Potpourri

 

I'm a Jeopardy! fanatic. I DVR it so I don't miss any episodes. One of the occasional categories on the TV quiz show is Potpourri. (It happened just last week during the Tournament of Champions.) If Jeopardy! can do it, I suppose I can follow suit.

Thanks to anyone who's "traveled" with us through multiple blogs featuring the National Parks of the Southwestern U.S. Even though I didn't share all 1,000+ of the photos I took, the number was still plentiful. And here are a few more. 

Paul Harvey always talked about "the rest of the story." Here are some photos from "the rest of our journey." (Alex Trebek and Paul Harvey: How can I go wrong?)

The first hole - Coral Canyon Golf Course

Randy golfed one morning at Coral Canyon Golf Course in St. George, Utah. He and a husband/wife duo from Colorado were the first to tee off that morning. 

For Randy, it ranked among the most beautiful courses he's ever golfed. 

As is customary, I had a book along. However, it was not customary that I didn't crack the book during the entire morning. My other golf accessory - my camera - was called into action.

While we had to get up early to be the first to tee off, I was glad for the cool morning. Later in the day, it would have been hot.

While we were in St. George, Randy kept getting asked whether he was competing in the Senior Games, which were going on at the time.  Our hotel was home base for a whole lot of tall, "mature" men and women. Every time someone asked him if he was a competitor, his grin got a little bigger. Evidently, some of the senior games people played the Coral Canyon golf course for a golf tournament a few days after we were there. Alas, it was not Randy. 

Because we got such an early start to the day (and Randy wasn't competing in any official events at the Senior Games), we added Snow Canyon State Park to our itinerary. The officiant at Brent's and Susan's wedding used to live in Utah. She gave us several suggestions for restaurants and also mentioned Snow Canyon as a favorite place for their family. (Thanks, Allison! It was so helpful to have some insider knowledge!)

Snow Canyon State Park is a 7,400-acre park tucked amid lava flows and sandstone cliffs. Created in 1959, it's located in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. 

At the Pioneer Names Trail - We couldn't find the names, but the pamphlet said the trail passes pioneer names, written in axle grease, dating back to 1881.

 We may not have found the names, but we "pioneers" from Kansas took photos there anyway.

 

While many of the rock formations were red and others were sandstone, there were also lava flows. This lava flow was said to look like a butterfly. I can see it: Can you?

Snow Canyon was also the setting for several famous movies, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, High School Musical 2 and John Wayne's The Conqueror.  

That wasn't the only movie location we visited. Our trip home included brief photo stops in Monument Valley. 

Monument Valley is known as John Wayne Country. He starred in five films there: including "Stagecoach" (1939), "Fort Apache" (1948), "Rio Grande" (1950), "The Searchers" (1956) and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949). Other movies filmed at Monument Valley include Forrest Gump, Mission: Impossible 2, Easy Rider, Back to the Future Part III, National Lampoon's Vacation and the 2013 version of The Lone Ranger.

It rained that day and was overcast.

As we traveled toward Durango, we even saw a flash flood. (I didn't get a photo of that.)

We were hoping to bring the rain home with us, but, unfortunately, that didn't happen.

We traveled 3,070 miles during our 12-day trip. I really did take more than 1,000 photos. We were both ready to be home, but Randy is already thinking about the next adventure. This resident "homebody" will likely take a little longer to be bitten by the travel bug again.

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.

-- Eleanor Roosevelt