My daughter Jeannette loves to go to Utah for three reasons: (1) To visit her Aunt Sally, who lives in St. George; (2) To view the gorgeous scenery this state has to offer; and (3) to partake of Culver’s Frozen Custard, a treat not available in California, which is an obsession with her. So it was decided that she and her husband would visit my sister-in-law, Sally, who would escort them on a tour of Zion and Bryce National Parks. They had been to Zion but not Bryce. I was delighted to be invited to join them on this trip.
They picked me up at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, April 29, 2016. Jeannette gets horribly carsick, so she has two options: (1) She can drive, in which case she doesn’t get sick, or (2) she can take massive doses of Dramamine and be too drowsy to fully appreciate the trip. So she did all the driving to Sally’s house.
When we entered St. George, the first order of business was to go to Culver’s, where we had dinner and frozen custard. Jeannette has a slim build, so it’s shocking to see the amount of frozen custard this girl can consume.
Then we went to Sally’s, where we were warmly greeted by her and her daughter, Brenda. After we explained why Jeannette needed to be the driver on our excursion, Sally reluctantly agreed to navigate while Jeannette did the driving.
I just happened to bring my folder of stories I’ve written for my Writers’ Group, so I regaled everyone there with a few stories. In true showbiz tradition, I left them wanting more, quitting after reading three or four stories. No amount of cajoling could entice me to reopen the folder – we were finished for the night. Maybe tomorrow.
Sally served us a lovely breakfast, café style, where each person ordered what he or she wanted. Then we headed for the CRV – which means “Crossover Recreational Vehicle” – a term I’d never heard before. This CRV would be our quarters for much longer than we planned.
We drove through Zion – gorgeous and breathtaking – but we didn’t stop, Bryce being our destination. We planned to make Inspiration Point our first stop. As our vehicle was climbing higher and higher, snow began falling. Everything was beautiful and serene, until Sally suddenly said “We need to turn around. We obviously missed the turn-off for Inspiration Point.” We turned the vehicle around and drove, as the snow continued. We stopped at a look-out where we viewed Swamp Canyon and saw some mini-snowmen perched on the rail, that someone had left behind for us to enjoy.
We finally came to Inspiration Point. I don’t know if that’s a strong enough word for this massive, colorful, naturally-created architectural phenomenon, with its hoodoos, which is the name for the towers, spires, and statue-like figures rising up from the basin. I just stood in wonder, marveling at this site that brought tears not only to my eyes, but also the eyes of my big, strong son-in-law. Not wanting to miss a thing, Jeannette and Kolin ventured higher on foot, while I retreated to the CRV, where Sally was waiting. During this trip she rarely got out of the vehicle, enjoying the sights vicariously, as she had been on this tour many times before. The next stop was Sunset Point, where we viewed Bryce Canyon from a different angle.
As we drove on, the snow increased in intensity. I should mention here that we had a route all planned, which involved driving in one large circle, so that when we left Bryce, we wouldn’t be terribly far from home. As we turned to go toward Cedar City, the cleared road came to an abrupt stop, ending in a snow bank. Jeannette turned the vehicle around and took the other road to get down the mountain. We were at 10,420 feet when the cleared road started getting more and more narrow, with the snow encroaching, but on we went – that is, until the narrowing snow banks blocked the road entirely. So daughter Jeannette temporarily relinquished the driver’s seat to her husband so that he could turn the vehicle around. Now there was nothing we could do except back-track and return home the way we had come – which would mean about 50-70 more miles than we’d intended, but we had no other option. As we reversed our original route down the mountain, it started to hail and then snow very hard. It was a complete white-out with the snow covering the tracks of the vehicles that had traversed this road before us. The entire situation was a bit disconcerting to all of us out-of-towners, which worsened when Sally started saying over and over “Oh, my goodness!” as she watched the snow and hail blanket the asphalt.
At this point, nature was calling and I needed a restroom immediately. We stopped at a general store. Getting to it involved walking up a slight grade that was covered with icy snow. I decided that I could make it that far but no farther. When we went in and asked about restrooms we were told, “Oh, they’re in the building out back.” So, like it or not, more walking was required. Fortunately, the building had regular toilets and was not the out- house we fearfully anticipated. Thank goodness, we all made it there in time.
We got back on the road and after we’d driven approximately two miles, the heavy snow lightened up, turning to rain, and the fear of being stuck at the top of the mountain in a snow storm was lifted. At one point, we had actually been concerned about becoming stranded, to the extent that we took inventory of our food and water.
Because of the extra distance we traveled, we had a very late dinner at Sally’s favorite restaurant, the Black Bear Diner. The next morning we all trekked back there for breakfast and were joined by Sally’s daughter, Lorena.
Before we departed, Sally’s daughter Brenda, knowing my love of the color pink, presented me with a pink basket, holding a small cactus plant surrounded by pink lacy fabric and quartz rocks. As we said good-bye, we were amazed at how much we had squeezed into this three-day weekend, when we actually witnessed one of the Wonders of the World. We drove off, heading for home, but one more stop awaited us: at Culvers. Jeannette has a routine she follows. She came armed with a large ice chest and purchased dry ice so that she could take home many containers of this magnificent elixir known as frozen custard, but first, of course, we all had one for the road.
