Snow Canyon State Park

In this part of southwest Utah where we have been for weeks, the scenery can be summarized by, “There is a lot of red rock” (actually, rust colored). That sounds like it might get boring after a while. but the variations on the theme are endless and amazing.

The National Parks in the area featuring the red rocks are very, very famous and as a result, very, very crowded. For example, Zion and Bryce. But there are also so many other places that are almost (if not as) wonderful, and nowhere near as crowded.

One of them is Snow Canyon State Park, near Saint George, where we spent about a week.

And just for the record, the place is named after Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, two early Mormon pioneers who helped Mormons settle in Utah in the 1860’s. Not after that cold fluffy white stuff which would not have lasted long in the over 100 degree temps we experienced when we were there.

Snow Canyon not only features the famous layers of red rock but also has a lot of black rock from old volcanic lava flows.

A lava cave

We hiked on petrified sand dunes,

Rented eBikes (1,000 foot elevation gain was too much for us on our regular bikes) and rode the road and bike trails, 

 met some of the locals,

and saw so many amazing views -

And it was so hot, that I even tried boiling water …

Zion National Park - Part 1

This is not my first time in Zion National Park.

The first time I came to Zion was over 45 years ago. It was only the second National Park I had ever been to, having been to Yosemite a week earlier.

I was by myself - I had been in California for a two-week vacation with a friend, and I extended my trip for another week to see Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon while she flew back to NY.

The second time I came here was two years later, this time with my sister. It was part of a three-week, five National Park spree.

Fast forward a few years and I came with Bob and our 3 boys.

Then 16 years ago, Bob and I were here in the winter. Words cannot describe the beauty of white snow on red rock.

And finally, we were back in Zion last week.

The park is enormous, but the most visited section is Zion Canyon, carved by the Virgin River. We were in that part of the park for six days. We’ll be back for some of the rest later.

The views never get old. They change with the lighting, the time of day, the weather, and the season. You can sit in one spot all day and watch the view change minute by minute.

We went biking. We loaded our bikes on the shuttle bus, got off at the last stop, and biked down to the start, all downhill, stopping a million times on the way down to take pictures.

A campsite with a view.

"Snowing" Cottonwood Fluff in Zion National Park

Lill and Bob’s Excellent RV Adventures, New Edition

Lill and Bob’s Excellent RV Adventures, New Edition

It’s been a while. A very long while…

I never got around to blogging about last spring/summer’s 3 month trip to Newfoundland with some Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick squeezed in.

Nor did I blog about our 3 week trip this past winter to Panama. (No, we did not drive in our RV.) It was our first time on an airplane in about 6 years. It was very, very annoying having to pack suitcases, then unpack them, and lug them around to all the places we went to.

But now we are traveling in our RV again! And I will try to blog this trip.

To catch up, Wed April 30th, a little over two weeks ago we left New Jersey and headed west. 4 of the first 8 days were long slogs of driving about 500 miles each day, with a lovely Shabbos in Kansas City, KS, and a day in gorgeous Colorado National Monument before getting to our first destination of Zion National Park last Wednesday. 

Here are some pictures from the first week:

After driving for 2 days, we make it to Gokul, our favorite Indian restaurant, for dinner. In St Louis, 950 miles from home. I asked the owner to please open a restaurant in NJ and he told me that his Jewish customers from all over ask him that.

Spent a lovely Shabbos in Kansas City

We took a picture from almost this exact same spot overlooking Dillon Reservoir off of Rt 10 in Colorado 4 years ago. There was a lot more snow then.

Colorado National Monument, less than a week after we left home.

The first week

Solar Eclipse 04 . 08 . 2024

Here we are at 2:09 PM, just after the eclipse started. Eclipse glasses, T-shirts, cameras with lenses covered by filters cut from eclipse glasses, sunscreen - we were ready!

Yesterday, we drove up to a campground in northern New York State between Rochester and Syracuse, to experience the total solar eclipse at Sodus Point on the shore of Lake Ontario.

The weather forecast was not promising, but we tried to be optimistic. After all, when do they ever get it right?

During the first few minutes at the start of the solar eclipse at 2:15 we saw a small bite taken out of the sun, although it was hard to see through the clouds. Then the clouds closed in and completely and totally blocked our view for the rest of the eclipse.

Last view of the sun, around 2:15. Photo was taken with an eclipse glasses filter.  

A few minutes later, about 2:20, cloud cover totally blocked the sun

During the whole (not visible) eclipse, I listened to an app called "The Solar Eclipse Timer" which kept me up to date on what I wasn't seeing the entire time. Eg, “20 seconds - Observe for Shadow bands,” "4th Contact in 2 minutes," or “40 seconds - Observe Umbra Approach” whatever those mean.

Although we didn’t get to see the eclipse itself, the first few minutes when we could see it starting were exciting, and experiencing the drop in temperature and the darkness was amazing. In fact, close to totality, it went from late-ish afternoon light to nighttime dark and back in only six minutes. Incredible!

3:16pm

3:23 pm

3:23PM

3:23PM

3:24PM Totality

3:24PM Totality for us. Across the lake, Ontario is not 

in the moon shadow so it is still light over there! 

3:24PM Totality - View in Full Screen 

3:24PM Totality

3:26PM light again

Later the clouds cleared up and we could have used our eclipse glasses to watch the sunset.

A Solar Eclipse Is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You!!!

On of July 20, 1963, I was a little 7 year old away for the summer with my family at a bungalow colony in Livingston Manor, NY, when I experienced my first (partial) solar eclipse. All I remember was that we kids were warned not to look up at the sky or we would go blind and that therefore when I was outside, I scurried around with my eyes on my feet, terrified.

Fast forward to the partial solar eclipse of May 10, 1994. That day, I pulled my 3 boys out of school (1st, 3rd, and 5th grades). We took the train into the city and the subway up to the Museum of Natural History, Hayden Planetarium, where I figured they would know how to do an eclipse right.

(On the subway I had to caution the kids to tone it down, to act cool and stop carrying on like this was their first time on the subway. Also, not to make eye contact with anyone. )

There was a great program at the museum. And to top it off, we all ended up on Fox news that evening. Busted! Eli and I had speaking parts. “And this is Mrs Lill Lansey who pulled her three kids out of school today to come here. Tell us, Mrs Lansey, why did you pull your kids out of school today? “

The above pictures were taken with a film camera. Kids, ask you parents what that was.

More that 20 years later, on August 21st, 2017, another partial solar eclipse coincided with a camping trip Bob and I were on with our 2 oldest grandchildren. We headed to the Paul Robinson Observatory in Voorhees State Park, NJ for that one. Another excellent program.

Demonstration of a pinhole camera, and is history going to repeat itself in terms of being on the news? (Don't know if the photo was published)

Tomorrow, Bob and I are headed to a campground in Sodus Point, NY, on the shore of Lake Ontario, to hopefully see the coming eclipse in totality. Stay tuned.