The best thing about having my work hours cut back (even though I still need to work a certain amount of time each week to meet my internship requirements) is that I now have more free time!! More free time = more vacations :-) So, this week Mom and I decided to go on a vacation to southern Utah. We left for Zion National Park on Tuesday and made some fun stops in Beaver and Cedar City. We then went to Springdale and ate dinner at our favorite Zion restaurant: Oscar's. Our favorite non-breakfast meal at Oscar's consists of sweet potato fries and a cheese quesadilla.
We then walked up to the Springdale cemetery to pay homage to all of the people we'd been spending so much time researching over the past few months. Before I wrote the Zion book, I had no idea who most of the Springdale people were, but now I feel like they're my good friends. We found the graves of all the main characters in my book: Donal Jolley, the first chief ranger at Zion; William and Carnelia Crawford; William Louis Crawford; Johann Jakob and Elisa Spiess Ruesch; and many others. The Springdale cemetery certainly is in a pretty place! Mom and I skulked around town for a little while and then spent the night at Zion Park Motel.
On Wednesday morning Mom and I had breakfast at Oscar's :-) The $2.99 two egg breakfast there is the best (and most tasty) deal in town. We then went up the canyon and hopped on the shuttle. The shuttle runs from March to November and is meant to reduce traffic in the park. Unfortunately the shuttle buses don't go very fast and they don't have A/C, so they're quite hot. The first shuttle bus that Mom and I got on yesterday was a doozy! The shuttle driver started out by saying, "Since we have people from many countries on the bus today, I will make my presentation very brief and simple so that even if you don't speak English very well you will be able to understand what I am saying." That sounded pretty good, but then he said, "Let's start back at the beginning when there was only one continent called Pangaea . . . " That's when we knew we were in trouble. The shuttle driver launched into a big long lecture about the geological history of the canyon. Mom and I had no idea what he was saying--I can't imagine what the people on the bus from France and Germany were thinking! Before we knew it, he was saying things like, "The fifth geological process is called exfoliation." Exfoliation? He then started to name every species of bird in the park, and he very adamantly claimed that we were not looking at mountains--we were looking at petrified sand dunes. I'm pretty sure that we were looking at mountains--big, tall mountain peaks. Anyway, by the time we reached the lodge, Mom and I had had about enough of the geology lesson, so we got off and hung out there for a little while. Then we hopped on a different shuttle--one with a nice, quiet, non-annoying driver--and rode the rest of the way up the canyon. We got off there and went on our favorite hike: the trail along the river to the Narrows. It was, as always, beautiful! We then rode back down the canyon and hung out at the visitor center for a little while. We then went into town, had a grilled cheese sandwich at Pioneer Lodge, and then took off for St. George. We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house just in time to have some of Uncle Dennis' yummy spaghetti. We had a fun evening there together.
Today Mom and I had a wonderful time going to the St. George Temple. It was such a neat experience! The temple is a beautiful building, and it holds special meaning for our family because some of our ancestors helped build it. Before going to the temple, Mom and I had lunch at the Bear Paw restaurant and discovered a new favorite: veggie quiche. It was delicious! What a fun afternoon! We then went to visit Auntie Donna. We're planning to head home tomorrow and will stop at Cove Fort days on the way. This has been a great vacation!
I got a little behind on a few things earlier this week. Last Friday I was able to go to the Provo Temple with Mom and Dad as part of the Taylor family reunion. I love the Provo Temple! And last Sunday I had to work at Camp Floyd, so after they went to church, Mom, Sarah, Joel, and Eliza came to visit me. Little Eliza was sporting her ranger apparel. She is the cutest ranger ever!
As you can see, she picked right up on the tour-giving technique.
The best thing about having my work hours cut back (even though I still need to work a certain amount of time each week to meet my internship requirements) is that I now have more free time!! More free time = more vacations :-) So, this week Mom and I decided to go on a vacation to southern Utah. We left for Zion National Park on Tuesday and made some fun stops in Beaver and Cedar City. We then went to Springdale and ate dinner at our favorite Zion restaurant: Oscar's. Our favorite non-breakfast meal at Oscar's consists of sweet potato fries and a cheese quesadilla.
We then walked up to the Springdale cemetery to pay homage to all of the people we'd been spending so much time researching over the past few months. Before I wrote the Zion book, I had no idea who most of the Springdale people were, but now I feel like they're my good friends. We found the graves of all the main characters in my book: Donal Jolley, the first chief ranger at Zion; William and Carnelia Crawford; William Louis Crawford; Johann Jakob and Elisa Spiess Ruesch; and many others. The Springdale cemetery certainly is in a pretty place! Mom and I skulked around town for a little while and then spent the night at Zion Park Motel.
On Wednesday morning Mom and I had breakfast at Oscar's :-) The $2.99 two egg breakfast there is the best (and most tasty) deal in town. We then went up the canyon and hopped on the shuttle. The shuttle runs from March to November and is meant to reduce traffic in the park. Unfortunately the shuttle buses don't go very fast and they don't have A/C, so they're quite hot. The first shuttle bus that Mom and I got on yesterday was a doozy! The shuttle driver started out by saying, "Since we have people from many countries on the bus today, I will make my presentation very brief and simple so that even if you don't speak English very well you will be able to understand what I am saying." That sounded pretty good, but then he said, "Let's start back at the beginning when there was only one continent called Pangaea . . . " That's when we knew we were in trouble. The shuttle driver launched into a big long lecture about the geological history of the canyon. Mom and I had no idea what he was saying--I can't imagine what the people on the bus from France and Germany were thinking! Before we knew it, he was saying things like, "The fifth geological process is called exfoliation." Exfoliation? He then started to name every species of bird in the park, and he very adamantly claimed that we were not looking at mountains--we were looking at petrified sand dunes. I'm pretty sure that we were looking at mountains--big, tall mountain peaks. Anyway, by the time we reached the lodge, Mom and I had had about enough of the geology lesson, so we got off and hung out there for a little while. Then we hopped on a different shuttle--one with a nice, quiet, non-annoying driver--and rode the rest of the way up the canyon. We got off there and went on our favorite hike: the trail along the river to the Narrows. It was, as always, beautiful! We then rode back down the canyon and hung out at the visitor center for a little while. We then went into town, had a grilled cheese sandwich at Pioneer Lodge, and then took off for St. George. We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house just in time to have some of Uncle Dennis' yummy spaghetti. We had a fun evening there together.
Today Mom and I had a wonderful time going to the St. George Temple. It was such a neat experience! The temple is a beautiful building, and it holds special meaning for our family because some of our ancestors helped build it. Before going to the temple, Mom and I had lunch at the Bear Paw restaurant and discovered a new favorite: veggie quiche. It was delicious! What a fun afternoon! We then went to visit Auntie Donna. We're planning to head home tomorrow and will stop at Cove Fort days on the way. This has been a great vacation!
I got a little behind on a few things earlier this week. Last Friday I was able to go to the Provo Temple with Mom and Dad as part of the Taylor family reunion. I love the Provo Temple! And last Sunday I had to work at Camp Floyd, so after they went to church, Mom, Sarah, Joel, and Eliza came to visit me. Little Eliza was sporting her ranger apparel. She is the cutest ranger ever!
As you can see, she picked right up on the tour-giving technique.
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