Waking up covered in a layer of red sand is not the most pleasant experience, but I reminded myself that some people pay a lot of money for this kind of exfoliation treatment. Thankfully the wind had dropped, and after breakfast of some specially sourced Heinz Baked Beans we dusted off our tent and drove west.
We passed by plateaus, bluffs, and buttes, and through canyons that made you wonder why the Grand one gets all the attention. A major highlight (for one of us) was driving by Black Mesa, the site of some dubious scientific activity as documented in Half Life. Luckily no resonance cascades opened any dimensional portals for vortigaunts while we were there, so we moved on.
We stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam around lunchtime and took a short hike out to their "hanging gardens". The dam is slightly smaller than the Hoover one, further down the river, and the surrounding landscape is made of huge fossilised sand dunes. More amazingly, little bubbles of iron ore formed as the sand turned into rock and today exist as "moqui marbles", small heavy spheres that eventually get weathered out of the stone.
I found a perfect one! The printed hike guide is specific in telling you not to take them (along with warnings about tarantulas) and I grappled with my conscience as we ate lunch about what to do with this obviously rare specimen. Returning by a different route, however, we found hundreds of the little things. Thankful I didn't proudly hand my find in to the ranger ("thank you sir...we'll put it with the other million") I left it with its friends. Hannah enjoyed rolling them down the weathered sandstone.
The road through Zion National Park was closed for construction so we zipped along to Cedar City. Dan is in Utah at the moment, doing some of his geothermal consulting stuff, and he stopped off on his way to Las Vegas for his flight home tomorrow. He was in the mood for barbecue so we found ourselves at Rusty's Ranch House for dinner. In Utah - shockingly - you have to order food before they'll give you a beer!
Morning, Mr Freeman.
Glen Canyon Dam.
Dinosaur footprints. You can see its toes!
Walking out to the fossilised sand dunes.
Hairy cactus.
Hannah surveys.
Me and my moqui.
So cute!
Babylon.
A spring that the guide says you can drink from. Hmmm.
Cheese!
Cave of the giant tarantula.
On the way to Cedar City, the poetically (and appropriately) named Vermilion Cliffs.
Rusty's.
A couple of regulars.
The tumbleweed - an "appetizer" of fried onions.
Dan attacks his baby back ribs.
