Visiting St George Utah

---

St George, Utah a sprawling, rapidly growing city in the southwest corner of Utah. It was one of our destinations because friends retired there decades ago. The city was starting to promote itself as a great place to retire or have a business, and the promotions have continued to work quite well.

Nobody seems to be sure where the name “St George” came from, but one story suggests one man named George was sent to the region with others to establish a community and temple, farm potatoes and such. Potatoes didn’t really like to grow in the area, and because every adult male Mormon is considered to be a bishop and when he dies, he name becomes known as “Saint” whatever, so the city was named after this George. The second story tells us Brigham Young admired George Washington immensely. Whomever came to the area could have assumed the name George, and Brigham named the county this city sits in Washington County. Either story certainly could be plausible.

St George is very near some spectacular national and state parks and recreation areas. Together with the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon are considered by some historians and geologists to show the history of creation as described in Genesis in the layers which we see as spectacular scenery. St George is also the location of the first Mormon temple built in the state of Utah. In fact, the temple is the source of the name of the RV park where we parked our RV for the visit: Temple View RV Resort.

Our friends had recommended this RV park, partly because it’s just minutes from their home and all of St George. The park is a very nice RV park, truly a resort, with a little putt-putt course and a very nice pool. When we made the reservation, we thought this park was pretty big, with 260 RV sites, but later learned the park in Las Vegas had more than 1000, but more about that later.

The day we arrived was a bit of an adventure because it was the first back-in site we've used, and backing our 37 foot RV in was a trial. As Natalie describes the experience:

Tom is not practiced at backing yet. So as we pulled near our slot, the worried neighbors came out to “guide” us in. With much jockeying, we declared his parking was as good as it was going to get. But all the neighbors came out, one moved her jeep, one took an active role in backing us into our slot, others just watched with great concern and let’s face it, one source of entertainment is other RVers getting positioned in their sites.

I will try to avoid having to do that if at all possible. The good side of the experience was the amount of help we received from neighbors. It wasn't always very helpful, but we did get properly positioned and hooked up, without damaging anything. Then it was time to relax, so we did.

But out of these moments come wonderful stories. The guy who worked hardest to help us back in was leaving the next day, so in the morning he brought over a bag of food they couldn’t take with them - meat, juice, bread, etc. Everyone is so kind. Another RV had 2 very friendly guys who were part of a group in St George bicycling the canyons. (Their wives weren’t so interested in bicycling.) Since names are often forgotten if heard at all, one guy got our attention with “hey white shirt”, because that’s all he ever saw Tom wearing. He was a huge resource for places to stay over winter in warm climates since he has been doing this for a number of years. We’ll be in touch in the future there. We had several nice visits with them over the next few days.

We spent most of the next few days with our friends, who really gave us a grand tour of St George and many of the new communities in and around St George. We never felt so loved and welcomed. They came and got us almost every day. They drove us to all the sites in and around the city to show it off. They love the city. You sure can’t beat the panoramic territorial vistas from all over the city. There are no real mountain names, just rough edges circling St George.

The first day, we visited Snow Canyon State Park, which is full of rock formations you can’t get enough of, has hiking and bicycling trails galore, and scenery worth any of the hiking or bicycling you might consider. It's interesting to consider the plants you see in the photos, because there is quite a variety of plant life in the desert like environment we see in the photos. When our hosts told us they volunteered to help weed the park land several years ago, I was a bit surprised as in "You mean that isn't all weeds?" That's a whole new idea to me, but quite interesting. They also had to pay attention to where they were walking, because snakes and other unpleasant critters do live in the desert brush.

We also went into the city itself, and walked around the old city area. The city really takes pride in their history, and has done a great job of keeping original buildings and areas lovely. Many of the buildings have their dates over their doorways. There is a historical walking tour that is quite informative. There's an old-fashioned gas pump in front of Judd's Candy Store, a store which has been in the same place for many years. They also have some very nice parks in downtown St George, and one we walked through had some of the original buildings, including the jail big enough for a prisoner or two, so crime was evidently not much of a problem then. Brigham Young had his summer home in St. George, and it is well preserved and open for tours.

The city boasts a lot of culture, like an abundance of art galleries, historical tours, and live theatre. One of the most famous is an outdoor theatre called “Tuacahn,” which has outstanding performances. We weren’t able to attend any shows, but maybe our next pass through.

