Last night was cold! It got in the low 40's. I was a mixture of hot and cold in my sleeping bag. When we woke up, neither of us wanted to get out of our sleeping bags, even though the restroom was calling. I gave in first.
We layered up and went to the Visitor center where we found wifi and were able to check email, upload and publish my Day 6 blog, and had enough bars on our phones to make a few calls. John met a Volunteer Ranger who gave him a lot of information, such as why it was called Cedar Breaks. Apparently the people who settled Cedar City thought the trees around them were cedars. They aren't. There are a lot of spruce trees, but they had been decimated by the spruce beetle. These beetles consume only mature trees and the trees die. That's why John laughed when I said there were tall pine trees. Only the younger, shorter trees had survived. It is nature's way of cleaning up the forest. These beetles infest about every 40 years.
We had our devotional and then went on a hike to see Alpine Pond. It was about a mile round trip, but we were both so tired, and the elevation so high that it was a bit of a struggle. The hike itself was beautiful. There were so many wild flowers everywhere along this narrow path through the woods and pastures. The pond was a pond, but past it there was a stream that fed into the pond. I took lots of pictures of flowers. John saw a doe, and I saw lots of chipmunks.
We had lunch, but by then it was really cold, and the wind was blowing about 30 to 35 mph. There was also a 50 percent chance of rain. We had planned a ranger-led strenuous hike at two, but the Rangers told us they didn't advise it because of the wind. We were dressed in many layers, but because of the wind could not get warm. We decided that since our camping fee was only $14 it would be okay to just drive down to Cedar City, get a room, and maybe see a movie or something.
I packed while John bid on a room at the Visitor center (the only place you can get wifi) and we loaded up and headed out. After getting into our room, we went in search of batteries - one for my camera and one for his laptop. Both are old and take a long time to charge. No luck in Cedar City.
Next stop - Applebees. One of my band parents had generously given me a gift card at the end of the year so I thought it would be a good time to use it since we couldn't really grill in the hotel room. Apparently they like their diet coke a little under-syruped in Canyon City. It was the first one I'd had in 5 days too. I've been fasting and praying about a situation, and since not eating is not really a choice on this trip, I gave up diet coke for the designated duration. The steak was tough and over cooked but tasty.
John was so sweet about the diet coke situation that we went straight to WalMart and bought some. When we got back to the hotel, we went to the hot tub, and I realized I was going to get to watch my daughter on the show "Fixer Upper" after all! She and my son-in-law were fabulous, and I cried when she cried at the reveal. Both times. John got ice and fixed me a real diet coke. I was in heaven!
Next stop tomorrow - Zion. This is John's favorite in Utah so I can't wait to go.
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