Peg in the Park: Margaret and Richard arrive from TN for a week

We went to Oscar's Cafe in Springdale for dinner. It's probably my favorite place to get away from EDR (Employee Dining Room) food. The food is pseudo-Mexican, well prepared, generous servings, and the price is very reasonable.

Richard and Margaret pose in front of Checkerboard Mesa, on the east side of Zion, en route on a day trip to Bryce Canyon. They had spent a couple of days in Zion Canyon, acclimating to the time zone, riding the complete 90 minute loop on the Zion Shuttle to listen to the recording and the drivers' comments on the history and current status of Zion Canyon and Zion National Park and to begin their exposure to southern Utah. They hiked all the moderate trails while I finished my week's work, and took an extra day off to spend with them. So here we go to Bryce.

Margaret at the entrance to Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest. The yellow flowers were at their peak with a couople of days' rain and warm, rather than hot, days. I believe this is sage in bloom.

If anyone can tell me what this pretty and unusual vine growing up between the sage and the pine tree is, I would appreciate it. It was very fluffy but not loosely connected to the plant as dandelion puff balls are. It was also at the entrance to the Red Canyon.

Here we are at the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. Margaret has been coming to visit me in all the Parks in which I have worked (5 by number), and we have marked the occasion by getting our picture made in front of the Park's entrance sign. Now Richard has joined in the fun...see what you've been missing?

Need I say more?

The lighting and viewpoints are different from my previous trip to Bryce, but the "hoodoos" haven't changed!

Looking from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point.

Can you see those people standing on the dark rock "balcony" to the left? They are probably 1/2 mile away.

I don't recall noticing the arched openings in the higher rocks when I was at Bryce the first time. There is just SO much to see.

Now I understand why I didn't notice the windows/grottos on my first trip: it was mid- to late- afternoon and partly overcast.

An interesting old, dead cottonwood tree through which to view the far wall of the Bryce Amphitheater and the mountains in the distance, not to mention that blue Western sky. The stories this tree could tell of being ravaged by fires and wind and homo sapiens...this seemed a fitting sentence to interject with Margaret at The International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN this week-end...without me!

Hoodos and grottos from a different angle.

Can you see the 2 people and their shadows to the right of the big hoodoo on the left of the picture? They remind me of the autos we see from an airplane crawling down the interstate, looking like ants! They have hiked a steep trail down from Sunrise Point to the intersection of Queens Garden Trail and Fairyland Loop Trail.

A close up of one little section of hoodoos and grottos.

...and that wonderful blue Western sky to top off the picture..

People winding their down the switchbacks

My dear friends, Margaret and Richard. We've been friends since about 1967 or 1968 when they lived in Johnson City.

Another old tree "with good bones" and stories to tell, silhouetted against that wonderful shade of Western blue.

Margaret and Richard in front of The Pines Restaurant, where we had a late afternoon lunch/dinner. They treated me to homemade pie and icecream and got the waitresses to sing Happy Birthday to me. Everyone in the restaurant applauded.

The Watchman, to the right of center, saw that we were safely home.

The Court of the Patriarchs in 2 parts.. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob Peaks...

....... to the left, Mount Moroni and The Sentinel...

The sun setting on the 3 Patriarchs with the Virgin River and a graceful plant in the foreground.

The Springdale Music Festival on Saturday in the amphitheater just north of downtown. This is the jazz group from California that Margaret and Richard and I sat for an hour and a half listening to.