SURPRISES!

As we anticipated our 286 mile trip from Kayenta, Arizona to Cedar City, Utah, we were not expecting anything interesting along the way.  We were so wrong.

Surprise No. 1.

We came to the Glen Canyon Dam and behind it Lake Powell.  We stopped and looked around for awhile.  It was immense.  Only their broken elevator stopped us from touring the inside.  We were invited back for next week, but we will be elsewhere.  The  dam was quite impressive.





Surprise No. 2.

While driving along and crossing into Utah, we noticed a sign for Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park but continued driving along.  Thinking back to our experience on our last journey at Sleeping Bear Dunes which was so foggy we couldn't see a thing, we started to consider turning back.  But lo and behold, as we were debating this issue, there appeared another entryway to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.  That was it.  Decision made.  We turned left and went off to explore the dunes. 

It was amazing to us that the dunes stretched from the first sign to the second, and in fact cover 1200 acres.  Who knew?  The sand was so fine and the dunes were huge.  We followed the trail through the dunes and got a good workout.

Surprise No. 3.

We had driven up Route 89 and made a left on Route 14 heading for Cedar City.  We were within 40 miles of our hotel.  Surprise!  A flashing sign advised us that the road was closed 11 miles ahead.  I was not going to let that stop me from completing my mission, so I continued on.  Joan, on the other hand, phoned the hotel only to learn there had been a landslide and the road was covered and impassable.

I reluctantly turned around and started back to Route 89 to retrace our route back to Route 9 which would take us over to the highway that goes to Cedar City.  We passed about a dozen beautiful deer on the side of the road.  So I slowed way down to be sure none of them would run in front of us.  Joan then took the wheel and we continued on.

Surprise No. 4.

After a short time on Route 9, Joan asked why the road had turned brown in color.  We noticed immediately that we were entering Zion National Park.  WOW!  This was a great surprise.  We planned to spend a day there during this visit and this 20 mile taste of it took our breath away.  We are now officially out of adjectives to describe the sheer beauty of Zion.

Surprise No. 5.

Joan, wearing her sunglasses, was startled to see the entrance to a tunnel looming ahead.  She had to make a quick change to clear glasses to proceed.  The tunnel was at least a mile long and quite high.  As soon as she exited and could do so, Joan pulled to an overlook spot and declared that her driving for the day was done.  (She does that a lot!)

Here's just a sample of our views in Zion:

Surprise No. 6.

Once we finally got to Interstate 15 heading north to Cedar City, we figured we were in the home stretch...........that is until we saw the "Road Work Ahead" sign.  Bummer.

Surprise No. 7.

Mercifully, there is a Japanese Steak House next to the hotel.  Yummy!