Holiday midpoint, needing a rest

The avid reader and hiker needing a slow day of golf

With tired legs and need to recharge, Patrick and Dad head off to find a golf course in St. George, while Roberta decides to finish off one book and start another.  After some struggles with adjusting to the putter and pitching wedge, we head off to the first tee with clubs and cart to take on the heat and the course.  Although it got up to just above 100 degrees on the course, it was a bearable temperature being very low humidity and a nice breeze.  Of course, it would not have been so easy to take without the shelter and comfort of our golf cart.

Driving to Bryce Canyon National Park

The game was lots of fun.  We only had someone behind us for the first two holes and then the rest of the day was fairly free flowing.  After nine we stop for a brief lunch.  As we come back onto the course there is a crowd of about 20 junior golfers starting the back nine.  They immediately stop to allow us to pass through.  We are down on the tenth fairway, at the edge of the rough, when one of the course workmen drives his cart over to us and says that he had to come by and “shake the hand of a real cowboy golfer!”  Patrick smiled and shook his hand.  The fellow drove off and we laughingly smiled at the event.  Patrick later noted how he has the cowboy down, if only he could manage the golfer part.

A hiking pause on the trail at Bryce Canyon

On the drive back we pick up Roberta and headed into Springfield to continue some more hunting and gathering at the local market.  Once we returned to the homestead a hearty game of canasta ensued followed by a dinner of mushroom rice, stir-fried vegetables, and sautéed Portobello mushrooms.  After dinner we enjoyed a plate of freshly sliced peaches, Anjou pears and aged Gruyere. 

Roberta was anxious for more exploration and another hike.  We headed off early the next day to explore Bryce Canyon National Park as soon as we could extract Patrick from his morning hot tub ritual and his complete envelopment in the second Stieg Larsson volume.

A Ravens fan, Patrick needed a close-up of the mascot

Yes, in between hikes this has been a book tour, with Patrick leading the way.  The flight from DC started Patrick off with book one, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Patrick was hooked and needed to read every page immediately.  By the third day of holiday he was transitioning to volume II, The Girl who Played with Fire, and devouring ever faster.  We needed to get him on the road to Bryce and so we forced him into the back seat and off we went.  Oh yes, later in the day he announced he finished it – a two-day turnaround time.

Hoodoos along the Bryce Canyon trail.

Bryce, the smaller cousin of Zion, is somewhat, but just less crowded than Zion, but no less a great sight to behold.  The park has many hoodoos and lots of nice hikes.  We enjoyed the park shuttle and headed off to the end of the shuttle area where we started the Peek-a-boo loop hike.  The trek straight away takes you down into the canyon with plenty of switchbacks and steep overlooks.  We immediately leave behind the crowds on the hike and pass only the occasional hiker along the way.  The hoodoos are magical, taking on all sorts of imaginary shape of people, animals and odd objects.  The sky is a brilliant blue with wisps of high clouds, the ground a rich mix of layered reds and white, and the trail is marked by occasional seeps that tells you that water is somewhere, but not in the air. 

Sunrise and sunsets were always a treat

Towards the end of the Navajo loop trail we begin to run into the crowds as we close in on an area called Wall Street, which is a tight narrow canyon, sometimes less than ten feet wide, but up to hundred feet tall and spotted with an equally tall pine tree that is reaching up to the sun.  Here the Bryce crowds are queuing up waiting to take a great photo in the bright red walled canyon.

The sound of this rattle made Bill jump rather quickly.

Our journey to Bryce took us out the east side of Zion, through the mile long carved tunnel, a tunnel carved through the sandstone back in 1927-30.  It is a work of art and engineering, with three or so portals cut out to view the majestic peaks of Zion.  Coming back into Zion in the early evening we caught the setting sun and new views of the sandstone cliffs.  The trip back also gave us the second chance to see the park’s Big Horn sheep.  This time we were in a good position to stop and watch the sheep graze away with the setting sun.  Again Patrick captured the moment with a true knack of setting and light.