Utah Road Trip day 2

So did it get better?  I hardly slept and woke up a lot . . . we were just miserable.  I mean could you sleep if your room was this hot?

86 degrees at 3:00am  

Seriously this is unacceptable.  When we checked out I complained but it seemed to fall on deaf ears so I complained to Hilton and was told they would be in contact.  So much for the "make it right guarantee" they are always mentioning.  We were both so glad to leave the room and pick up our rental car.  I had reserved a small SUV because the weather in Utah could be unpredictable.  So of course they did not have the SUV and only had compact cars.  I said that is fine but I want you to cut my rate in half!  They did and a tank of gas too.  Now that is good business.  So we loaded up and hit the road.  Oddly enough the reason I stayed at this hotel was because it had a rental car company in the lobby and could use points for our room; ironically both seemed to fail me! Thankfully the weather was amazing and it was starting to look like everything would work out just fine.

Nothing seemed to matter as we were on the road for a new adventure . . .

 . . . the drive was easy but I forgot one little important detail.  We would be crossing into Arizona so the time changed to one hour later which meant the one place we were going to stop might be closed but onward we went.  In a matter of about 20 minutes we crossed into three states (Nevada, Arizona, Utah)!  I found it hilarious as it would take us an entire day to get out of our home state of Texas!  So we managed to pull into the parking lot of Pipe Springs National Monument with 45 minutes before closing.

A Story Built in Stone . . . Beneath the colorful Vermilion Cliffs in northern Arizona, Pipe Spring National Monument preserves the story of human life, settlement, and struggle in the heart of the desert southwest.  For thousands of years, native people, plants and animals have relied on the Pipe Spring for its life-giving water. Beginning in the 1850s, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints began to settle the area the Kaibab Paiute called home. The new settlers drastically altered the landscape and set the stage for conflict and compromise on the western frontier.

We quickly grabbed the Junior Ranger book and off we went!  We made a quick walk to Winsor Castle before the Ranger locked the doors.

Since another family was there she did a quick tour of the inside which was cool because we got to see the actual spring . . .

Tour was over, ranger locked the doors, wandered around a few minutes, and turned in the booklet.  It was a short drive to our final stop for the night in Kanab, Utah.  It was so crazy that we crossed from Arizona and Utah back and forth several times today but finally settled in for the next two nights.  It was recommended we eat dinner at Vermillion 45 which was half a block from our hotel.  I was hesitant as it was a French/Italian restaurant, but we went.  I ordered soup and salad which both were amazing and topped it off with one of the many delicious looking desserts.  I tell you it was hard to pick as they all looked so good but went with the Creme Puff.

I found it funny that Colin ordered a burger in a French restaurant but he was happy so that is all that mattered and of course he ended his meal with gelato.  All he could do was talk about how much he really loved this place and how friendly the workers were to us.  The staff was very friendly.  I was impressed with the service and quality of food for such a small town.  Who knows we might be back tomorrow night!  We made a quick walk back to the hotel and it was really cold so we headed to the indoor pool for a bit of relaxing before bed!