A loud thud woke us from our cryogenic sleep chamber and sent Eric scrambling into his flannels to investigate what outside forces were afoot. 6:38am and no apparent culprit, we pulled up the jacks to frontrun the looming snowfall.
No electric means no coffee means no go without Joe. A few hundred yards outside the park is Bryce Canyon City, sister city to the east coast’s South of the Border. But instead of Pedro, you get Ruby. Instead of fireworks you get rocks and gems. Everyone gets crappy souvenirs and dinosaur statues. We pulled into her laundromat since we’d hiked through all our cold weather clothes and socks for a $4 load and $14 breakfast at the Cowboy Buffet and Steak Room.
At Ruby’s Inn you get the look-alike free buffet from your local Days Inn … chalky pastries, powdered eggs, canned peaches and a gloopy gravy. The biscuits weren’t bad, but the real score was the 8 green bananas we pocketed for smoothies later in the week. 90 minutes later, we left with clean clothes and sick bellies for the 90 mile return to Zion.
Passing through Hatch, UT, we stopped at the Red Rock State Park Visitor Center in the Dixie National Forest and walked off breakfast on the Pink Ledge and Hoodoo 1 mile loop. The formations weren’t nearly as spectacular, but way more interactive as evidenced by a grown man in a tree.
At the top of the trail we could see the storm clouds 20 miles out and headed our way but by the time we got back to Betty, the rain and snow was on us. Motoring down 89 through Kanab we saw our people … gal and a guy, full on paneers busting a ride in the hard driving rain. We’re not the only crazies out here!
Backtracking our way to Zion, we tunneled through Mt. Carmel where the rain had stopped on the other side and pop-up waterfalls streamed from 700 feet above. While the hoodoos had a magical, mystical, fragile aura, we saw the canyon’s strength and power on full display.
Knowing we had 3 questionable days of weather ahead of us and no produce in the fridge, we drove through Zion, the outskirt town of Springdale and into the larger city of Hurricane to re-up on anything but bananas. The rain had returned so what better way to waste an afternoon than with a movie. Pulling in around 12:45, we had one choice at the Coral Cliffs Cinema – Avenger’s End Game. We stood in line to buy tickets only to find out it was a VIP showing.
VIP Showing means that after waiting in the regular line where you get to find out that it is a VIP Showing, you get to wait for the same dolt who was selling the regular tickets to finish up and come on over to the VIP room. When you get to the front of that VIP line, where the folks in front of you spend an hour deciding what they want from the menu and then find out that the only thing on the menu that you can order is pop corn because the kitchen is closed on Sunday, you get pay extra for a ticket and order the popcorn that you almost ordered back when you were not VIP. But, you don’t get the popcorn now. You can order it now, VIP style, and they will bring it to you when they feel like sometime in the middle of the movie. Your VIP theater which is one of 8 screens at the movie plex is distinguished by red velvet ropes next to the trash can. We sure felt special.
You do get to recline in plush leather chairs to a full stretch position if you choose. It definitely made the 3 hours of confusing Marvel Comic hero’s more comfortable before walking the aisles of Dave’s Farmer’s Market.
From Hoodoos to Hurricane, it was a grand 48 hour excursion.