On The Road Again!

(Craig writes) We had a great time exploring and discovering the Flagstaff, Sedona and Prescott, AZ areas the last 5 days but it was time to move on. Leaving Flagstaff this morning we headed North by Northwest toward Utah. Traveling through the Navajo Reservation, Marble Canyon and crossing the Colorado River were very exciting and beautiful. Leaving the canyon and climbing back up and over the mountains, (apx. 9000 feet elevation), we discovered that we were trying to cross N.Arizona and Utah without a Utah state map. We only had a US map that didn't show a lot of detail, (I think I misplaced the one I got from AAA). Seeing road signs that seemed to head us in the right direction we turned onto a Utah state highway and proceeded up a long and curvy road. Somewhere along the way we saw a sign about Zion National Park ahead but kept driving. After about an hour we arrived at the entrance gate to Zion National Park and were greeted by a friendly Park Ranger lady. Since I didn't know anything about the Park being famous I just asked her if we could get to the interstate this way. She replied that we could but there was a $25.00 fee to get into the park. I asked her if there was another way to get to the interstate and she smiled and said yes, I could turn around and drive back about an hour to where we had started up the mountain. Not wanting to backtrack we paid the $25.00 and were allowed through the gate. Turns out it was the best $25.00 we ever spent. We didn't know it but Zion National Park is one of the top National Parks in the country and after traveling through we can understand! (Check out the pics included with this post).

After leaving the Park we made it to the interstate and began the 245 mile trip from there to our destination for the night, (Orem, Utah). Initially we described Utah as "an Arizona but with trees" but later came to appreciate Utah's own natural beauty.

Wildlife report:

We saw/dodged mule deer on our way up to Zion Park today and then saw many signs inside the park warning about mountain lions. We even kept the sunroof open as we drove through but no mountain lions ever fell in! Cows are really big business out here as we passed huge herds beside the interstate on our way through Utah. Mooooving on to Idaho tomorrow!