enjoyed her usual vacation breakfast of pancakes and bacon.  I can’t remember what Vol Fan’s mom had – only so much room in this brain o’ mine.

After breakfast, we headed to Zion National Park.  Even though it was overcast and spitting snow, we were blown away by the beauty.  It was decided then and there that we will return.  Our next trip will be during the warmer months:)

We drove very slowly up the canyon.  Vol Fan learned long ago that Woody speaks in code.  When she says, “That is beautiful” or “Wow. look at that!”, it means “Pull over so I can take a picture.”  So we did a lot of stopping along the way.
We also did several short hikes.  This photo is from the Court of the Patriarchs viewpoint.  I think they are standing in front of Jacob.  Abraham and Isaac are to their right.





Our next stop was Weeping Rock.  Thanks to the recent rain, the waterfall was flowing.  I enjoyed sitting on the shoulder of my best friend and admiring the view. 

We also hiked up to the alcove behind the falls.  The ice and snow was very slippery and I had a little mishap.  Thankfully I land a  little more gracefully than Woody and nothing was seriously injured.

As we ventured further and further into the canyon, the walls got steeper and the canyon got narrower.  It is a place that almost demands quiet so you can soak in the beauty.

We walked along the river in The Temple of Sinawava which is otherwise known as The Gateway to the Narrows.  The Narrows is one of the hikes that we are planning for our return trip.  But it must be warm since the majority of the hike is in the river!

After that hike, we were cold, wet, and hungry.  So we returned to the inn to change clothes and socks and shoes.  We chose Switchback Jacks for lunch.  It was a casual place that had a friendly vibe.  We chose a fireside table and thoroughly enjoyed our lunch of burgers and quesadillas and margaritas.

We took off back toward the interstate to visit Zion Harley-Davidson so Harley Rider could get a t-shirt.  Smart people would have called to see if they were open before driving for 30 miles.  No one ever called us smart. However, we enjoyed the scenic drive.

We still had several hours of daylight so we headed to Grafton, Utah.  Grafton is a ghost town and it was used in the film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  The local people had done a lot of work to keep the buildings from crumbling in on themselves so it didn’t seem much like a ghost town.  More like a town where everyone was gone on vacation and were expected back shortly.  But it still was an adventure to enjoy.

Next, we headed back to town to visit some of the shops while killing time before dinner.  We chose Zion Pizza and Noodle for dinner.  Woody claims that the pizza was very good, making it into her 10 Ten Pizza Joint list.  She is a little weird, eating only cheese on her pizza.  She claims that you cannot improve on perfection.

After filling our bellies, we headed back to Desert Pearl Inn for a good night of rest.