Author: Easin' Along

The massive mountains hover over you like giant sentinels guarding the ancient tribal lands that surround them. Their tops point toward brilliant, blue sky except for the occasional periods when clouds dip below them, often filtering the sunlight and enhancing their beauty even more.  We arrived late and set up in near-dark conditions.  When I opened the door the next morning, the sight to my front almost took my breath away. That view was our welcome to Zion National Park.

We were prepared for something special because friends and family had insisted that we visit Zion as soon as we began planning our trip to the west. I’m glad we listened and made reservations at Zion Canyon Campground as soon as the reservation window opened. By this time, our Lucy Does the Desert trip had made the turn back to the east and time was marching by all too quickly.  We intended to savor the moments even more now.  Zion presented plenty of opportunities.

Zion Canyon Campground and RV Park is in the middle of Springdale, Utah.  While the view from the campground is incredible—you almost feel as if you can reach out and touch the mountains—the campground is tightly packed.  The RV parked next to us was no more than six feet away, and the tent campers to our rear seemed right outside our windows. I might as well add that the volume of campers made it difficult for the staff to keep up with shower cleaning—an unpardonable sin.

Nevertheless, the staff was very friendly, the town of Springdale is charming, and we weren’t there to sit in the campground.  We were there to hike. A shuttle bus carrying visitors the short distance to the National Park entrance stopped in front of the campground about every 10 minutes. Helen and I hopped on one of the early buses that the first morning.

Thinking we would beat the crowd proved to be an error in judgment.  The place was abuzz with activity.  We presented our National Park Senior Pass to the attendant and stood in line for the next bus to the Visitor Center to pick up a trail map and plan the hike for that day. Feeling pretty frisky, we chose two trails.  We would hike the Emerald Pools trail in the morning, then hike to Weeping Rock in the afternoon. Before our morning hike, a fellow hiker pointed out some rock climbers scaling the face of the mountain towering over Zion Lodge. I had to admire their bravery (or lack of smarts).

The Emerald Pools get their name from the green appearance that develops when algae forms in warm weather. The trail is rated as moderate and takes about an hour to complete. The Virgin River flows to the west side of the trail. The highlight of this trail is the ponds (not yet warm enough for algae) and the opportunity to stand behind a small waterfall to view them. The wildflowers along the trail were amazing and Helen took a lot of pictures for her wildflower picture collection which we hope to post at the end of our trip. I took a picture of a very friendly squirrel we met along the way, as well as a group of ladies, probably from a religious order, enjoying an outing in the Park.

The Weeping Rock Trail is an easy hike to the side of a mountain where water flows through the porous sandstone and provides moisture to a variety of plants and flowers. At the base of the mountain, large patches of a flower named Shooting Star grew in abundance. On the face of the mountain, freshwater flowed from rock pores and bathed the leaves of a fern-like plant cascading down the wall.

Returning to the Zion Lodge, a large crowd of gawkers gathered to watch the rock climbers still working their way up the face of the cliff.  I wish I could have sold tickets.  Helen and I waited for them to complete their climb and watched as they rappelled back to safety.

The next morning, we drove into the Park and parked Butch (truck) for a hike to Zion Canyon Overlook. Again, an early start gave us no advantage because the parking lots were full. We parked along the road and walked a considerable distance to the trailhead.

The Canyon Overlook Trail is a hike rated as having casual difficulty. I don’t know what casual difficulty means.  The trail was not strenuous, but the path was only about 10 inches wide in places and had almost no handrails. To the side of the trail, hikers faced a drop of several thousand feet straight to the bottom of the Canyon. I would describe the experience as exhilarating to the end. A few hikers joined us and one of them, a lady from New York, made it almost to the end, but could not make herself cross one of the narrow points and turned back.  I took this picture just before she departed. (One brochure recommended this hike as perfect under a full-moon…ain’t no way).

In the end, the challenge posed by the footing proved worth the effort.  The trail opens up to an extraordinary view of the Canyon. Helen and I peered carefully over the guardrails to a stunning view of Pine Creek, the Streaked Wall, and the Altar of Sacrifice. We both agreed that this hike and view is the highlight of our trip so far and we lingered long at the overlook before returning to the trail.  The narrow path was not as concerning this time. After three hikes, we have more experience 😉.

