On Leaving Zion NP

Leaving Zion National Park on the way to Bryce Canyon National Park--Virgin, UT to Cannonville, UT. This travel day gives us a chance to wrap up some bits and pieces of experiences and sights in the Virgin, UT, area and Zion National Park.

This photo of Kate's caught a jet's trail and the color of this rock formation in perfect alignment. The trail appears to be in front of the formation or cut through it, thereby separating the brighter part from the darker part of this column in Zion's collection.

Looking at this scene, we couldn't decide whether the red rock or the large snowball cloud was the featured component.

This photo blows me away. Kate has become quite skilled at taking photos of flowers. She is able to take close-up photos without the aid of a tripod--just a steady hand. She took this photo with the Virgin River in the background and produced an interesting effect. The flowers seem to stand out from the water--a 3-D effect. Pretty neat.

It had snowed in the mountains a few nights ago, and the next morning brought this scene. These clouds also seemed to be moving out of the picture toward the viewer.

We're sure there is quite a story behind this sign. We noticed it as we drove through the town of La Verkin, UT, which was a few miles from Virgin and was separated from Hurricane by the Virgin River.

La Verkin became the first U.S. municipality to declare itself a "U.N.-Free Zone" when on July 24, 2001 when the city council actually adopted an ordinance outlawing the city making contributions to any UN project, declaring any UN tax or international court decree invalid in the city and prohibiting the flying of the UN flag on a city flagpole.

Then on January 16, 2002, the City Council repealed the ordinance.

I haven't been able to learn about the reference "Voted Out of the US, 2006" or the story behind the upper sign: "Move your business to La Verkin and watch it DIE. If it doesn't die naturally, the city council will KILL it."

As we drove north on I-15, we approached these snow-covered mountains. We climbed to about 7900 feet as we traveled Route 20 through a pass between the Markagunt Plateau and the Tushar Mountains to Route 89.

We're staying in Cannonville for the next two weeks in a moderate-size campground with this view.


On to the next adventures.