A Week of Fun on the Road

Watchman photo taken with iphone from Canyon Junction

Greetings from Utah.

It is a drizzly morning at Zion National Park. CORRECTION: By noon there is not a cloud in sight and the sky is the most amazing blue!

We have been traveling for a week now. We stayed “free” the first 3 nights as we headed south. 1) at Valley of the Rogue State Park free with Dan’s park pass. 2) a Walmart parking lot in Stockton California. 3) In the mojave desert 5 miles off of I40 near Baker, CA. 

Morning walk with Millie at Snow Canyon

The fun really began when we got to Snow Canyon State Park in SW Utah. Arriving on a Saturday we got the last site available. It was a hookup site very close to the other RV sites. We spent quite a bit of time visiting with Kim, from Haley ID. He is traveling in his class C and has spent a lot of time in the SW. He has similar interests in biking and being “off the beaten path”. I would recommend planning ahead when coming to Snow Canyon and reserving a campsite without hookups. The “dry” campsites are tucked up next to beautiful red rocks. The area has red & white sandstone plus black lava flows ... words can not describe the beauty nor do our pictures do it justice. We stayed there two nights. There are many hiking trails and a few biking trails within the park. The area has more biking outside the park. Definitely a place we would like to go back to. As we were gleaning so much information from Kim, I offered to share our dinner with him. I made a casserole in the crock pot. It was very tasty but the consistency was a bit soupy. It was a modification of a dish my mom used to make. I had made a sauce before we left home, kind of a white gravy plus dry mustard, yogurt and lemon. I layered sliced cooked potatoes, drained green beans, sliced green onions, quartered mushrooms, the sauce then Kim is vegetarian, so I put a piece of foil to divide the pot and put diced turkey on one side. I sprinkled parmesan cheese and bread crumbs on the meat side and just bread crumbs on the veggie side. I plugged pot in on high for about 3 hours. The top browned nicely but as I mentioned the dish was pretty soupy. Maybe I can modify it into a soup recipe for church. 

We had two good bike rides at Snow Canyon. Our only hiking was walking Millie. It was nice to have showers.

When we began preparation to leave Snow Canyon we had our first trouble. The camper jacks would not raise the camper up so we could put it back on the truck. We had been plugged into electricity the whole time but our old batteries were just too old and would not take a charge. It took awhile but by raising about 2 inches then waiting a minute and repeating we finally got there. The park folks helped us locate a local Batteries Plus and $250 later we could head to Zion.

Zion is beautiful! We easily got a campsite in the South Campground. No hookups but flush toilets. Only $8 a night with Dan’s Access Pass. We have done all of the easy hikes plus ridden our bikes to the top of the canyon road and back. It is snowing in the high mountains, but is supposed to clear again tomorrow. Today is a lay low & rest day. Unless we decide to attempt Walter's Wiggles on way to Angel' Landing. We probably shouldn't but it is so tempting.

My work station.

Hard to see, Baptist fans.

Hand quilt project

So far we have been too busy for me to quilt very much. I have been working on my hexagons while Dan drives. I did a little hand quilting while at Snow Canyon and the quilt is beside me as I type. This is my first hand quilting project and I am SLOW, but it feels easier as I go. I am working from the outside in and so far I am almost around the perimeter. I got one thread done this morning then the sun came out and I went out to play ;o)

Later this morning we will take shuttle into Springdale and find some wifi so I can post this. Here goes the post, using the wifi in an ice cream deli.

love jean