Evenin', Campers!
It's Silver Cliche' back with you tonight after taking the night off
yesterday. We didn't have many tales of the road to share since we
were laying low yesterday, so I think of it as sparing you the
challenge of rummaging through a few pages asking “Ok… but what
did they actually see and do today?”.
So with 24 hours and
100-and-something more miles behind us maybe I have enough to share
tonight. And tonight we've moved on to Bryce Canyon National Park
where we are safely and snugly tucked into North Campground. We have
not yet toured this park (we have tomorrow set aside for that) so
I'll catch you up on the end of Zion and the trip here.
First a recap of the
trip to Springdale, Utah yesterday. Springdale is a picture-postcard
little town that sits just outside the south entrance to Zion
National Park. It includes restaurants, outfitter/guide services
(remember, Zion has 4,000 foot tall sandstone cliffs and it is a magnet
for rock climbers), shops of all descriptions catering to the gift
buying public and hotels… lots and lots of hotels… most of which
are built on a pattern that looks like the set for "Bonanza". If you're
under the age of 50 you probably don't know that before Michael
Landon raised all those cute kids on the prairie he was the little
brother hanging out with a group of manly men on a place called the
Ponderosa Ranch. Kind of like Monty Python's “I'm a Lumberjack”
sketch but it went on once a week for an hour on TV for 20 years or
something. Anyhow, Springdale was our destination yesterday which was
easy since it was a 10 minute walk from our camping spot to the
shuttle bus that drives back and forth 3 miles along the main
street (check that… the only street) in Springdale. So we turned to
TripAdvisor once again who suggested that our specific dining
interests would be met at a place called Oscar's Cafe. We went. It
was perfect weather to sit outdoors and we ordered chips, salsa and
guacamole. While we perused the menu (mostly Mexican), the lunch
arrived at the table next to us. The people laughed at the size of
their meals. “You don't expect us to eat all that, do you?” they
said. Mrs. C' looked, listened and said “I'm just going to have the
chips, salsa and guac and a bite of whatever you order”. I wasn't
scared... or wise. I ordered the steak chimichanga. Here's what that
looked like:
(Note: Mrs. C's chips, salsa and guac with empty plate in the top of the pic)
After that we had a
slice of Oscar's Famous Carrot Cake. Although they called it a
“slice” it looks like what our local grocery store sells in their
bakery as “dessert for four”. Here, let me show you:
Setting aside the
quips about the huge portions, Mrs. C' and I both agreed that the
guacamole was probably… no… absolutely the best we have ever had.
The carrot cake was still warm and extremely moist. The cream cheese
icing was softened by the warm cake. If it wasn't the best carrot
cake I've ever had it was in the top three. I better stop writing
about Oscar's. At present we are sealed in the trailer to protect
against the impending cold. I'm feeling like a Klondike miner with a
bin full of spuds in the corner reminiscing about lunch in the Palm
Court of the Plaza Hotel in New York before heading to the frozen
north to seek his fortune. If you're in Springdale go to Oscar's.
Skip the entree and just have the guac and carrot cake. I think that
covers most of the essential food groups anyway.
So, Zion… Zion.
After lunch, Mrs. C' got a chance to focus on her specialty (Oscar's
having been in my court) and we went shop-hopping. I had the chance
to use one of the "man chairs" outside a ladies apparel shop. I had the
Canon on me and the 250mm lens in the right cargo pocket of my
khakis. Right in front of me was a 2,000 foot tall sandstone cliff
about a mile away (remember, this is outside the park, the cliff
walls are short here… ha… 2,000 vertical feet and it doesn't make
the cut to be in the park). I took a few pics to show the kinds of features that this
terrain offers when you look at it closely. Most of the cliff gazing
at Zion is the big picture. It is even more amazing when you consider
that the cliffs are alternating layers of harder and softer stone,
some red, some sandy color. Some of it crumbles and forms streams of
sand that look like the tailings of ant hills anywhere in the world…
shaped into smooth, even pyramids by gravity but tracing back in a
graceful cone to show you precisely where they came from. Let me show
you a few shots:
This alcove was 1,500' up and probably big enough to accommodate the Statue of Liberty (not the base, too, just the statue. Note the tiny looking trees at the bottom. They are not tiny.)
And this layer of rock was about 500' below that alcove and was itself over 100' thick. It was bracketed above and below by layers of pulverized sandstone "dirt" in which trees grow:
If any of you feel
you have a child or grandchild who may have the curiosity to develop
a scientific mind, bring them to Zion. Point up at the cliffs and say
“Wow… look at that… how do you think that all formed and became
what we see today?”. If they are susceptible to scientific
achievement they will ask you to take them to one of the rock shops
or the library on the main street of Springdale and they will be off
and running. If they respond “I don't know… can we go back to
Oscar's now for another slice of carrot cake” then you probably
have a future Political Science or Business major on your hands and should plan
accordingly.
