We were up early this morning and after packing the car and getting on the road, we landed in Zion at 8 AM and 70 degrees. Since we were at the bottom of a canyon, evidence of the sun was limited and many of my photos today showed canyon walls in darkness. However, some of those that I chose to download have some interesting shadows in them. I hope you will agree.

We began the drive through the 12 miles that would take us to the other side of the park and out to the road we would be traveling to our next destination. We spent about an hour and a half on this road, stopping at pulloffs to take photos and to admire the views. I will admit, this would not have been possible yesterday when we came through the first time, because all of the pulloffs were full of cars, parked there by people who were off hiking in the canyon. This morning, the pulloffs were open and available, so I took a lot of pictures.

We drove this road through hairpin turns, working our way up and off the canyon floor and up to a higher elevation. (I have to comment on this road. It was paved with asphalt made with reddish brown sand. Consequently the road is brown, which, in my opinion, matches the landscape perfectly.) And as we got higher and the sun got higher, the pictures got better. About half way through this drive is a tunnel to beat all tunnels. It is 1.1 miles long, no lights (I mean dark). And it contains many curves that take you back and forth through the mountain. Well, you had better have your lights on if you are not following someone who has. We were alone going through it this morning and the car lights chose not to automatically turn on as we entered, so we had to stop and turn them on. Good thing we did, because we were about to take a wide turn, or drive into the tunnel wall. Did I say it was dark? LOL

After exiting the park, we drove north for a couple of hours headed for I-70 that would take us to Colorado. Yes, we have officially made the turn in our trip and are now moving east. We drove through many small towns, some dead or dying, others still full of life. One town in which we stopped was flooded with 4 wheelers at the gas station, on the highway and on off-road trails. They were everywhere. It is clearly the sport of choice in this little town. Some were following trails along the Sevier River, which flows north beside the highway for many miles. We saw many rafts on this river floating over the rapids and the less turbulent waters along their route.

Eventually we drove into what I will call the "chocolate mountains".  They are a cocoa brown color and it is hard to see the green sage growing on the mountainsides because of the dark color. And we saw fields of black-eyed susans and fertile farm land all along the river. We even saw a few corn fields.

As we moved east, the landscape changed several times, from arid desert floors with yellow grass and sparse plant life, to mesas of purple and gold and orange and tan and finally we began to see the Rockies off in the distance, in a haze caused by the 91 degree temperatures. We landed in Grand Junction around 4 PM and checked into our hotel. Tomorrow we will visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.