We got an early start on Sept 17 th anticipating a 9 hour 50 minute drive to Lake Tahoe. We left out home at 4:38 mileage on the car was 56941.3. Our first stop was in Ashland. We had breakfast to 9:00 at a beautiful little café on the Ashland Creek next to Lithia Park. It was a bit cool but very restful. Our break turned into 1 1/2 hours! Mileage…57221.

The day was sunny, the country beautiful. We turned east at Lake Shasta, heading toward Reno Nevada. The scenery remained outstanding, mountains, trees, sunshine and open road! We hit civilization at Reno, I was not impressed…There were large Casinos rising up out of the city. It was brown with just a few trees, just not my style I guess. Carson City just a few miles away was much greener and looked more welcoming. We were just driving through the area on the way to Lake Tahoe. The drive from Carson City to Lake Tahoe was breathtaking. After seeing so many dried up lakes on the way south, it was very refreshing to see the Lake big and blue in the distance. Our hotel was right across the street from the lake. Only the street and the park were between us and the lake. A short stroll down the beach, a light dinner overlooking the lake and another short walk in the park, as we watched the sun go down behind the mountains…ended our first day.

Sept 18 th. We got an early start leaving Lake Tahoe. We waited until sunrise to avoid any unwanted encounters with wildlife. We headed out 50 and turned onto 89. We were up in the mountains, up, down, windy but beautiful open country. Mountain, valleys, very few homes and fewer gas stations, restaurants and bathrooms! Great drive, so remote we had to pull over to get the computer to be sure we were on the right route! The roads were so small they did not always appear on the GPS on my phone! We left the mountain areas in the Mono Lake Basin. We passed the overlook because it looked like it was all fogged in… why that would be was confusing since the sky was blue and beautiful. We got into the basin and discovered it was smoke! We drove for about 100 miles seeing nothing, visibility restricted to perhaps 100 feet. We were concerned that the road may be closed ahead. (We had not listened to the local news nor checked road reports the night before.) Google told us it was just normal fires that occur during this time of year. After we got out of the smoke, the topography became boring! We were between 6,000 and 7,500 feet elevation. It was dry; there was sagebrush and mountains in the distance. We were almost to Las Vegas, having travelled mainly through California, entering Nevada briefly near Las Vegas, and then into Utah. The road between Las Vegas and St George Utah was amazing to say the least. We were on Interstate I5, it looked like we were going to drive right into this huge wall of rock in front of us. The cars were disappearing in front of us but we were not able to see where they were going! The road made a sharp turn behind a ridge, and we were treated to the most beautiful display of stonework imaginable! The colors, shapes, and designs were unimaginable. It was like we had just stepped in to a new universe. It was hard to imagine that people could just get used to such beauty and not gape each time you drove through it. People were just driving normally. I guess you can get used to anything, and forget to appreciate the wonders around. This beauty lasted for miles and then it all looked pretty normal again. We began looking for out hotel near St George, a beautiful city by the way. Our GPS took us on a wild drive down gravel roads, changing to dirt, ending nowhere! Fortunately, our phone GPS was more up to date. We were only less than a quarter mile from our hotel…just on the wrong side of the ridge. It was a beautiful room by a golf course overlooking colorful vistas of rocks and all shapes and designs. Looked like a recent development which might explain why it didn’t show on either the car or computer GPS maps.

Sept 19 th We left Hurricane for Zion. It was an easy 40 minute drive through Hurricane, Virgin, and finally Springdale at the gateway to Zion. We learned that the Angel’s Landing trail was closed, as was the Big Bend stop. We took the Shuttle to the end. The Temple of Sinawava, is the beginning of the Riverwalk which then turns into the Narrows. I started with the intention of at least starting the Narrows, but the wind was blowing, it was COLD, perhaps 50 degrees, and the water was colder yet…I looked around the corner and that was as far as I got. On the way back we saw a doe and her fawn in the woods, a little further along were four buck all 4-point, just standing with the people. These guys had no fear of people at all! We got back on the shuttle and went to the lodge, to begin the walk to the Emerald Pools. We walked to the first, a paved path, very busy. The falls were barely spurting over the rocks. With difficulty, we made it through the crowd to the other side, and climbed up steps some very ambitious park workers had constructed years ago! The second pond was a bit refreshing so we decided to make it to the top. It had begun to heat up and by the time we got to the top, of a steep climb and it was hot and dusty. When we got close to the top pool there as a slight decent in to an oasis of cool temperature, shade, and even a slight breeze. We found out perfect rock and relaxed in the cool surroundings. After a bit we knew we had to move on and get back down the cliff wall. There was an alternate trail down that ended at the Grotto rather than the Lodge. At the end we could take the shuttle back or walk back to the lodge. We chose the alternate route, not sure what it would be like, but not looking forward to the crowds that had only grown at the other pools. It turned out to be the best choice. The walk was a gradual decent, it was about ½ mile longer but the decrease in slope was well worth the extra walk. We walked the ½ mile to the lodge, thru a forest of cottonwood trees. We had lunch at the lodge. We were on a patio overlooking the bluffs of the canyon….restful, beautiful, peaceful…water, beer, food, shade, a cool breeze…heaven. Maybe a mistake with the beer, my intention of returning to the Narrows disappeared. We went back to the Visitors center to see if we had more to do that was easy. We went to the Human museum and watched a 23 minute movie on the park, and then a ranger talk on a condor he had located up on the high cliffs. We were able to see him (or her), through his telescope. He had a very interesting talk on the history of the condor in the park. After that, we were back to our condo. I did a short swim while we waited for the sunset to appreciate the color changes of the cliffs outside of our lodging.