St. George, Utah: It was time to say goodbye to Bryce Canyon and head for a big city with big city restaurants and big city golfing - St. George. Dave comes here quite often for his annual fall "Dinosaur" golf boondoggle trip with his buddies.
DT wanted to go for a long bike ride this morning before sitting in the driver seat for hours, so we didn't leave the park until 11a, but didn't have far to drive. Our route was taking us through Zion National Park (which we have visited previously) and we planned to stop in the park for a while.
Leaving Bryce Canyon, we once again passed through the beautiful Red Rock Canyon. A national forest supervisor, W.J. Humphrey, first came to Bryce Canyon around 1915 and was so impressed with Bryce Canyon, and the canyon approaching the park, he made it his mission to construct a road to Bryce Canyon through the equaling-stunning Red Rock Canyon. The road opened in 1925, with much fanfare - making Bryce Canyon accessible to everyone. Personally, I am so grateful to people who had the foresight to keep these stunning sections of our country from development! Imagine oil rigs or condos or resort hotels along the rim of Bryce Canyon! Alors!
We passed through several small towns today, most serving park visitors (motels, campgrounds, ATV rentals, horseback riding, restaurants). One town was named Orderville. It was not orderly in any way and they have a cafe offering "Ho-made" pies. Really?
We didn't stop again until we entered Zion National Park. Coming from Bryce Canyon via Highway 89 this is considered kinda a side door. Happily, it offers the most amazing vistas in the national park - and certainly one of the most winding switch-back roads in Utah.
Though this side door provides some of the best views in the national park, it requires any vehicle (basically) larger than a van pay a $15 fee to drive one-way down the middle of a low/narrow two-way tunnel. Today, though we still had to pay $15, the tunnel was one-way all day. They seemed to wait until about 12-15 cars were in line, then let the cars through. We didn't wait long - the tunnel is just over a mile long - and it is always "fun" to drive down the middle of the road. In the dark.
A few shots from the other side of the tunnel:
We decided to park at the Visitor Center and ride the shuttle through the park (private cars are no longer allowed inside the main part of the park). We could not find a place to park in the Visitor Center and they must have 300 parking spots. The RV parking (60 spots?) was full because CARS were parked there. (Same thing we found at Grand Tetons. Why isn't someone out there ticketing? Our parks could use the easy revenue.) We couldn't find a place to park anywhere and it was just a mess of people driving around and around waiting for someone to leave. Then we noticed the shuttle buses were so packed, tourists were STANDING like sardines in the bus. Change of plans. Yes, we have been here before and we have hiked many of the trails, but I was not willing to be a sardine to see it once again. We have learned on this trip to never come to this neck of America June-August again. (But that is when the kids have their summer vacation!)
We just kept driving until we reached St. George. DT dropped me at the car rental office, I chose a little SUV, we met at the campground, and barely had the slide room out before the thunderstorm that had been chasing us all day let-loose. Buckets of rain, howling wind, lightning, thunder, black skies. Scary stuff. Oh, forgot to mention is was 109°. I had plenty of time to edit all the above photos while DT caught-up in the RV Park laundry room.
Dinner tonight was to a fun restaurant in the lobby of a downtown hotel, Wood Ash Rye. Since it was in a hotel, I thought it would be a bit toney, but patrons were wearing very casual clothes (and, OF COURSE, baseball hats and flip flops). The restaurant decor was quite nice, with an open kitchen and funky chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. First, we ordered cocktails... forgetting we are in Utah and a cocktail can only contain 1.5 ounces of booze.
But it was a perfect martini and just the way I like it... just smaller. Wood Ash Rye is a shareable menu restaurant. You share, tapas style, and items come out of the kitchen as they are ready. We ordered the Spring Acre Salad, which was very nice and we actually finished it all (yeah us!). We loved the honey dressing - not too sweet, but very light.
The duck tacos were also a must-try. It was a confited leg/thigh of duck, served with shredded cabbages in a light sauce, served with street-taco-sized flour tortillas and a (not very) hot sauce. The server asked if we minded shredding our own meat and we said no... so don't know if she would have done it for us or not? I'm a whiz at shredding! The duck itself tasted like Peking duck, but the combination of the Mexican-spiced slaw with the shredded duck was very nice.
No leftovers! World Record for us?
However, our calorie consumption was not over. Walking around cute downtown St. George on the way back to the rental car, we came across a charming little shop called Paletas Gourmet Creamsicles. I mean, come on, who could resist? Dave said it reminded him of the colors in a Paris macaron shop.
But it's not just a creamsicle. Customers choose a flavor, then it can be dipped in different coatings (like milk chocolate, dark chocolate) and then it is rolled in all sorts of your choice of toppings, nuts, Oreo crumbs, Biscoff, all types of crushed candy bars, on and on. The staff and owner were so friendly and helpful in our decision-making. DT ordered a vanilla creamsicle with dark chocolate, rolled in crushed peanuts. I had chocolate, dipped in dark chocolate, and rolled in Oreo. And then they drizzled more chocolate sauce over it all. Big time chocolate fix, and a rare dessert for us.
There was no way I finished this, but dang was it good! We continued walking back to our car and saw so much street art and murals:
The Giants v Dodger game is blacked-out and DT is not a happy camper. But tomorrow we golf, so everything will be okay.
Until my next update, I remain, your St. George correspondent.
Campground Information: Temple View RV Resort - This is where we have stayed previously in St. George. It hasn't improved much and now has park models. Still, very convenient location to downtown and freeway. Pool, hot tub, laundry, bath house, putting green, shuffle board, horse shoes, fitness center, billiards room. Free wifi with daily rate. We paid less than $60 per night, for a full-hookup site on gravel with cement patio and picnic table.
Wonderful post and gorgeous pictures. We have been to both
parks but some years back. Enjoyed it all.
Your dinner made me hungry and of course the Creamsicles
looked so yummy !!
Enjoy your golf day.