Hello from Hatch, Utah

Hello from Hatch, Utah

Wednesday evening August 28,  2013   (Sixth travelogue of this trip).

I am including a couple of additional pictures from the front porch of our cabin in Zion.  The first one is another view of the cliffs on opposite side of the ones in the photo from yesterday.  This photo was taken in the morning sun today.  The other photo is of the mule deer that were grazing just outside our cabin.  If you look closely, one still has spots.

Another View From Our Front Porch in Zion

Deere Just Outside Our Cabin in Zion

I have never had a “bucket list” of places to visit.  Indeed, I (and Pat) have been able to visit some of the most beautiful places on this amazing planet.  That said, if I had a list, Zion would be on it.  I simply don't have the skills to describe the beauty of this National Park.  It is huge and every turn of the road yields another “Kodak Moment”.  This is one place that I wish I had a much better camera.

Today we drove through the rest of the park including the huge tunnel with windows cut into the side of the mountain.  We got a bit of a late start and did not want to short our visit to Bryce.  Thus we decided to try to find a place to stay in this rather sparsely populated part of Utah.  We finally settled on this small motel in Hatch (see photo).  It is not much to write home about, but it will serve the purpose.  The motel is part of a complex of businesses and is called Hatch Station (map).

Our Motel In Hatch, UT

There have been several miscellaneous observations/comments that I have wanted to discuss:

Weather:  We have had quite a variation of weather.  Bonneville was the typical 90+ degrees, but very dry.  When I taught in Las Vegas, it was very hot.  When I would get in the car, in the late afternoon, the car outside thermometer read anywhere from 108 to 111 (the “official” LV temperature was often reported a bit less).  Seattle was very comfortable (high 70s – low 80s).  It is interesting to note that the several times that I have been there in the past couple of months, it has not rained and the weather has been great.  The locals are quick to point out that they do not have a “rain forest” type of climate.  When we returned to Las Vegas it was very comfortable and rainy.  Indeed it flooded in parts of town the day that we got there.  Mesquite was also rainy and in the high 70s to low 80s.  Zion was comfortable (didn't pay attention to the actual temperature).  It is also comfortable in Hatch.

Speaking of rain, the Zion area had four days of heavy rain before we got there.  The were many places where mud and sand was washed onto the road in very large quantities (needed large equipment to clear the roads).

Rooms: we have stayed in just about every kind of motel/hotel room you can imagine.  We payed over $110 for a Holiday Inn Express in Craig, CO that only had one hard chair in it.  I had to sit on the luggage to work on the computer.  As I noted, the room in Mesquite was very plain.  Our cabin in Zion was also pretty basic and did not include a TV (in that setting who needs TV?).  This room is also very basic, but acceptable.  Some of the rooms were pretty old. A few had carpets that were stained, but we “think” that they were all clean.  These rooms sure make us wish that this trip was being made in our bus {grin}.

Space Needle history:  Both the Space Needle (link) and the Pacific Science Museum (link) structures were built as a part of the 1962 World's Fair.  The city had considered tearing both down after the fair.  We visited both and are thankful that they have been preserved.

That is all for now.