Zion National Park

Doug is feeling miserable today, but he drove us into Zion. We came in through the east entrance... free entry with the annual pass.

I was in Zion National Park once before in 1989 on a family trip in a 37 foot RV. We thought my Dad was going to drive us off a cliff, but we all survived. It is a gorgeous National Park. Many people say that they think it is the most beautiful of all the National Parks.

Driving in we wound around the mountain pass, oohing and aahing over the beautiful mountains and scenery. I took pictures and navigated us toward the visitor center. The Park is busy today, and there is no room to pull over at any of the overlooks. Windows down, I snap pictures from the passenger seat of the van. We saw rock climbers and got out my new, never-used-before binoculars which worked fantastically. We saw Big Horn sheep, about 20 of them. We went through a 1.1 mile tunnel through the mountain that was built in 1939. The Park is just as gorgeous as I remember.

We're limited today due to the illness, so we will not be able to see the whole park. In 1999, they started a new shuttle system. A visitor will park at the shuttle parking lot or the visitor center, then take a free shuttle up to the north road through the park. This is the only way to see the upper half of the park. We obviously are too sick to get on a shuttle. I could have gone, but I would have to leave Doug in the van without AC, and it's just too hot. Also, there was absolutely no place to park. We'll just have to come back... maybe next year.

Doug "parked" at the end of the loading, unloading lane by the visitor center, while I went in to get the passport stamped and look around. It's a large visitor center "gift shop" with plenty of interesting merchandise. I bought a couple of stickers and got my passport stamped.

After deciding that the shuttle was not an option for us, I drove us back out through the east entrance to our campsite. Doug slept in the back. Coming out of the park at noon, there were plenty of places to pull over at the overlooks and I did a few times. I got out and climbed a few rocks and took some pictures.

Doug has taught me a few things on this trip... manual gear shifting and nasal douching to name a couple. Both have been very helpful. Driving through the mountain passes, I shifted into 2nd and 3rd gear instead of using my brakes.

We arrived back at the campground early. What to do the rest of the day besides wash our sheets? Nothing, pretty much nothing. It's the weekend and the campground is filling up. There's a Glamping Event this weekend, but we are not feeling social. The hot tub is full, so no hot tub today. We sat at our campsite and hung out the rest of the day. Doug was so sweet and picked me flowers. I put it in a toilet paper vase. Twenty wild turkeys passed our campsite as we sat outside together. We retired early. Maybe tomorrow we will feel better.Read more