Since our TV lost its video capability (about two weeks ago), we've been viewing DVDs on my computer. Thursday evening, we watched "Unstoppable"; on Friday morning, the computer refused to boot up. (Thanks, NetFlix!) Long story short, in the process of trying to get the machine to restart, we had to revert to 'restore factory settings'. The computer opened but my files had disappeared--pictures of family, trips, events and all the wildflowers I've photographed and identified, documents, reference websites, etc. Fred consulted with daughter Alissa and her husband, both super computer-savvy, and they generously offered to search the hard drive and restore the files. We need to copy the hard drive onto an external unit and mail it to them.
Purchasing an external hard-drive became the priority for our up-coming days off.
It had been a tough, frustrating work-week and we wanted to maximize our time off by spending as much time off-site as possible. Now we had a plan: Get away and buy a hard-drive! In other words, head for St. George as soon as we finished our duties on Sunday.
We left Tropic at 2:00, found the Best Buy, purchased the hard-drive and checked into our motel in Hurricane by 6:00. Priorities #1 and #2 accomplished, we then focused on f-u-n. The kick-off event was dinner at JB's, a family-style restaurant with wonderful food, large portions, reasonable prices and nice waitresses.
Early Monday morning we gassed up the Jeep ($3.63/gal--yay!), bought some goodies for lunch, picked up a mailing box at the post office and drove 30 miles to Zion. Found a shady parking space and seats on the shuttle and were on the trail to Observation Point by 10.
Our Day to Take It Easy (you know better!)
June 1, 2011
Just like yestereday, today started off with a leak. We thought we'd corrected the problem but I felt the spot where we'd first noticed dampness and it was wet again. Fred thinks that he inadvertently jiggled a fitting while trying to fix yesterday's leak. He tightened the fitting before we left and the area was still dry when we returned.
Yesterday's hike took a lot out of us for some reason and we agreed not to hike a long distance or with much difficulty today. The plan was to drive to an area of hoodoos, wander around and take pictures. When we stopped at the GSENM visitor center (it's always recommended to do that to find out about the possibility of flash floods), the ranger uttered those magic words Fred can't resist: slot canyon. He told me it was an easy 2.5 miler. He didn't tell me: that was the distance one-way, that it entailed climbing, stemming and using ropes and that we'd left the map and GPS in the RV.
Long short short: the route was hot and sandy but there were some great wildflowers and amazing rock colors and formations. When we reached the slot canyon, its bottom was covered with water of unknown depth about 50' from the entrance. So, with great relief on my part, we turned around.
We stopped at a funky little restaurant/outfitter/souvenir shop our Pisgah Forest neighbors had recommended highly. The menu was interesting and much nicer than our waitress. We'll spend what's left of the day relaxing and preparing to return to work tomorrow.