We also drove around the city to look at some of the really nice homes there. One of the new developments we visited is called Kayenta Village. It's an art community of one-story adobe style homes and shops built to fit into the land without disrupting the appearance of the land any more than absolutely necessary. They're almost built with camouflage as the main objective. We did see a few homes because their roof can be difficult to hide, but otherwise, the homes are almost invisible. There is an art gallery in the village we were able to visit, and some very interesting art to be seen. This is where we took photos of some very interesting whirligigs and other lawn art.

Zion National Park. WOW. The park service has made Zion very approachable. The city of Springdale just before Zion has parking available for a reasonable charge. Then every 1/4 mile or so there is a bus stop for a shuttle that takes you to the visitors center itself, where you can catch another shuttle that takes you through the park. The buses are free, clean and frequent. We never had to wait more than a few minutes. The park shuttle drivers have suggestions about each of the stops, and some give a running commentary about the park as they drive.

We elected to take the shuttle all the way to the last stop, then decide which stops to take on the way back down.

The Virgin River carves the canyon and runs through the whole park. One hike, which begins near the Sinowava stop, the 9th and last park shuttle stop, is actually through the river. (That trail is recommended only for knowledgeable and expert hikers.) We just took a short path around the area of the shuttle stop to appreciate the scenery and take a look at the river early in its route. It is a beautiful area and a nice place to admire.

The Court of the Patriarchs is impressive. The peaks were named by an explorer in 1916 after the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The peaks are pretty close in height and certainly feel close in and close together. We took a short path to a viewpoint. It was a paved path with switchbacks up the side of a steep hill, and the handrail didn’t go further than the first stretch. When we became a bit concerned with the absence of the handrail and almost turned around, a girl overheard us and said the stop was just a short way further and well worth the walk. She was right – the view was unobstructed and quite impressive. Even better, another couple offered to take our photo and Natalie was more than happy to let her.

Of course, the museum was one of our favorite stops. It is a very informative museum. While we were at the museum, one of the rangers had set up a table to display some information and artifacts from the condors, including a feather inside a plastic tube. It is kind of amazing that the 25-inch feather she had could be just a part of the bird with a 10-foot wingspan. She also had a good knowledge about the condors, so we had quite a pleasant discussion with her about the condors as well as the nature museum we visited near Ogden, Utah. There is one pair of nesting condors in the park. We didn’t get to see them, but others we talked to did get a glimpse. It would be an amazing sight to see them soar, with their 10-foot wing spans, just looking for food. All of the condors have been tagged, so they can be tracked. They mate for life, and a pair will lay 1 egg every 2 years. Just a few years ago, there were fewer than 100 or so, and now, there are just over 1100 condors in the world. Quite a comeback. Lewis and Clark were awed by such a creature as I would be too. However, they most definitely do not qualify in my book as an attractive bird.

After the day of our visit to Zion National Park, our hosts took us for more sightseeing around St George, this time to a couple of local parks. The first is called Pioneer Park and is an area of interesting red rock formations and more spectacular views. The next park is called Desert Garden, and is a very interesting park you could call a desert arboretum. It’s a very interesting collection of desert plants that you normally find in the area around St George, all labeled and organized around a park-sized water feature with an aquarium and viewing window in the middle, much like the fish ladder at the Ballard Locks, only on a smaller scale. Our last stop of the day was a restaurant called the Cliffside, where the views of St George are spectacular. St George is a really beautiful city in and area of amazing scenery from almost any vantage point in the city

The route from St George to Las Vegas took us through an area others called “The Gorge” and warned us to drive very carefully. It is a continuation of the amazing terrain and scenery we saw through St George and Zion National Park, but without quite the same flash of color and drama. I can easily see why people warned us to be careful, especially with the weather forecast of high winds. And wind is something to be careful about. However, the winds were still fairly calm most of the way to Las Vegas, and taking things slow is always a good idea with an RV attached.

Once we arrived in Las Vegas, though, things became a bit more interesting, but we’ll leave that story for next time.

---

Comments

[Jim Schettler]

Great To Hear from You
I'm so glad to read your blog!!! I have been wondering what you guys were up to , and it sounds like you have been very busy in St George. The photos are great - so beautiful. Again, so very good to hear from you, and I especially liked your back-up story :). Take care - we miss you guys!