As a reward for our effort we went for a cooling dip in the pool.
It is a lovely setting and very quiet even though you’re right in town.
Near that is the Museum of Photography…a wall of old photos of Springdale and the area. This is also the lobby of the Imax theater which displays interesting artifacts.
We ordered a couple of glasses of sauvignon blanc and some guacamole and chips for an appetizer
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Sharon ordered spaghetti squash enchilada with sautéed onions, goat cheese, fresh salsa, black beans and salad greens with chipotle vinaigrette.
Peter had spicy beef tenderloin tacos. The food was wonderful, and a shower rained down as we enjoyed our entrees. It actually rained pretty hard while the sun shone brightly…another amusing southwestern moment.
After dinner we went to find the
rock art panel out the east entrance past the second tunnel. The rangers won’t tell you where the rock art is but we’d already learned the way there from some locals.
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Heading east toward the east entrance you'll go through the big tunnel then the second smaller one. Not far beyond that you'll see the only pullout that is bordered by a wooden fence. It is the ONLY pullout with a wooden fence. Park there by the fence. Drop down into the wash and bear right through the beautiful masonry tunnel under the road. The rock art will be along the rock face that will be on your left after you go through the tunnel under the road. Look for short foot trails to the left to the rock art.
We startled some desert big horn sheep as we came out of the tunnel. This annoyed the male who grunted and growled at us.
Only a little further on, we followed footprints off to the left toward the base of the cliff and there we found the petroglyphs.
We took lots of pictures of the odd and breathtaking scenery. The light was fading as we strolled back to the car and made our way back through the tunnels, down the switchbacks and into Springdale.
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We were back at the motel and into the hot tub by 8:30 or so. There we met a couple from Massachusetts. They were visiting Zion from a Vegas vacation and wishing they’d spent more of their time exploring Utah than in Vegas, which they thought they’d enjoy more than they were. They’ll be back.
Our flight out of Vegas isn’t until 11:30pm so we have lots of time. As we made our way toward Hurricane, we passed many runners competing in an event. There seems to be some tradition involving shoes and this tree…odd!