April 17, 2010

Saturday 17~~~~We were up early this morning on our way to visit our friend Gary in Mesquite, Nevada. We went over to the Riverside Casino for breakfast before we hit the road. We had two free breakfast coupons to use up and we like their breakfast. It was quite warm when we arrived in Mesquite and I could hardly wait to turn the air conditioner on inside. Gary came over after we were all set up and the three of us went to Mass at the beautiful new Church they just built here. Gary drove us all over and showed us around town after Mass and then we stopped at the casino for a short visit before heading home to watch television for the evening. Sunday 18~~~~ We drove over to Gary's condo this morning for breakfast, Gary was to make the coffee and we bring the bagels, Gary had three different buns to eat toasted with cheese and cream cheese, plus our bagels. Needless to say, we didn't eat any lunch today. After breakfast, we did our laundry at Gary's place and then we drove over to visit our friends, Dan and Gail who also live here. We watched the Country music awards on television this evening and called it a day. We are driving to the Zion National Park in the morning.
Monday 19~~~~We got up early this morning, I packed us a picnic lunch to eat at the park. Gary picked us up at 8:00 AM, it was a little cool this morning, but it was warm by the time we arrived at the Zion National Park, one of 380 parks in the National Park System. They have dual shuttle buses that take you to the up the canyon, letting you get off at different points on the way. We started at the visitors center open year-round where we watched a 22 minute orientation film about the Zion Park and we enjoyed the museum with its pictures and artifacts from the park. Spring through fall, Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is open to shuttle buses only. We rode the shuttle to the top, getting off at different levels, Park elevations range from 3600 to 8700 feet with annual precipitation 26 inches at the plateau level to 14 inches at the lowest elevation. We got off the shuttle at different stops (shuttles come every 8 minutes) to view and take more pictures before heading back down to enjoy our picnic lunch. The colors of the rock formations, sand stone and the various shapes of the peaks and ledges with the water falls coming down made it a very enjoyable day for us. Another place of beauty in our beautiful United States of America to visit. 15 minutes from the South entrance of the park is a McDonald's so Kent could got his Frappacino fix, we came home where I gave the guys hair cuts.