That evening, we went to dinner with Tom and Linda, a couple from California that we met in the campground. They own a trailer similar to our Lucy and spend a lot of time on the road.  Tom is a retired Navy officer and Linda works in the legal profession. After dinner, we walked back to Lucy for trailer talk and a lot of laughs. We enjoyed their company greatly and made promises to meet again somewhere on the road less traveled.

Zion National Park is a wonderful gift to an appreciative nation. I asked a Park Ranger about the crowd numbers and he told me that during June and July, the numbers swell to 500,000 visitors each month.  Those planning a trip there in the busy season should know it’s worth it. Words can’t describe the beauty. If you want a preview, the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a wonderful movie filmed there in the 1960s, is a good place to start.

We loved Zion. It’s time to be Easin’ Along, but we’re gonna leave very slowly.

Family week in California was special and leaving everyone was more than difficult, but time and trailer move on. Next on the itinerary was Las Vegas where we would spend four nights at Desert Eagle Campground on Nellis Air Force Base. The five-hour drive was uneventful except for one rest stop where Helen took a picture for a group of Japanese students out for some fun in the desert. I recorded the moment as well.

Desert Eagle is one of the largest military campgrounds in the country with 226 RV sites. It offers full hookups, laundry, game room, WiFi, and the cleanest showers we’ve used on this trip. Also, we had the good fortune of an assignment to one of the few sites with good shade all around. The temperatures were beginning to heat up just a bit when we arrived, and we were grateful.

Although casino-hopping was on the agenda, we didn’t want (nor could we afford) to do that alone, so we mixed in some sightseeing while the slots warmed up for us. Our first excursion was a one-hour drive to Hoover Dam, the largest hydroelectric facility in the world. As residents of the Tennessee Valley, and customers of TVA, we wanted to compare our dams to this dam. Ours didn’t measure up.

Hoover Dam is a massive structure. The picture at right lists some of the dimensions of the dam.

Lake Meade, created by Hoover Dam, is almost 500 feet deep at full pool. Equally amazing is the fact that construction began in 1933 and the first generator went into operation three years later.  In today’s world, it would take ten times that long to complete an environmental impact study and get a permit. Below the dam, the Colorado River flows southward.

We participated in a power plant tour and walked deep into inner portions of the dam to one of the generators.  All I could think of is that one of the concrete walls in front of me held 35 billion cubic meters of very cold water. I was glad to resurface. Helen and I walked to the Victory Statue that marked the completion of the dam and placed our hands on its shiny brass toes.  Supposedly this gesture brought good luck. Good luck in Las Vegas is a valuable commodity, so we gave those toes a big squeeze and hoped for the best.

While on this trip, Helen and I have tried our best to walk 10,000 steps at every opportunity so, on the day following the dam visit, we decided to walk much of the Las Vegas strip for some hotel visits and people watching. On the way downtown, we stopped at the Stratosphere to get a view of the city from the top of the hotel tower. The day was clear, the view stunning, and just as stunning were the people lined up to bungee jump from the tower…and, they paid good money to do it. I watched as one jumper suited up and walked to the ledge. I saw him jump but didn’t wait for the bounce.  I hope he made it back, he had a cute girlfriend.

Later, we parked Butch (truck) in the lot behind Bally’s and began our stroll by walking toward Caesar’s Palace. Helen was eager to try her luck after giving Victory’s toes a good rub the day before. She should’ve rubbed a little harder.  We moved on to Bellagio’s and paid $45 for one drink and a glass of wine. We decided to savor our drinks slowly while walking through the Japanese Flower Garden displayed in the Exhibit Hall. My pictures don’t do justice to the real thing, but hopefully readers will get a feel for the beauty surrounding us.

Our stroll continued for another hour or so until we reached Bally’s.  It was time to get serious, and our step counter showed that we had logged over 14,000 steps for the day and I was ready for a break. Helen had received a tip from a friend who suggested she find a Gremlin slot machine where her friend’s daughter had done very well on a previous visit.  The Gremlin gobbled Helen up in short order and she moved on. I lost track of her when I settled in with a Wheel of Fortune machine and held my own for an hour or so.  In the end, we balanced each other out (more or less) and had a very pleasant time.

We spent the remainder of our time in Vegas making use of the great facilities at Nellis to catch up on laundry and use the WiFi to catch up on things back home. We ventured into town again to do some shopping and enjoy a meal or two.  Pawn and Thrift shops are a favorite destination of mine in casino towns.  You never know what some unlucky gambler will part with to buy gas money home. Helen located a very popular shop on Trip Advisor and we found it on the southern end of the strip.  I purchased a model car to add to my collection of miniature ’55 Chevys.  It was a bargain.

