Linna and I was due for some sunny skies and warmer weather; Seattle was getting dumped on this month and it had been cooler than normal. I was already down in the Vegas area for work, so Linna joined up with me on Thursday. After picking her up at the airport, we did a little shopping before heading to St. George, Utah. We wanted to explore Zion National Park in Utah and St. George was only one hour away from the park. St. George in the first city you come to when traveling north on I-15 from Vegas. After checking in at the hotel, we heading off to the local attractions and we couldn’t miss the Dinosaur Tracking Museum. This site is described by many paleontologists as “one of the ten best dinosaur track sites in the world” and is one of the most important discoveries in early Jurassic paleontological history. To finish our day off, we headed off to Snow Canyon State Park, this is a quick 30 minute drive through the park, but….filled with beautiful Red Mountains. While a few miles away are the White Hills, and eroded sandstone rocks of both colors make up the cliffs at either side of the valley.
The next day was exploring Zion National Park, just another beautiful day of mountains. It started off cloudy and just got worse and soon it was down pouring. We wanted to hike Angels Landing, but cloudy weather just got worse and soon it was down pouring. Even though we had our rain gear with us, we wanted a sunny day for a pleasant hike and great pictures. About the time we pulled in the trailhead parking lot, it stopped raining…..cool. After a great day hiking and playing in Zion for the day, we headed back to St. George for the night. I have an old friend, James Jorgesen that I haven’t seen for 25 years from my hometown that was living in St. George, so we met up for some beers and chat.
The next day was a bust, we headed off to Bryce Canyon, but all we hit was snowy roads and mountains. We actually drove all the way Bryce Canyon Park entrance and almost paid the $25 fee, but…my better judgment said no. From there, we drove all the way back to Las Vegas.