Road to Zion (National Park, Utah)
The road to Zion extended from an Enterprise rental lot outside Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, past the Strip and well beyond tenacious Mesquite, Nevada. A “Welcome to Arizona” sign came as a complete surprise as we traveled northeast on I-15, but a quick (frantic) check of our Google directions confirmed a “passing through Arizona” before Utah. Whew. That one scared me a little!
The landscape did a rapid transformation from man-made glitz into stubbled desert southwest. This soon segued into ever-growing cliffs that edged toward our roadway and up towards a sky that bloomed blue. It was a windows down kind of drive even with triple digit temperatures.
Once in Utah, we enjoyed the novelty of long stretches of nothingness dotted by municipal blips with names such as Hurricane, La Verkin and Rockville. The latter’s street lights consisted of a series of single light bulbs dangled from the wires periodically strung across Route 9. A hand-lettered sign in La Verkin outlined a former business owner’s vehement discontent with city politics; I bet they have some interesting community parades there… One of the town’s more easy-going residents had appended a cautionary “Watch Children” sign with “act like monkeys.”
Zion National Park gave us tantalizing glimpses of its glory as we rounded bend after bend after bend. Our goal was Springdale on park’s edge, and more specifically, the Cliffrose Lodge which would be our base for the next few days. We passed a doggy day camp with little white tents and an organic orchard before finally rolling into the strip of civilization that has grown out of Zion’s popularity.
The Cliffrose had luxurious views that made up for its average accommodations and was within easy walking distance of the park entrance. With the Virgin 
River in its backyard and balcony views of Zion’s peaks fronted by the lodge’s lush gardens, we were happy to dump our bags and head out for our first hike! Matt’s choice sounded great to our hot and dusty group, a river walk through a gorgeous canyon suitably dubbed “The Narrows”.
MORE on UTAH:
More on Utah:
“Road to Zion (National Park, Utah)”
“Into ‘The Narrows’ (Zion National Park, Utah)”
“The Subway (Zion National Park, Utah) Part One”
“The Subway (Zion National Park, Utah) Part Two”
“Court of the Patriarchs and The Emerald Pools of Zion (National Park, Utah)”
“Hanging Gardens (Zion National Park, Utah)”
“Hoodoo Heaven” (Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah)
“Smokey the Bear and Tibetan Monks? I Must be in Boulder (Utah)… ”
“Dogs and Cars -but not Cows…” (Boulder, Utah)
“The Cows… Part One (Boulder, Utah)”
“The Cows… Part Two (Boulder, Utah)”
“Pictographs at Lower Calf Creek Falls (Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah)”
“The Goosenecks at Capitol Reef National Park (Utah)”
“Hiking ‘Smart’ in Grand Wash (Capitol Reef National Park, Utah)”
“The Lodge at Red River Ranch (Teasdale, Utah)”
“Of Pictographs and Petroglyphs…”
“A Reef in the Desert (Capitol Reef National Park)”
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very beautiful!
awesome Rock formations + Colourz*
;)) Peace*
I love it — Watch Children … Act Like Monkeys
Wonderful rock formations!
You describe places of beauty so well, Heather.
Heather - Utah is a beautiful state - great pix!
Jeff
Thanks Todd,
It was my favorite kind of vacation; active and outdoors!
Billy Warhol,
Aren’t the colors cool?! They really are that vivid!
Beautiful!!!!
JulieMarg,
That’s the kind of sign that could fit about anywhere, huh? Made us laugh…
What spectacular landscape - so different from anything we have in New Zealand. I saw something similar in New Mexico when we visited relatives in Santa Fe but your photos make it even more beautiful.
Jenny, Jean-Luc, Jeff and Eric,
Thanks! It was time well spent and much enjoyed. One of my very favorite times with my kids…
Thank you Suzanne,
I think you’ve been just about everywhere! -Really like the travel page for your new site…
Utah is like a big playground for photographers!