December 24, 2011
A conversation with my mother’s college roommate inspired a pre-New Year’s Eve trip to Zion National Park in Utah. While her roommate and her daughter went to New Orleans for Christmas, we decided on the original plan of Zion. We rented a car in Las Vegas and drove up Interstate 15 through Nevada, Arizona, and finally to Utah, where we turned off the interstate and passed the towns of Hurricane, Virgin, Rockville, and Springdale, arriving in a deep river valley gouged out by eons of flowing water. The Virgin River cuts through ancient dense sandstone, carving out a narrow river valley amid the tall red and white cliffs.