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Published: August 7th 2009
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August 1st Williams, AZ to Kanab,UT
This was a driving day. We took our time getting up, mozying around, readying the RV and taking off for Utah. Our goal tomorrow is to hike Zion National Park. We decided to treat ourselves and stay in a hotel for the night. Not sure how much of a treat it was- it was a Roadway Inn. The girl said she'd give us a good deal. It was the room with the big TV but the TV wasn't working so we'd have to use the little TV! So that's what we did, but it was clean and had a nice shower so it was all good. We walked the town that night. Had beer and an appetizer at a cowboy bar surrounded by Europeans! It is amazing how many Europeans there are out here. They are everywhere. We are definitely outnumbered. I was expecting to see cowboys out west-instead there are Dutch,French,Polish, Italian, Belgiams,Russians........! The speedos have to go!
NAVAJO NATION
On our way up thru Arizona we traveled thru the Navajo Nation. This indian reservation was so depressing. These people are living in such poverty and it is ever so more evident
when you see it in 103 degree temperatures. Their houses are not much more than shells. It is so hot and dry and dusty and nothing around for miles upon miles upon miles. We stopped at an indian craft stand that was on the side of the road. More like a shack. I'm not sure how it stood up. There were 3 different tables selling indian jewelry and pottery. The one fella had stopped working because of an obvious eye injury. He was selling jewelry his wife and her friend made. The other stand was worked by two young girls, one was a senior in high school and the other appeared to be about 12. We asked them where they lived and they pointed to the "house" upon the side of the cliff. They said they go to the top of the cliff to gather the juniper berries that their grandma dries and uses to make jewelry. The grandma was sitting behind the table making the jewelry and I got my picture taken with her. Here were these 2 girls working in that oppressive dusty dirty heat to help out their grandma. They didn't seem to mind though. I got
some jewelry from them and a piece of horse hair pottery that their grandma's friend made and 2 necklaces from the other guy. . This was made right there on the side of the road. We had seen jewelry sold in the shops in some of the tourist towns we went thru but some of that was made in China and was about 4x as expensive!
August 2nd Kanab, UT to Bryce Canyon City, UT
BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY
Phil's sister Sherri reminded me that the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary wsa somewhere in Utah and I discovered it was was just outside of Kanab. It is the largest no kill animal sanctuary in the US(maybe the world). It is the subject of National Geographic Channel's "Dogtown". We were able to take the 10:30 tour. It was pretty cool. They have a couple thousand homeless animals there that they take care of and try to find "forever homes" for. They have dogs,cats,horses,rabbits,pigs,birds and much more. They took in 22 of the Michael Vick dogs. They are working on rehabilitating them and so far have adopted out one and have 3 in foster homes. We were able to go into
the dogs quarters and one of the cat's houses. We were able to take a guided tour. The animals seem very happy. They get lots of care and attention as well as plenty of treats and soft places to lay. They have a huge volunteer force of people some of who just come there to sit and hold the animals. Too cute! Before we went Phil told me that we would only go if I understood I could not bring an animal home with me! We left empty handed!
ZION NATIONAL PARK
After visiting with the animals we headed up to Zion National Park. We had to pay an extra fee to take the RV thru the tunnel to get into the park. The tunnel is too small so they have to stop traffic to allow large vehicles to go one way thru it while staying in the middle of two lanes.
What a treat this park was! Everything is clearly marked and they have a shuttle bus that takes you around the park. The striking thing is all the red rocks and cliffs and then there is some green trees and things along the bottom. The colors are
amazing and the park is beautiful. We decided to hike the Emerald Pools trail. There are lower, middle and upper pools and we went all the way to the upper.It was only about a 3 1/2 mile hike but the top part was literally climbing hand and foot over rocks to get there. It was well worth the climb. When we reached the pool at the top it was like an oasis in the middle of nowhere. A pool of water set right up against a huge cliff so high that the sun didn't even get down there. It was such contrast to the hot red cliffs of the rest of the climb. There was quite a number of people up there enjoying the scenery and resting from the climb. There was a family with 4 little boys and they were having a blast playing in the water. We stayed about 30 minutes and then climbed back down. We ran into a mule deer on the way down the trail. When we were done with teh hike we took the shuttle back to the RV and drove 2 hours to a campground that is right outside the park entrance.
We
finished the day by driving about 2 hours to a campground just outside Bryce Canyon National Park.Tomorrow we explore the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon.
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Patti Gallant
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Kanab!
Lori Kanab was our favorite stop on our cross country trek twenty years ago! I still have a map of the town. Patti