Marching on to Zion

Day 20 - May 25th

First stop of the day? Starbucks, of course! Today's destination was Zion National Park. 

National Historic Site # 15 - Zion National Park
We drove from St. George, UT to Zion National Park, which was about 42 miles. We entered the park through the little town of Springdale. On the way into town, we saw an ostrich farm which took us by surprise.

As we approached the park, we realized we were in for quite a day. It was Memorial Day and the park was packed. People were parking everywhere because there were no spaces available in the lots. Park rangers were suggesting people park in Springdale and ride one of the shuttle buses into the park. 

We decided to just drive for awhile. We took the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway which is a 12 mile scenic drive connecting the south entrance to the east entrance. The rock formations were just incredible. 

We went through a 1.1 mile tunnel which was really cool.  It had cutout areas to allow ventilation. It was completed in 1930.

Once we completed the drive, we turned around and drove back to the Visitor Center. Dean finally found a parking space so we went inside. As we shopped, we found the Mystery in Our National Park book series that Robin had read with her kiddos. We enjoyed listening to the stream that ran right past the Visitor Center.

We found out that Zion had another section of the park that was about 40 miles northwest. We decided it would be worth the drive since the rangers told us how beautiful it was.

Before we left the main park, we wanted to watch the Zion National Park movie. It was at the Zion Human History Museum so we boarded a Zion bus shuttle and headed there. It was very good and well worth our time. We were intrigued by the water bottle filling stations that were available to visitors. What a nice way to encouraged staying hydrated in the park. We returned back to the Visitor Center, got our car and left for Kolob Canyons.

We needed gas so stopped at a Sinclair gas station. This one had a large dinosaur model at it. Sinclair gas stations were very prevalent throughout the West. This particular one had the price inflated because of the holiday weekend.

When we arrived, we went to the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center there and added their stamp to our passports. The 5 mile scenic drive was very nice.  We were amazed at the red roads in both areas of the park. 

We drove back to St. George and decided to go try the restaurant the front desk had recommended the night before. It was called Anasizi and had some unique features. We ordered filet mignons and were taught how to cook them ourselves on hot rocks (600 degrees) at our table. What an experience! The meat was delicious and it was really fun! As if that wasn't enough, we finished the meal with dark chocolate fondue dessert. Yummy! So we paid a lot of money to cook our own meal!  Something is wrong with that picture, but we would do it again in a heartbeat! 

Dinner was a wonderful end to a day of beautiful sights!