Thursday, October 9, 2014

Grumpy Bulldog Does America Day 36, Pt 1: Nature



I didn’t really have anything planned today except to go to Las Vegas, but I ended up doing quite a bit.  First after I checked out of the motel in Cedar City, I got gas, washed the car, and went to IHOP for double blueberry pancakes with sausage.  That was all good but it was one of those times when the waitress gives me the bill and then just disappeared.  I got fed up and just left money on the table.  I never get that; don’t you want your freaking tip?  I mean that’s like half the money you make and frankly if you keep me waiting I’m not going to give you a good tip.

Anyway, I drove out of town on this US 148 I think it was.  That is a really scenic route that takes you through the mountains.  Since not everyone was wanting to appreciate the mountains and fall colors and stuff and you couldn’t pass, I just pulled off the shoulder to let anyone behind me go.  Less stressful for them and me that way.

I stopped at some park to take some pictures and to use the bathroom.  The bathroom was closed, so I said the hell with it and just tinkled outside.  Suck it, whoever closed the bathroom there.  As the road wound up into the mountains I stopped a couple of times to take some pictures.  The fall colors are coming out so it is really beautiful. 

I turned off onto scenic US 143 then which goes up to the Cedar Break National Monument.  You have to pay them $4 to walk around and take pictures of stuff.  The road goes by Brian Head mountain, which is like 10,500 feet.  You can go to the peak but it’s like 3 miles of gravel roads, which I didn’t feel like doing to my Focus and I definitely wasn’t going to try walking it.

After that the road winds down into the town of Brian Head, which has a lot of fancy cabins and resorts and such that I’m sure I could never afford.  Then you have to go through a lot of sharp curves that eventually get you down the mountains and then into the town of Parowan, which it turns out is 15 miles north of Cedar City, so I had to backtrack 15 miles in the end.

I stopped in St. George near the border with Arizona to get lunch and use the bathroom.  I went to the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru.  Their owners are jerks, but I hadn’t ever gone to one before, so I thought I’d give it a try.  I got grilled chicken nuggets, which were kind of dry, but OK.  The waffle fries were interesting.

I hadn’t realized I’d be going through Arizona to get to Vegas.  I went through a bunch of mountains there.  By then I was in the real desert, with cacti and stuff.  It was like 90ish according to the car thermometer.  Phoenix and farther south is hotter than that.


































































































































































































































































































































Well this thing won't let me load more pictures, so I'll put the Vegas ones in a second entry.  Stupid Blogger.

1 comment:

Andrew Leon said...

"FLA"?

This may be your best group of pictures yet.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...