Winter season

We're parked below the tunnel on a hairpin turn -- see the window?

The sign said it would cost $25 to drive through Zion National Park. We thought we might get in on our senior pass if not our good looks.

Click to view

But when we got to the entrance at 4:30, the attendant closed the window, (winter hours) we paused, and then drove on. We enjoyed a private viewing of the gorgeous setting as the sun played across its rugged surfaces; no traffic, no tourists, no waiting. We didn't even meet anyone in the mile long tunnel. Memorable, would have been well worth $25.

Five o'clock shadow

We paused here and there for some pictures and eventually found ourselves in beautiful St. George, where gas is less than $3. We inquired at a number of hotels before we found one that would accept Birdie. We got a $100 room for $50. Winter season, you know. Birdie loves it. 

We ordered a big pizza. It was on special too. $10 for any large if you'll come and get it and bring it back to your room.

Winter travel. We were trying to get away from winter. Who knew?

We think this arch may have inspired the VW bubble.

St George or Bust

It is 14 degrees in Durango this morning. Our snacking apples in the car have been nicely chilled.
Meanwhile, it is 34 degrees in Shakopee this morning?
We are out of here.
Thanks to Heidi, Sam and Mary Lou for the hospitality.
Heeding the advice of our faithful readers, we will take the northern route through Zion and on to St. George where it will be 51.
Maybe we'll shoot a car commercial in the gorgeous scenery.
When it warms a bit.

Southern or Northern route?

There's no straight line drive between Durango and LA. There's this obstruction called the Grand Canyon that gets in the way. You can go around either south or north. There's no freeway across it.

Southern route-- shortest

Both routes go through Four Corners, a desolate patch of ground with bragging rights for being in four states at once. Almost as big as having the world's largest ball of twine. Going south through Tuba City, you can take a peek over the southern edge of The Canyon, then head down toward Flagstaff and west down I-40, packed with18-wheelers moving imported goods in from the coast harbors. If you have time, you can take a side trip north to the Hoover Dam or south to see the London Bridge in quirky Lake Havasu.
Google says it's the shortest route to our Los Feliz goal, at 781 miles and 13 hours of drive time.

Northern route -- best scenery

The northern route crosses the Grand Canyon at Page and has some spectacular Utah landscapes, Zion et al. It passes through St. George and then Las Vegas. It's a bit longer, but more interesting. Google says it is 834 miles with 15 hours of drive time.

In either case, we'll break it in two pieces. Staying overnight in St. George or overnight in Flagstaff Wednesday night before making the final run to LA for an early Thursday afternoon pre-rush-hour arrival. Suggestions?

Brewer still-life

Kathleen's sister, Mary Lou, painted this still-life that now hangs in her daughter's home in Durango. She painted it in 2000 and hopes to pick up the brush again soon, but has been busy and hasn't caught the urge lately. She married into a family of painters, but they obviously didn't have the corner on talent. Presently Stan is doing his own still-life . . . on the couch. zzzzzz Randy is texting us like a teenager, wondering when we're going to show up at his place in LA, where we are known as Mr. and Mrs. Stan Schmenge. . .  

Sisters Kathleen and Mary Lou watched the David Brewer Memorial video this afternoon.

Does Lady Edith get to drive the tractor?

We tuned in the much-anticipated debut of Downton Abbey, Season II on PBS Masterpiece last night at Mary Lou's. Lord Grantham's valet, Mr. Bates, departed suddenly to avoid bringing scandal to Lady Mary and the family name, leaving Anna broken-hearted; heir apparent Matthew Crowley had received word in the trenches that he was to leave France and be reassigned as a captain closer to home. The shortage of able-bodied men revealed footman Mosley to be a draft-dodger . . . it was all most fascinating and fast-paced. The settings were fabulous as the over-dressed privileged class went about its day-to-day activity under the shadow of the Great War.

We had waited almost a year for this and the first episode was living up to our great expectations. We had watched a full hour and 15 minutes, it was getting late, and there were 45 minutes left to go when it happened.
Just as Lady Edith had stunned her tablemates by announcing that she would help out on a neighbor's estate by (gasp) driving a tractor, our Rocky Mountain Public Television station suffered a glitch: the videotape machine in some control room somewhere locked up, and we were left with a single frame of the Grantham ladies at table, everyone wondering what's next.
Do you know? Do tell. We had to go to bed. We need to be updated by next Sunday's Episode two, which we hope to watch in our Normandie apartment in LA.

Phew! Who knew!

The day after we drove through Wolf Creek Pass, the local Durango Herald named it as the state's most dangerous. No problem for us, hairpin turns and all. Ignorance is bliss. Of course, yesterday's weather conditions were ideal for a couple of flatland drivers in a VW packed to the gills. It is indeed a spectacular work of engineering. Our hosts, Sam and Heidi, have driven it in a much more hostile condition.
Today's Herald reports: "Jaws are clinched. Fingers strangle the steering wheel. But survival brings a story to be told over and over to those timid souls who will never know the exhilaration of a white-knuckle drive over one of Colorado's famous mountain highways."
Today the mountain pass, tomorrow the LA traffic. Drive on, yellow bug.

Before leaving Denver. . .

By the way, before we left Denver this morning, we stopped to see our cool nephew, Stephen Letnes, in Highland Ranch, a Rocky Mountain suburb. While we visited and laughed with Steve and admired his recent weight loss, we used the opportunity to let Birdie stretch her legs and take care of business.

It was a gorgeous January morning and everyone was in great spirits.
We left Steve with hug and a parting gift. .. . which he promised to dispose of properly.

Trail's end

Our Durango hosts, Heidi and Sam, spent Saturday afternoon biking and wine tasting in a canyon near here. . . and still had enough energy left to feed and entertain their guests from Shakopee tonight. . . but just barely. Their faithful Husky, Rhett, ran hard with her pack today and didn't bother to wait up. His partner, Scarlet, is already upstairs in bed.

The mountain air is fresh but thin, and we're not used to it yet. We plan on drinking lots of water while we adjust for the next couple of days before we head down to sea-level LA. Durango sits at 7,500 feet., and so looks down on the mile-high city.
We look forward to a relaxing day off from our travels on Sunday: Our Day of Rest.

First grade teacher

Our host in Aurora last night is a first grade teacher in a charter school with a very impressive curriculum. Chris showed us some of the materials. Very cool. Chris was a great host, he assembled a delicious crock pot roast beef dinner that cooked while he was teaching school. We slept soundly in his condo guest bedroom and were greeted this morning with a view of Mt. Evans behind an awakening Denver. We bid him goodbye at Rosie's Diner, wishing all the while that he could be Emily's first grade teacher next year.
Tonight we're in Durango. Our niece is whipping up dinner with an assist from her mother (Katie's sister Mary Lou) who made the chiles rellenos.
Meanwhile, Sam and Stan are enjoying a glass of local Cabernet Sauvignon, a Sutcliffe Vinyards Signature 2008.

Mother/daughter team, Mary Lou and Heidi