After breakfasting at the Quality Inn (John had eggs & gravy & OJ, Linda had Raw Bits Twang Twang & carrot juice) the two old buzzards & Fannie Mae left Cedar City at 8:26am with an outside air temperature of 47 degrees. Soon Wilma arrived in the snow at Cedar Breaks National Monument. This was Fannie's first snow experience and she seemed to like it a lot, scampering around like a snow bunny. Ceder Breaks is a 2-mile natural ampitheater. Its exquisitely carved pinnacles, spires and colummns change color with the sun, making the scenery come alive. Sadly, two of the three view points were closed.
We next headed to Springdale which is a short stone's throw from Zion National Park, arriving around noon. We went by our lodging but they said check in wasn't until 3:00. The clerk told us we could go play in the park. John said "Oh, there's a park?" She meant Zion Park, but John thought she meant a city park. So we drove into Zion and participated in a big traffic jam since there was no parking to be found at the visitor center and no "real" spaces inside the park. Until November 1, one cannot drive along the scenic route. One must take a shuttle. Tomorrow we will ride the shuttle in... sans pooch. We still saw some very amazing configurations today, despite the traffic and we went through a long tunnel (built in the 1920s) twice.
Then we did find a little park on main street where we made some ham & cheese sandwiches for lunch. And then Fannie got to play with her monkey on a string.
After checking in to the most expensive of our stays on the trip we drove back into the park to try to get some good sunset photos. John got some nice ones. Linda enjoyed taking photos of all the photographers lined up across the bridge. One really serious photographer had on a shirt that said CONFIDENCE: THE FEELING YOU HAVE BEFORE YOU COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION.
On the way back to our fancy digs we stopped for dinner at The Spotted Dog Cafe. John had an exotic meatloaf (buffalo, elk, bacon and beef). Linda had a bowl of zuchinni bisque. Both had beet salads with citrus vinagarette dressing, walnuts & blue cheese.
Back at the Driftwood there was live music at the Parallel Restaurant which is associated with the Driftwood Lodge. Since the musician was performing on the lawn, her music was easily enjoyed from our back patio.
News from home: John's Cuz Jerry (a retired policeman from Texas) is enjoying his stay in Morgan Hill while house sitting for us. He reports that he went to Rosy's at the Beach today for some award-winning salmon tacos. We may have a house guest for a while after our return. It sounds like Morgan Hill is growing on him...
We promised more photos and here they are. Sixty-eight pictures in today's gallery which you can view by clicking here.
Tea Bag Trivia: Today's tea bag wisdom comes from one of Linda's favorite brands - Celestial Seasonings. They have charming designs and sayings on the outsides of their boxes. "The day shall not be up so soon as I, to try the fair adventure of tomorrow." (William Shakespeare)
John's Pot-Shot for the day was randomly selected.
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