Monday, 17 August
We left Springville about 10 a.m.,
arrived in St. George around 1 p.m.
and checked into our hotel
Marriott's Fairfield Inn
After getting settled in we had some lunch
at Jack in the Box then
drove out to Parker's apartment by the temple.
They live in a cute little apartment owned
by the church.
and though it is small it is very comfy.
After visiting for a little bit we walked across the
street to the Visitor's Center where
Marilyn and Keith introduced us to some
of the other missionaries and
then gave us our own private tour.
On the temple grounds there is this big tree
that is beautiful.
Soon we were on our way to the
Jacob Hamblin House
where, again, we got our own personal tour.
Marilyn showing Steve some raw cotton
The upstairs "gathering" room
It was built to accommodate all the needs
of the members....
school, spinning, nursery etc.
Keith got a chance to "Practice" his little speech
as did Marilyn.
Next we drove out to the Tuacahn Amphitheater
for dinner and a show
We rode on this cart up to where the
buffet dinner was being served
It was delicious as you can tell by the empty plates !
After dinner we waited for about 1/2 an hour
before they opened the theater
We took pictures of
Beauty and .....
The Beast !!!
Ha Ha Ha
and each other by this refreshing fountain
(it was over 100 degrees out)
We finally got seated in this open-air theater.
we figured it must seat about 2,500.
We were not allowed to take pictures but
the show was very professional
and quite entertaining.
When we got back to Parker's apartment
we found this beautiful sight
waiting for us in the still of the night.
Tuesday, 18 August
As luck would have it Debbi flew into
St. George late last night
and didn't have to be back to work until
late afternoon today
soooooo
We picked her up at her hotel and
she joined us on our day trip to
Zion National Park.
We went on two short hikes
We crossed a bridge with this river view
to begin our
first hike to the Emerald Pool
We didn't actually see an Emerald Pool
but we did get showered with some
much welcomed, cool spray from a waterfall
Cars are not allowed in the park so everyone
uses the ....
Hop-on, Hop-off, shuttle bus
provided by the park for free.
They run continuous all day about
every 10 - 15 minutes
Aren't we a good looking bunch of tourists?
Our second hike was to
Weeping Rock.
It was quite a short hike but also
very steep
So we had to stop and rest part way up
and traded Picture-taking with
another tourist.
we finally made it !
This picture of Steve & Debbi show how big
this "weeping rock" really is
The water runs off all along the edge of the
overhang....even more in the spring !
Debbi felt the need to take this picture
Our "Weeping" girl
looking out into the canyon
(the beautiful rocks in the distance didn't show up)
Before we headed back down the trail
we snapped one more picture !
Once down (which was much easier than going up)
Debbi kept on going....and ended
up by this clear stream below a bridge.
We toured the rest of the park via bus.
It is a very beautiful place
and it was such a treat to have Debbi with us
(she really livened up the day !)
We bought one souvenir at the Lodge
before heading back to
St. George
Exotic Sand picture which
contains sand from around the world
including sand from Southern Utah.
It is called "Art in Motion"
Every time you flip it over it paints a new picture
Once back in St. George Steve thought
it might be fun to at least
drive by the ....
SkyWest Corporate Office .... so we did !
Then we stopped by the Visitor's Center
So Debbi could say Hi to the Parkers.
Marilyn was working in the Larger Center
while Keith was manning the smaller one.
After visiting with Keith we took a few pictures
by the temple then took
Debbi back to her Hotel so she could
get ready to go back to work.
We rested at our Hotel until Parker's
finished their assignment for
the day then we met up with them for some
dinner and a little more visiting
At the end of the day we snapped one more
picture of the Temple .... so beautiful !
Wednesday, 19 August
Today we were off to the North Rim
of the Grand Canyon in ....
Arizona !
We saw beautiful scenery of sagebrush,
painted mountains and ...
roadside sunflowers along the way.
After 3 hours we finally arrived !
The entrance to the park is still quite a
distance from the actual canyon.
Soon we saw this sign ....
What ! Buffalo ?
And sure enough .... There they were ....
a small herd of Buffalo.
Finally we arrived at the North Canyon Rim.
After checking out a display of all the
different hikes we decided
to go on this one to ....
Bright Angel Point
(way up on the top of the tree covered peak)
the hike was longer and harder than the
"display" led us to believe so ....
we rested along the way and
tried to figure out our new
"selfie stick", which we finally did and ....
took some pictures.
We finally made it to the top
and the view was very beautiful ....
not sure if it was worth the hike .... Okay, it was !
We made the hike back down .... again resting
along the way .... and then taking another
short hike to this viewpoint
just below the Lodge which sits at 8,255 ft.
Along the path we encountered this little critter
he just stood there so we could take
his picture then he scampered off again.
After two beautiful hikes we wandered around
the Lodge, Store and had some
lunch at the Deli
The shopping Store area is surrounded by these
cute cabins each one with
a porch complete with rocking chairs.
Before leaving the canyon
we bought these souvenirs at the General Store
Painted slate picture and ...
a small wool Chimayo Blanket
As we traveled back to St. George
we drove through an area that
was victim to a fire not too many years ago.
There were miles and miles of stubble.
Some areas had new tree starts about 2 ft tall
and the ground was covered with nice green grass.
Just before leaving Arizona there is a place called
"Pipe Spring"
It is a National Monument run by the
national Park Service.
Jacob Hamblin and James Whitmore were
instrumental in developing
this settlement during the mid 1800's
while trying to promote peace with the Indians.
The spring that provided water then still
supplies to this pond today.
There were two longhorns in the corrals
but they were more interested in
the hay that had just been set out for them than
turning around so we could take a
picture of them for our Texas relatives ....
.... you know who you are !
We returned home in time to have one
last dinner with Parkers,
this time at the Cracker Barrel.
Thursday, 20 August
Today we left St. George.
Our plans would take us to
Bryce Canyon.
On our way to the canyon
we drove through
Cedar Canyon and ...
Red Canyon ....
which was a little bit of a "tease" for the "real" thing.
We also saw another herd (about 25 head) of Buffalo
who knew Utah had so many buffalo?
Once we got to Bryce Canyon City,
just outside the park,
We parked at a place called Ruby's,
picked up our shuttle bus tickets and
rode the bus into the park.
We visited 4 different viewpoints from
Bryce Point, 8,296 ft to ....
Inspiration Point, 8,100 ft to ...
Sunset Point, 8,000 ft to ...
Sunrise Point, our last viewpoint.
It was here we watched
Canyon visitors on horse/mule back.
Some of the animals came within inches of the
edge causing the visibly nervous riders to
"lean" to their left.
At every stop we enjoyed amazing views
of awesome hoodoo's
(the pillars)
Before leaving the park we visited the lodge
and small gift shop but decided to get our
souvenir's at Ruby's
Once back to Bryce Canyon City
we had lunch at Ruby's and
purchased these souvenir's from their gift shop.
Buffalo carved out of Ironwood
beautifully painted trivet
We said goodbye to Bryce Canyon and headed
to Springville to spend the night.
We knew we were getting close when we
passed the beautiful new
Payson temple just off the freeway.
Friday, 21 August
This morning we had the pleasure of
babysitting Sydney for an hour or so while
Lani and Crew went to an
appointment.
When they returned we said our
goodbyes and then ...
drove down to attend the Payson Temple
It is beautiful and BIG !
Architecturally, it is similar to how the
Meridian Temple near us will look.
We had lunch and were on the road again.
This time ... destination ... Star, Idaho.
We had a wonderful week visiting family
and seeing some of Heavenly Fathers creations.
Next Trip .... who knows ????
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