Vegas was great. Nellis was great.  There are times when we measure luck in more than money.  We know we’re truly blessed…it’s time to be Easin’ Along.

We had a tough time leaving the outstanding campground at Fiddler’s Cove in San

Diego, but we would get over it pretty quickly because an even more excellent experience lay ahead. Our destination was Seabreeze RV Resort, a campground maintained by the Navy in Seal Beach, California. Once there, the plan was to park Lucy (trailer) and drive north to visit our son and his family at his home just south of Los Angeles.

As an extra treat, our other son and his family would join us after flying in from their home in South Carolina. Helen and I were very excited that the grandchildren would have the opportunity to reunite, mainly since the Carolina girls had never visited California. We had a week’s worth of sightseeing and family time to look forward to.

Day One – Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, California

I had always heard of Knott’s but had never visited. We decided that a trip to the tenth most visited theme park in North America might be just the ticket we needed, especially since all of the grandchildren had been to Disney World and Disneyland multiple times. This turned out to be the right decision.  The California kids knew much of the park from previous visits and loved sharing their knowledge with the newcomers.

While the girls were screaming their lungs out on the Dragon Boat ride, I escorted my grandson over to the kewpie doll stand to let him have a try at knocking over three dolls and win a prize. Once he had the baseballs in hand, he proceeded to knock over three in a row without hesitation. His scream at his accomplishment could be heard over every swing rider in the park.  Here is a picture of him and his prize.

I rode only one roller coaster and should have done it before lunch…almost left it there. I managed to live through it, but I was done for the day.  Helen avoided all of them, using the time instead to take the stuffed animal back to the car. Good move! We really enjoyed ourselves, and I had to pick up a jar of Knott’s Jelly as a souvenir (Boysenberry).

 

Day Two – Santa Monica Pier

Day two offered a threat of rain so that curtailed plans for a day at the beach.  Instead, we drove a few miles north to the city of Santa Monica to spend a few hours at the world-famous Santa Monica Pier. Surprisingly, the parking lot was crowded for so early on a cloudy day. Soon, however, we learned that there was a “Yogathon” underway on the back side of the pier and many hundreds of participants were sprawled out on yoga mats in various poses—some even with their derriere positioned high, much like a satellite dish searching for some coded signal from the chief Yogi himself.  This was a hoot.

The grandchildren rode a few more rides including the bumper cars and another wild swinging Dragon Boat.  My daughter-in-law from South Carolina should get a medal for riding this thing at least four times. My son participated in a song and dance routine with some other chaps which ended with one of the organizers jumping cartwheel style over all four of the guys. This was big fun, and the jumper made a haul in tips.

Day Three – La Brea Tar Pits

The weather was still too iffy for the beach, so my son suggested that we visit the La Brea Tar Pits for a real learning experience. Helen and I have wanted to visit this site ever since our son moved to California, so I was eager for the visit. The pits are located in urban Los Angeles.

Briefly described, the tar pits are composed of natural asphalt that oozed out of the ground to form ponds of sticky material.  Animals would confuse the ponds for a hard surface and become stuck in them and eventually die.  Other animals would come along and try to eat the imprisoned animals, and they would also get stuck. Over thousands of years, the pits would be filled with the bones of ancient mammals like Mastodons, Saber-Tooth Tigers, Giant Sloths, and Wooly Mammoths.  The oldest fossil dates back 38,000 years.

Excavation of the site began around 1915 and perfectly preserved ancient creatures were uncovered, with the bones assembled and displayed in the museum. Over 750,000 specimens were found in the first two years of excavations. I found the whole experience fascinating and would like to return at some point.

Day Four and Beyond – Beach and Pier Time

We finally had the opportunity to go to the beach and let the children dig in the sand.  They loved this almost as much as the amusement park rides. On our last morning, we all walked the California children to school—Helen’s favorite activity—and waved goodbye.  On the night before, we celebrated the birthday of this writer.  The girls composed a cheer for me and performed it several times.  I have the video and will post it on the Easin’ Along YouTube page when we return. This was the highlight of my trip so far.

Also, I have to thank my son’s mother-in-law for hosting everyone to an elegant dinner and pool party during our visit. She always goes all out for us when we visit and makes us feel so welcome.

We’re eight weeks into this journey and, happily, still Easin’ Along. So long for now.  Come back soon, we’re on our way to Vegas!