Day 128

The Road To Zion, Part 2

Sep 11, 2013, 5:42 PM

Today turned out to be a crazy day. When we got up it was nice and so we hurried out the door to go to Zion National Park again. When we were there the last time we didn't take the shuttle we had so much fun just driving the road through the tunnel and seeing the long horn sheep so we saved the shuttle into the canyon for the next trip, today. As we were nearing the park it started to pour. We were torn between going back and going on, but we figured we'd at least go to the visitor's center and see what the weather was when we got there. So we traveled on, and it rained even harder. As we were driving the road through the park there were crews shoveling up mud that had washed over the road and they were using heavy equipment in places trying to stem the tide. The water and mud were running right over the road in plenty of places. By the time we got to the visitor's center it looked like it was trying to clear up, the rain would stop, then pour, then slow, then stop, etc. etc. We took the optimistic route and got on the shuttle bus. We decided to ride the shuttle to the end, listen to the narration, then on the way back stop at different places to look around. Well, we got to the first stop, it was raining a little harder, the next stop, still raining quite a bit, the next stop it was just pouring and not letting up. We got off the shuttle at the last stop, the Temple Of Sinawava and it was raining too hard to do anything, most of all to too hard to take pictures. So we decided we'd go back to the Visitor's Center and get the car, go to Springdale, just outside the park's West Entrance, get lunch and hope the rain clears up. This turned out to be a good idea. As we were nearing the Visitor's Center it was already clearing. We had a nice lunch and returned to the park. With each minute the weather was improving. We got back on the shuttle prepared to thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our day. 

The shuttle was just taking off when the driver announced if you'd come into the park from the East Entrance (us), the road was closed because of a washout, so we were going to have to take the long way home. A thirty minute ride just turned into more than two hours. What the hell, we have nobody waiting for us. We don't care!!!! So we went on. We stopped at the Weeping Rock, Big Bend, and the Temple Of Sinawava. It was so beautiful. The sheer cliffs in this canyon are so amazing. From the canyon floor, where we were, they just go straight UP!!! It is incredible. When we went to Sedona, Arizona on our honeymoon it was beautiful but this area of Utah is much bigger and much more beautiful than Sedona was. 

At about 4:40 PM we thought we better start to work our way back. We still had a shuttle ride back to the Visitor's Center that would take about 40 minutes, then we had to figure out how the heck we were going to have to go home. We stopped in the Visitor's Center to get ideas on the best route, they were very helpful but they confirmed our fears, the road was indeed still closed and we had to go all the way to Hurricane (which kind of tickles me, they don't pronounce hurricane hur-ri-cane, they pronounce it hur-ri-can, anyway that's just a side note), where was I, OH yeah, we had about a two hour drive home. This wasn't such a bad thing though, we were going to be able to go to Walmart. Hurricane had the closest Walmart to us and it was 47 miles away. So anyway, I'm telling you all of this because I'm not going to be able to get pictures up tonight. I'll get you the blog but that is going to have to be it for tonight. Tomorrow our plan is to go to the GRAND CANYON!!!!!! I'm completely excited. I feel like Steve and I are on a second honeymoon although this one is much better, it isn't just two weeks and then when we get home there is no going back to work this time.