St. George, Utah

 Today we crossed over into the southwestern corner of Utah, arriving at the town of St. George.

St. George is one of the places that has been on our list of possible locations where we would like to settle.  We haven't had time yet to see much of it, but we are very impressed with what we have seen.  

Temperate climate is one of the selling points of the city and we very much appreciated that aspect today.  We left Phoenix on Saturday and as we've traveled through Arizona, Nevada and Utah the last several days the temperatures have soared.  We have been in some places that are normally quite warm,   but everyone says that these temperatures are much higher than normal for April.

Saturday's drive from Phoenix took us as far as Kingman, Arizona, where we spent the night.  Part of the route that day went through a scenic desert area forested with the interesting cactus called the Joshua Tree.  I had seen these treelike cacti in California but didn't realize that they grow in parts of Arizona and Nevada, as well.

On Sunday we drove from Kingman, Arizona, across the Hoover Dam into Nevada.  Many years ago when I had crossed the Hoover Dam the road was on top of the dam.  There is now a recently constructed  bridge, a real engineering marvel, that was built to route the highway off the dam.

Highway bypass bridge at Hoover Dam

In order to get a view of the dam there is a separate sightseeing area that allows you to climb up to a walkway along the bridge.

View of Hoover Dam from highway bridge.

Behind Hoover Dam is the large Lake Mead Recreation Area.


On Monday we drove along the 65-mile Northshore Road, reaching our camping site for the night at Valley of Fire State Park.

Camping in the rocks at Valley of Fire reminded us of the camping at City of Rocks in New Mexico.  However, the accommodations at Valley of Fire were much more luxurious.  And the temperatures here at night did not cool down at all.  The highs that afternoon had been over 100 degrees and we did not need our sleeping bags to keep us warm for the first time in any of the camping we've done this year.

Rainbow Vista at Valley of Fire State Park.

Now that we are in St. George we expect that our sightseeing will lead us to more beautiful desert vistas and colorful geological formations.  Tonight we are camped at Snow Canyon State Park, just outside the city--not as isolated as Valley of Fire or City of Rocks, but a very worthwhile visit.  And since St. George has been called "the launching point to Zion National Park" we have much more yet to see.