We’re marching to Zion,

Beautiful, beautiful Zion

We’re marching onward to Zion,

The beautiful city of God.

Friday we traveled from Fruita, CO to Zion National Park with delightful foretastes of beautiful Zion along the Routes 70 and 15.  Even La Quinta had some majestic, colorful walls right outside its entrance.

The sun blazed from morning till our arrival keeping the temperature in the 60’s and low seventies all the way. The trip down Interstate 70 and southeastward on US 15 gave us a brilliant foretaste of the colorful canyon walls we would see in Zion. Lots of places to pull out and survey the valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These views with Victoria and the “Hope” grafitti were westward along Route 70. I will continue to take these shots, even though they barely convey the size and beauty of these valleys approaching Zion.  The sense of ancient excavations, home to people living millenia before us leaves me in awe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we approach the Canyon, the walls on either side close in, giving the  sense  of a cathedral, a majestic theater  towering  above.  The shots below are taken from the car, so not as in-your-face as pictures we might take on the Scenic Tour we take on Saturday.

At the very entrance to the East side, the giant white checkerboard looms as brilliant welcome. The other views from the car show the canyon walls as we approach the 1.5 mile tunnel  that connects the east from the south entrances of the Park. We are mostly descending to 4-5000 feet as we enter the Park, so the Canyon walls loom higher and higher.

We arrive at our home at Under-the-Eaves guest house about 5:15 MDT. So glad we still have daylight to enjoy the gorgeous surroundings. The McColl’s arrived with 25 minutes of our arrival. We are in adjoining rooms “Garden Cottages,” with much less square footage than the motels we have visited en route from St. Louis. Still “quaint and lovely” are the operative words to describe our home-away-from-home.