A well kept secret is the incredible beauty of Zion National Park. At least it was a secret to us. It is a part of the Kolob Canyons, the sheer cliffs and the colors are just incredible. Even the road through the park, which is made from the local sandstone is a deep maroon color, and it is beautiful. The park ranger explained that this area of Utah has been subject to earthquakes and volcanic activity of immense power and in geological historical terms, the activity has been recent, say within the last six million years. The result has been these immense cliffs and jagged mountains that vary from six to eight thousand feet and are colored bright reds, oranges and shades of yellow. Much of the area is covered in small trees and there is a lot of vegetation, not at all like I had imagined. I had pictured an area basically devoid of plant life and almost desert like. Wrong again, the back sides of the mountains are green giving away to sheer drop-offs that remind me of El Capitan in Yosemite. Throughout our trip I have been reminded of what American pioneers faced and for the life of me I cannot imagine how they made their way across the country. I would have taken one look at these mountains and said this looks like a good place to stop.
We have made it to Salt Lake City and once again made our stop at a Diner, Drive-in and dive. I am not sure of the specific designation I would place on "the Lone Star Taqueria" but they had a drive-in window so I guess that makes it a drive-in. Not really, but what the hell. Whatever the type eatery it may be, they have great Mexican food. Their speciality is fish tacos. Outside the restaurant there is an old station wagon covered in bumper stickers, with four flat tires and a large wooden shark fin atop the vehicle advertising their house speciality. There were five people working inside and none spoke more than a smattering of English. However, we managed to place our order and when it came they had gotten three of the four items correctly. I finally found a good tamale, a real gooood tamale. Jeannie had two carne asada tacos and later we ordered a and carne adovada taco. Every thing seems to come with rice and pinto beans. No refried beans, these are pinto beans with onions, chopped tomatoes and green peppers. I love the taste of the beans but they do not love me. They also had a salsa bar with six different salsas. All were excellent but the one labeled "hot" I should have left alone. Although I just had a tiny taste it was liquid fire. Shands hospital has never found anything that could open my sinuses like this molten combination of habernos. Whoa! it was warm and I mean instantly, lips, the roof of my mouth, my throat...all went up in flames. Jeannie said she had never seen my eyes so wide or a look of such utter surprise, I told her it wasn't surprise it was terror. I survived, we had another great meal and made it back to our hotel.
It is Thursday morning and we are about to make the final push to Glacier Park, Montana. We expect to arrive around 7 PM and should be able to look across the lake and see the Canadian shore. I am hoping we have an Internet connection so that I can update you all on where we are. Until then take care.
No comments:
Post a Comment