Big scope day

With the motel-provided continental breakfast and all the car food from the grocery store trip, we had little to keep us from launching into our day at Zion. It was a beautiful drive that turned spectacular after we paid the $25 at the entrance gate. I asked the dude with a hat two things:  could I get any credit from my Grand Canyon pass and what happened to the old National Park sticker concept. The stickers from my youth are apparently long gone but for $85 I could get a year-long pass to all the national parks. I figured it would be 3 parks, max, for me and I had all ready blown the $25 on Grand Canyon so I opted for the boring regular pass which comes with a receipt and a map.

Coming at the valley from the East entrance involves winding through grooved and textured enormous rock hills until you come to a small tunnel... small in circumference that is. It's a mile long and was drilled in the early 20th century. When ever an RV wants to come through (which is all the time) they make it a one-way tunnel and the larger vehicle is "escorted" through. So generally there is a wait in each direction. But once you punch through to the other side you find yourself near the top of a most amazing valley. Switchbacks take you to the floor and eventually to the Visitor Center where you can park, learn about the history and geology, and then jump on a shuttle bus that takes you into the valley and all its various trailheads.

Abby and I chose to ride all the way to the end and do the "easy" narrows hike that follows the Virgin River between the cliffs up to the point where there are no more banks to hike on. (Sorry Rob. The Angel's Window trail would kill me!)

Afterward we caught the bus back to the midway point, the lodge, where we reluctantly decided to skip the Emerald Pools hike and had ice cream instead. Lying in the sunny grass there working on our sunburns and looking up at the cliffs, we decided we would attempt to drive all the way to Los Angeles or until we were too tired.

It was 3:00 local time and we bussed back to our car, punched in Alice's address to the GPS and left the park. The Aussie voice told us that we could be there by 8:00pm Pacific Time if we only stopped for gas. Well, I extrapolated that anyway.

Thanks to car food and Abby's DJ skills, we powered through in good time. We listened to an amazing Radiolab podcast about color as we entered the Los Angeles area and I observed my first beautiful orange smog sunset. Alice was waiting for us in front of her new apartment building. It was a terrific reunion and Alice helped us unload the car, gave us a tour of her very nice studio apartment, and then took the keys to our rental car and gave us the quick Hollywood tour, culminating at a Los Feliz hotspot called Alcove. Her boyfriend Zack met us there and we enjoyed great food, drink and conversation until it was clear I needed to crash.

Zack delivered an air mattress to the apartment and after it was inflated, I laid down, fully dressed with unbrushed teeth and slept until this morning. Apparently the girls went out and had more adventures while I was sleeping. I'll learn more about that after coffee.