We're in the desert

Second Post - Tuesday, October 18

WELCOME to our new Follower, Jolly Ollie!  You don't show a blog, so I can't check it out, but I'm glad you found us and decided to follow along with me and Katie on our adventures.  We're in a beautiful place right now, so read on...   Welcome!

Yesterday we left Yuma Lake RV Park around 10 am, and drove south, looking for signs that would lead to an RV park we'd like.  I also had a couple I had researched, but they came up too soon; I wasn't ready to stop yet.

We did stop at the furthest one on my list, it was in Fillmore, UT.  I had called in advance and they had openings, and were a Passport America park, 1/2 price for two days.  I drove through Fillmore, and headed out of town a ways, finally coming to the park. It wasn't the kind of park I like.  Very cute, every surface covered with bark, cutsie things, lots of permanent RVers, and close together.  It wasn't clean looking because there was so much junk in there.  So, I drove through the park and out the other side, and back to town.

I drove back into Fillmore, which was Utah's first capital.  The original Statehouse building is there; it's the oldest existing governmental building in the state and is a historic site and museum.  It stands on a square city block that has other historic buildings.  I stopped in front of the Stone Schoolhouse, and took Katie outside for a walk before figuring out another plan.

 Stone Schoolhouse

 

 Schoolroom shot taken through the window.

I love looking at old schoolrooms.

We walked around a bit, then got back into The Palms and drove on.  As we were going down the 15 I saw a sign that said Bryce Canyon, and since it was still early in the day, I turned off.  We drove quite a while, over mountains into canyons, beautiful scenery.

I wasn't sure which way to go after a while, so I fed the name into my GPS, which has been really reliable.  Well...  we drove and drove.  Kept on Airport Road, turning and turning and turning, still on Airport Road, and then drove down a long road.  I kept thinking, this can't be right.  But it was new territory for me, so I kept going. 

This is one of the times I'm VERY glad I have a 24 foot rig and no toad.  This is where we ended up:

End of the road, gate locked, no one around. 

There was nothing to do but turn around.  The road was probably 26 feet wide.  It took quite a few of these: reverse/turn/forward/turn, repeat.  Then retrace all the roads we went down to get to the airport.

Along the way we saw the some cattle.  They are so curious, I stopped the car to de-stress a little and walked up to the fence to talk to them.   I love cattle and don't usually get a chance to stop.

I went back into the town of Beaver, UT, got gas and asked the man where Bryce Canyon was.  He gave me directions, two streets to the right, turn left and follow the signs.  Good.

It was still quite a ways, over more mountains to the park.  We entered Dixie National Forest first, through this tunnel in the rock - there were two of them, one right after the other - and drove through Red Canyon:

As soon as I entered the second tunnel, the rocks became fascinating.  When I entered Bryce Canyon National Park, the Ranger gave me a handout that explains how the rock formations came to be.   It all started approximately 200 million years ago. The limestone formations are a deep red, much more vibrant than the photos I got.

 If you click on the photos you'll see more detail.

HooDoo

When the limestone formations get to this point, above, they are called hoodoo's.  

We passed through Red Canyon and continued on until we got to Bryce Canyon National Forest.  The Ranger at the booth said some visitors were coming back out saying there were no vacant camp sites, but she hadn't officially been told that, so I could go in and see if I could find one.  That's what I did.  There was only one campground open, and all the sites were taken.  We drove through the whole campground, and then back out again.  

We went into the nearby town and checked around to see if there was a place we could "night camp," and then drive back into the park in the morning, when we could probably get a site.  I just couldn't find anything.  I asked at a motel if we could park in their lot, but she wasn't sure and didn't want to give permission.  I didn't see a place where we wouldn't stand out, and I was super tired at that point.  It was getting dark and I didn't want to get the "knock" on the door in the middle of the night by a security guard or the police.  

It had been a long, frustrating, interesting, tiring day.

So we drove back out of town the way we came, and kept going until I saw a sign, Paradise RV Park.  It was dark by then and I couldn't see the park, but there were vacant sites, and I drove in.  Full hookups were only $14.50, and I saw in the morning, it was a very nice, clean, well kept park.  It was really cold during the night, and I again turned on the Arctic switch and the space heater and put Katie in the bunk during the night.  There was frost on the hood of the truck and on the picnic tables in the morning.  We were up at 8 and on our way again.

After our stop at Walmart

We arrived in Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, UT around 4 this afternoon.  I want a nice park to be in until our reservations at Zion, and although this is more than I like to pay, $28/night, it has full hook-ups.  We haven't had full hook-ups for a while, and it will be nice to settle here for a week or so.  After driving all day yesterday and most of today, I'm pooped and this is a nice relaxing park.

 When I was organizing the kitchen I looked out the window and saw this guy - a roadrunner?  I've never seen one before. 

Roadrunner

 

 The Palms in our site - what a view!
(Darn, wrong setting again.)

 Sunset at Sand Hollow State Park

It was warm this afternoon.  We took a short walk around the loop, and when we got back I changed into short shorts and a tank top.  I haven't worn them in a while, and it feels good.

So, we are settled in and Katie is sound asleep.  As soon as the sun went down, the wind started, and it's howling outside now.  It's really dark, too.  I think we're going to like it here.

More photos tomorrow.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday evening, everyone!  :)