The drive from Death Valley over to Zion was quite a long one - we made it as far as Nevada, and the northern edge of Las Vegas by around lunchtime, and managed to get lost for the first time in this part of the trip due to a complete lack of signage, and a map that's a few years out of date. James's navigation skills managed to get us back on the right road eventually, and we headed eastwards, out of Nevada, through a corner of Arizona and into Utah. The stretch of the I15 through that corner of Arizona is spectacular - having spent the best part of two hours driving through endless desert plains with nothing much but creosote bushes and distant mountains for company, we suddenly found outselves heading straight through a small opening in the mountains and were presented with a spectacular drive through twisty mountainous pass. That was a heck of a lot of fun to drive through, and we left the video camera running for the duration as it was just stunning.
Arriving in Utah, we made our way to Springdale - a gorgeous small town on the outskirts of the Zion National Park, surrounded by spectacular towering rocky plateaux, with trees and greenery in the valley floor. Having spent the previous night in the tiny cramped motel in Death Valley, the King Suite we ended up with at the Driftwood Lodge was an absolute joy - a beautiful view out of the windows, a separate living area from the bedroom, and a private balcony.
The most confusing thing when we arrived was figuring out what TV schedules we were being presented with - California and Nevada are both on Pacific time, Utah and Arizona on Mountain time, BUT, Arizona don't do daylight savings time, so Arizona in the summer is essentially the same as California... but with very early sunrise and sunsets due to the more easterly location. We managed to miss the first episode of Invasion and the first episode in the new series of CSI due to the freaky timezones and the TV guide not being entirely helpful, but at least we can catch them in the UK at some point.
The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast at the lodge, and headed into the Zion National Park. Out of all the places we have visited, I have to say that Zion is the most beautiful and amazing of all of them - every single angle is a stunning view, with the clear blue/green river running through the valley, the birch trees lining the water's edge, and a wide variety of walking trails to choose from. We even saw some proper climbers clinging on to the side of some massive steep rockfaces - quite the opposite to the slightly more elderly visitors who spent their time on the more gentle paths through the park. In my condition, I wasn't really up to anything more than a "moderate" walk through the park, though we still managed a good couple of miles in the hot, dry canyon, while watching out for swallowtail butterflies, a wide variety of lizards, and a scattering of chipmunks.
We headed back to Springdale for lunch, where we feasted on Mahi Mahi with a grape salsa, wrapped in a soft flour tortilla, courtesy of Oscar's Cafe - highly recommended for friendly service and delicious food.
The decision was made that we'd head to the north rim of the Grand Canyon that afternoon, which turned out to be a very long drive back into Arizona. I'd been to the south rim before, and was amazed by the views. The north rim is quite different - approached via a large, heavily forested area, the rim suddenly arrives in front of you. The vertigo-inducing views were absolutely spectacular, and definitely gave a great sense of scale. We didn't stay too long - the drive over had taken at least 2 and a half hours, and it was already quite late in the day. As we drove through the sunset in Arizona, we decimated the insect population, and made good use of the windscreen squeegies at each gas station on the way to help give us an idea of where we were going.
The journey was quite a hard one - all the driving to this point had been from one place to another, with little back-tracking, but this was really a dead end trip, with nothing new to see on the way back. After about two hours of I spy (including such highlights as "desert", "headlights", "mirrors", "insects") the best bit came near the end once we were back in Utah - over towards Nevada / Arizona we saw what can only be described as an unidentified flying object (though the presence of so many military installations makes us think it was some kind of missile test). The massive golden comet-like glow from an object on the south-western horizon blazed a firey trail in the sky, with what looked like golden stationary aurora in the sky in the wake of the glow... it's hard to describe, and we only just got a bit of video footage of it before it disappeared behind the mountains as we continued to drive on. Freaky stuff.
It was pitch black when we got back to the lodge, and given the fact that we'd just seen the canyon, our plans for the south rim of the canyon were dropped in favour of visiting the Valley of Fire, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam on the way to Vegas the next day. Quite sad to leave Springdale - beautiful place, and everyone we met there was incredibly friendly and helpful. Zion was the highlight of the holiday for me.