Living it Up in St. George, Utah!

This week's get-away destination is the area's largest city, St. George, Utah, about 120 miles and a little less than two and a half hours west of the Kaibab Plateau.



Since we couldn't check into our hotel until 3:00 (Utah time is an hour ahead of AZ time), we planned to do two hikes in beautiful Snow Canyon State Park.  (I thought the name derived from the grayish-white rock layer atop the red sandstone walls of the canyon.  Found out it honors Erastus Snow, a Mormon city father of the early days.)

The first hike was a trail that spiraled up the Cinder Cone, a 500' tall extinct volcano.  From the top, we had a stunning views in every direction as well as down into the caldron.  The views were earned by following a steep, narrow route devoid of shade and composed of pea- to marble-sized volcanic cinders which made it difficult to get a secure footing.

    View from the top of the Cinder Cone

We saw a table in the shade of a large tree in an empty picnic area, a perfect spot for lunch.  The park's main trail started there and we set out with the intention of doing a hot but scenic 4-mile loop.  About 30 minutes into the hike, we realized we'd lost a set of keys and turned around to retrace our steps.  Although we searched every inch of the way, we didn't find the keys.  Fortunately, we'd brought another set.  



Our options at this point were:  resume the hike or check into the hotel.  Showers! Air-conditioning! Comfortable beds! received the most votes so we headed to town.  After resting a bit and taking long showers using exorbitant amounts of water, we headed for Pancho's and Lefty's Mexican restaurant.  Our food was excellent, the waiter was efficient and the prices were reasonable--an all-around great place.  And it was next-door to The Key Store!  We made a mental note to come back on Monday and have duplicates made of the keys which had been lost.

The plan for today was to hike Oak Creek trail in the Pine Valley section of Dixie National Forest.  The trail is classified as difficult ("climb 3200' in 3 miles, bring plenty of water and watch out for the many rattlesnakes!") but worth the effort for the view at the end.  The description glossed over the road leading to the trailhead: 10 miles of narrow, washboarded gravel with steep drop-offs and blind curves.  About a mile in, fear and panic overwhelm-ed me; I could not go further.  We turned around and decided to investigate the state parks we'd passed on the way.

"Quail Creek," sounding like a more pleasant hiking venue than "Sand Hollow,"  became our first choice.  We discovered that Quail Creek is a reservoir that offers boating and swimming but no trails.  Off to second-choice, Sand Hollow!  This state park is a playground for ATVs and Jeeps; no trails.  

Having struck out on the hiking, we decided to tackle the chores on our to-do list:  First, the keys, then the tire and finally, the bank.  The Key Store copied our keys quickly and cheaply.  Next, we went to Goodyear Tire to have a big nail we'd picked up on the Point Sublime adventure last Sunday removed.  Bad news--the nail had punctured the side wall of the tire and it couldn't be patched; we'd have to buy a new tire.  More bad news--that particular style has been discontinued so we replaced the damaged tire with the spare and made the new tire the spare. 

After finishing our errand at the bank, located in downtown St. George, we strolled down the street enjoying the gardens, waterfalls, reflecting pools and sculptures.  It was beautiful but hot and the Free Tours! sign at a large red sandstone building (that looked air-conditioned) beckoned to us.  The building was the St. George Taberanacle,
built by Mormon pioneers in the 1860s at the behest of Brigham Young. 
     
              
The docent provided a very interesting and well-presented tour of the church and a passionate explanation of the main Mormon beliefs.  Due to her enthusiasm and our questions, the half-hour tour lasted about twice that long. 

We spotted a park next to the church and went to explore.  What a delightful place!  There were manicured lawns, tables and chairs under sunshades, clean restrooms and great water features for the  kids--a 'river,' fountains and waterfalls.  We went across the street for lunch in a building that was a general mercantile store in the late 1800s/early 1900s and is now a cafe and sweet shop. 

Our guide at the Tabernacle suggested that we visit Jacob Hamblin's home in Santa Clara, a few miles west of St. George, and that's where we headed next.  Once again, we had a personable and knowledgeable missionary give us an interesting tour and talk.  As we left the Hamblin house, she offered us a peach from Jacob's orchard, picked this morning from trees planted over a century ago.  Delicious!

She suggested that we visit Brigham Young's home in downtown St. George but we felt history-ed out (particularly, Mormon history-ed out) for the day and returned to the hotel instead.  Now we're just chillin', savoring a little down time before getting up early, grocery shopping, driving 'up the mountain' and starting another week of work.