We hit a few more
shops in Springdale before hopping the shuttle bus back to the park.
At one point I said to Mrs. C', “I want to go in here” (that is
supposed to be the dramatic and shocking line in tonight's blog. I
never say “I want to go in here” on a shopping street in a
tourist town). It was a half flight down to a place that billed
itself as an artistic photography studio. This wasn't a gallery that
sells the work of many artists. It was the gallery of a single
photographer named David J. West (a few of you might find that ironic
and amusing… especially since “West” is the surname I always
use when making, and spelling, a name for restaurant reservations…
perhaps some of you do, too). Anyway, on a couple of occasions in the
blog I've admitted that I harbor a desire to be a landscape photographer, but then I link you to the work that professionals
actually produce. This is one of those times. David concentrates on
Zion and had hundreds of distinct images in sizes from 8x10 to 4x6…
feet… for sale. Prices ranged up to $3,500. We walked out with
memories and I wanted to link you to his web site so you can see Zion
as a specialist sees it. Look through his work and especially for the
pics where he climbs to the higher points in the park which provide
the vantage point to see the work that the Virgin River has done to
scour out the canyon over millions of years.
http://www.davidjwest.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&at=0&a=0&p=4
and
So, we packed up
this morning to head to Bryce Canyon National Park. The trip out of
Zion heading east is amazing in itself. First off, when entering the
park through the south entrance they ask you which way you plan to
exit – at least they ask the driver of obviously oversize vehicles
like the Cliche'. “We are heading east to Bryce” I told the
Ranger. “OK”, he said “you'll need a tunnel escort pass.
That'll be $15”. I paid. Today we used the pass. The route out of
Zion heading east is on the Zion - Mt. Carmel Highway. Here's what Google Maps told us we were in for before we left on the Highway:
It includes 6
switchbacks and climbs the side of one of the cliffs in Zion Canyon
then plunges through the mountain in a tunnel that was opened in 1930 and -- at over
a mile – was at the time it opened the longest tunnel of its type
in the world. Precisely what type it is, I can't say… but that's how the
Park Service describes it. The reason for the $15 “escort fee” is
because the size of vehicles has increased since 1930, as has the
quantity using the tunnel. Two cars that passed comfortably during
the depression came perilously close in the 1960s and became tunnel
wedges by the 1990s. The Park Service in their wisdom said “I know,
let's stop the tall/wide/long ones, charge them extra, then hold up
traffic so oversized vehicles only move through the tunnel one way at a time in a line
of single file traffic and use the full width of the tunnel”.
Genius! So, after the six switchbacks and amazing views up the side
of the mountain (I took no pictures as there were no pulloffs big
enough for the Cliche'… you'll have to use your imagination or
Google “Zion Mt. Carmel Highway”. I proposed a “Silver Cliche'
Driving Experience” but given the narrow winding road with a
multi-thousand foot drop on the passenger side, Mrs. C' slapped me
and I put the Canon down in favor of eyes on the road and two hands
on the wheel) we were stopped by the Ranger at the tunnel entrance,
surrendered the pass we bought upon entrance to the park and were
motioned on with the words “the tunnel is one way now… drive down
the center of the road”. In two minutes we were through and
suffered the glares of about 100 drivers whose cars were backed up
trying to get into the park this Saturday morning but who were
stopped because the Park Service didn't want Silver Cliche' to wedge
itself into their vintage tunnel. Oh well.
On we went for
another hour and a quarter of uneventful travel to Bryce.
The campground here
is at best unimpressive. We have a parking lot view, albeit a distant
one obscured by a pine grove. We were planning to drive the road
through the park tomorrow and see the various overlooks. I took time
as the sun was setting to go to the nearest lookout, about a mile
away on a “scouting trip”. Mrs. C' and the dogs stayed in the
Airstream. WOW! I was amazed! This may be the most unique and
impressive landscape of the trip thus far. I'll leave you with two
panoramas and a promise of more to come tomorrow. Before I share the
pics, I'll tell a story. When I got to the edge of the canyon there
was another guy there by himself. When I said “Wow” out loud he
said “I know, right. There was just a family from India here. When
they stood here a teenaged girl in the group said 'If this doesn't
make you believe in Buddha, nothing will.'”
More tomorrow,
SC'
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