cedar city lies just to the northwest of zion national park, which was our next destination.

there are really two parts to zion. kolob canyonm, which lies in the northern end of the park, and zion canyon itself, which occupies the lower end of the park. the nether regions between are only accessible via long hikes.

we took a short hike in the deserted kolob canyon to an overlook about a mile away from the road. it was very peaceful and secluded. there were lots of lizards, butterflies, and strange birds.

abie and i sat on that overlook staring out at the jagged red cliffs and listening to a small stream somewhere far below for about an hour.

driving around the park to the zion canyon entrance took another hour.

zion canyon itself is tourist-overrun. it is the more spectacular of the two, but it is so crowded that some of the charm is lost.

i can remember camping here way back on the great 1984 megatrip with the family. i didn't remember it being in such a long, steep canyon, but i remember the stream.

abie and i went wading in the stream for awhile. white sand, small fish.

the rest of zion was a drive-by. too many people. we saw the temple sinwava ('temple of the sine waves') and the checkerboard mountain that i remembered so incorrectly from when i was a kid.

next, we drove to bryce canyon national park, a bit northeast of zion.

bryce was a lot like i remembered it. abie and i didn't hike down, so we didnt have to experience the endless switchbacks that i remember not liking at all during the megatrip.

we drove along the 20 miles of canyon rim and stopped to look over the edge from time to time.

a big crow was following us looking for food.

somewhere south of bryce we found a middle-of-nowhere resteraunt that was mostly empty. it had great service, and a wealth of hummingbirds.

the waitress told us that usually, boston people "dress more." we didn't know what to make of that.

after dinner, we drove south into arizona towards the grand canyon. we stopped at a campground in jacob lake, AZ.

the campground was surrounded by tall pines and had an ampitheatre buried down in the woods.

abie took out his little drum that he had brought with him (a little under-the-arm hand slapping thing), i took the metal waste basket it was packed in, and we did some impromptu drumming in the woods of arizona.

we drank some cider and drummed away for hours until we decided that everyone in the campsite was probably pissed at us. it was really a great experience, though. something weird and tribal about it.