Stan and Connie Spielbusch's Web Site

StanAndConnie.com

June 2002

Utah!

Why the exclamation point? Well, most license plates here have "Ski Utah!" on them but the "Ski" part isn't very visible, so it just seems like the name of the state is "Utah!". Anyway, it does sound kinda like an exclamation.

We had only planned to stay about a week in Utah to see the Zion and Bryce parks before moving up north. It didn't quite work out that way, but that's the nice part about having flexible plans (ie. no advance reservations). However it did start getting too hot for our tastes, and we really should be in Oregon (or Alaska) by now.

Cedar City

We had never heard of Cedar City before, but it has become our favorite place in Utah. It's a small town with a university, and seems to get its share of tourists too (it's a good base camp for seeing Zion, Bryce, and other parks and attractions). It has a quaint Main Street with an old-time atmosphere, with numerous college-town shops, a drugstore with a real soda fountain (and great chocolate malts), and one small theater.

(Click photos to enlarge)

One of the best things about Cedar City is the altitude -- at about 6000 feet (I think), it's cooler than most parts of Utah, even 20 miles away. It's also next to a mountain range with a few surprises. For one, it's a beautiful drive up highway 14 into the mountain. You pass by several interesting rock formations in quick succession, then you're in the cool thick-with-cedar-trees area within 10 minutes. Near the summit you'll find Navajo Lake, a long skinny lake formed by a lava flow. Further down the raod you can see some of the lava rock that flowed through the area (I didn't have a chance to stop for pictures of the lava -- just imagine a large field of black dirt clods the size of cars, with cedar trees growing between them).

You'll also find Cedar Breaks National Monument here. It's like a miniature Bryce Canyon, but just as beautiful and very quiet. An amazing sight in the middle of a mountaintop forest.

Zion National Park

Zion is, well, a canyon with some nice scenery. To be honest we were somewhat disappointed with Zion, but that's probably because it wore us out (too many "short" hikes). Also, we didn't get to go to the most interesting part, the hike up the river "Narrows" where the steep and narrow canyon can really be experienced. We didn't prepare for it and didn't want to get the shoes we were wearing wet, since it's basically a walk in the river. (And when carrying two digital cameras, you don't want to slip in the water!)

Anyway, there is some nice scenery, which is difficult to fully appreciate in photos as usual.

...and this is as close as we got to the water and the Narrows (I should know better than to let Connie have a camera...at least I got a nice photo):

Bryce Canyon National Park

This is more like it -- high elevation so it's cool, much more interesting rock formations, and fewer long hikes (unless you want to really experience the canyon from the bottom). There's even a cool tunnel on the way to the park:

The only problem is that there are so many great vistas, it's hard to decide which photos to post. Here are a "few" of our favorites:

Provo, Utah

We stayed a couple weeks here to get some work done. There are quite a few interesting things to see in the area, but we didn't see them. Well, we did drive up to Bridal Veil falls, which is remarkable mainly because it seems so out of place in this area that seems more like desert. There's also a nice mountain view from the RV park we stayed in (that is, a view of a mountain).

Salt Lake City, Utah

We were going to bypass Salt Lake City, but I decided to get a Motosat 2-way satellite internet system installed on the motorcoach. The Motosat factory is here, so we stayed a week to get it installed and tested before we left the area.

We also visited Temple Square, home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We didn't see any Osmonds there, but the temple is pretty impressive. It took 40 years to build (the stones were all carved by hand and transported by horse-drawn carts). The domed building behind it is where the choir performs.

They have tours of the square every 15 minutes daily, given by Sisters from around the world -- almost every language is represented, so you can get a tour in your native language. They also have a Family Search Center and Family History Library here, probably the most comprehensive geneological center in the world. You can access part of it online at FamilySearch.com, and it's all free to the public.

Bonneville Salt Flats

On the way out of Utah, we passed by the great salt lake, and lots of "salt flats" including the famous Bonneville Salt Flats, home of the land-speed records (622 mph as of the 1970 sign, but probably faster by now).

At a highway rest area, people get out and play in the salt like it's snow. It's really an awesome sight to look out over the miles and miles of perfectly flat salt. When there's water covering it, it's like a huge mirror (we saw some smaller areas covered with water, but most of it's dry in the summer).

One thing I couldn't figure out is the meaning of this "work of art" that was all alone out on the flats:

That's all for now...we'll be heading up to Oregon and Washington for a couple months. Gotta cool down, for real this time!

Thank you for visiting our travel site. Please visit our other sites too:

Campground Master -- A tracking program for your campground or inn. Easy to use and learn, but modern and powerful. One of the most inexpensive systems, great for small campgrounds. Designed by campground owners and full-time RVers.

MysteryPhotos -- Every week a new photo is shown, which may be a close-up of something, or a section of a common object or sight. Guess what it is and you might win a prize. Lots of fun for the whole family! Free screensaver and wallpaper too.

Awesome Screen Savers -- Cool photographic screen savers of the highest quality, for Windows PC's. Download FREE Lite versions of them all. Some are created with photos from our travels, some are awesome photos from NASA. (Contact me to have a screen saver made with your own photos!)

Cottonwood Software -- My shareware business site, currently featuring File-Ex 98: a Windows 95/98 dialog enhancement tool. Great for people who work with a lot of files.

Free -n- Cool -- Tons of Freebies, Giveaways, and Cool Sites -- all in one! You'll find a large selection of free samples you can get mailed to you, free games, screen savers, internet services, etc., plus hundreds of contests of all types, and a unique "intensely cool sites" list.