The Rod and the Ring: Utah to Nevada

August 19

Getting up early worked well yesterday for visiting the Grand Canyon, so we did the same today for visiting Bryce Canyon National Park, half an hour away. We left before the management of our KOA had opened the office, so I had no record of the credit card transaction for this place. Farther down the road Razelle remembered that she'd left behind a book she had just begun reading in the washroom We were going to be doubling back anyway after visiting Bryce, so it was in my thinking to stop in and get the receipt and look for the book later.

Access to Bryce is via a canyon of perhaps the reddest red rock in the West. Razelle took notice. I promised we'd take photos of the arches the road passed through when we returned on our way back out of Bryce. The entrance fee for Bryce was quite a bit more that any of the other National Parks charged (but we had an access pass and didn't have to pay). There was a shuttle station here also and a sign warning of high levels of smoke. There was indeed the smell of wood-smoke in the air, and farther along we saw a smoldering log in a small burned patch of forest. We inhaled the incense of smoldering pine deeply and remarked that we enjoyed the association we had with this fragrance (camping, Lag-Ba'Omer bon-fires, etc.). We were told that this was a controlled fire, intentionally set to prevent damage to the forest.

The parking lot had more out-of-state license plates, and a large group of girls in the parking lot were obviously "landsmann" (it was their long skirts and long sleeves that was most telling of this). Razelle and I walked to the vantage point at the edge of the parking lot and Razelle was duly impressed. Every direction offered a photo-op. Razelle very enthusiastically directed me where to stand and pointed her camera at me against the different vistas. Then she encouraged me to walk down into the "canyon" while she sat in the van and read in the cool of the morning.

I took half an hour to descend the path along with many other healthy out-doors types. They spoke among themselves in many languages; I found myself descending just ahead of a family from France, and a couple from a German-speaking country asked me to take their picture with their camera. At the bottom of the descent through this deeply shaded crevice I came out into a sunny glade by a streambed still muddy from a recent rain. I decided that the ascent would be strenuous enough, and chose to climb back up in the same shady crevice for comfort's sake. This was my third visit to Bryce and each time I had the privilege of walking among the "hoodoos" – that's what they call the vertical columns that make this delicate sand-castle fairy land so special. Some hoodoos have shapes and textures that resemble faces or groupings of people. I took a few pictures of these and returned to Razelle, refreshed from the exertion.

We didn't go deeper into the park. Razelle didn't want to have her first impression of Bryce cluttered with more impressions. Good enough. We returned to the red arches, as promised. Razelle took her pictures of them. We returned to the Panguitch KOA where Razelle found a book someone else left behind but not the one she had left (it turned up in the van later in the day!) and I collected my receipt. Then we drove to a special national park called Cedar Breaks National Park.

Cedar Breaks is so high in elevation that it is only snow free from July to October. As we climbed above 10,000 feet (3100 m) Razelle felt notably short of breath. I watched her carefully, but she didn't have any other symptoms of altitude sickness, so we didn't turn back.

Cedar Breaks has a very modest visitors' center with a diagram on the wall explaining the geological connections among the national parks and features of the region we have so far visited. This diagram put it all into perspective. Razelle had a long chat with a morbidly obese woman visitor there. All her questions about my ring were explained to her from my personal experience. She is a biologist so this all made sense to her. She was grateful to learn everything I told her. I hope we have helped this woman make a healthy life choice.

The road down from Cedar Breaks was quite dramatic. It eventually reached the town of Cedar City; then it led us onto the Interstate. It was nice to have such a road again for the first time since Albuquerque. We could have turned toward Zion National Park next, but we joked about the time we've already spent in Zion (i.e., Israel) as we bypassed this Zion and drove on to Las Vegas. We hoped to make good time so we could get to Las Vegas in time for Friday night services.

Interstate 15 goes though a corner of Arizona for 29 miles (47 km). This is because the Virgin River cuts this corner of Arizona and the interstate highway follows the deep deep canyon this river has carved here. It was the most dramatic section of interstate highway I've seen in the southwest (at least to this point). At the outlet of the Virgin River Canyon a sere flat plain came into view and the heat beat down as Nevada was attained. Our air-conditioner couldn't cool us. Nevada sure didn't look like any place else we'd been. Vast stands of Joshua Trees appeared on this terrain. A haze concealed the bases of the distant mountains.

We crossed this hostile environment and reached Las Vegas near Nellis Air Force Base. This is where our motel was. We signed in, dragged some of our bags into the room and changed for the synagogue. We reached Temple Beth Shalom on the western side of Las Vegas in time for services and, after a security check of my shoulder pack, went in and joined the congregation in prayers. This congregation had two guitarists, two vocalists and an oboe player for musical accompaniment. It was a bright touch we found very pleasing. The congregation, led by the Cantor, sang the entire Friday night service. The atmosphere in this Conservative synagogue was uplifting and we were glad we had crossed mountains and deserts to reach here on time.

After services we drove to the Las Vegas Strip. We found a place in the Macy's parking lot to park our van, next to the Treasure Island Casino. Razelle and I walked in and Razelle watched all the zombies sitting at the slot machines. So many flashing lights and images! It was truly overwhelming! Razelle had to try her hand at this, as would anyone who is in Las Vegas for the first time. She inserted a dollar bill into a slot and received four credits. She pulled the handle four times. Each time – nada. Nothing. She was so repulsed by the whole experience and even more so by the zombies around her who were staring expressionless at their machines and pushing buttons like lab monkeys.

We then watched people betting on a roulette wheel. A man nonchalantly dropped a 100 dollar bill on the table and then placed a stack of chips on a single number. The stack was dragged off the table at the end of the spin. Easy come, easy go. Shocking!

We then turned to find ourselves facing scantily clad ladies at blackjack tables. I looked one woman in the eyes and saw behind them a sad expression. I felt sorry for her. I was embarrassed for her. She didn't belong here. Razelle was truly sickened by this casino.

We walked out onto the strip, but Razelle couldn't walk any further by this point. We noticed the outfits the women were wearing as they passed us on the sidewalks. Their assets were so obviously enhanced by the cut of their clothing that we couldn't decide who among them had come to enjoy themselves and who among them were trolling for customers. Enough was enough. We got back into our van and drove back to our motel. We reflected on both our experiences of the evening – the synagogue and the strip. We felt we had gone from "the sublime to the ridiculous." Quite a contrast.

========================================

RAZELLE'S PHOTOS OF THIS DAY