Monday, sept 26

As it turns out we headed down to St. George, down to the heat of southern Utah and stayed in an air conditioned house one of the doctor’s sons owned. The next day they all took off to their seminar and Lina and I headed up to Snow Canyon. Now don’t let the name fool you, I wish there would have been snow there, at least some cooler temperatures, but that was not the case. Very soon Lina and I were baking in the mid-nineties.

We started out with a short hike in the shade, a small little box canyon called Jenny’s Canyon. At least there in the recesses of sandstone it was cooler.

Our next destination was not so pleasant. Out in the middle of the valley there exists an old lava field that once flowed some few million years ago. And in this jagged sun- backed rock oven there are what they call lave tubes; old remains of vent shafts where the lava spewed out over the surface. Now instead the black rock just radiates the heat as if it was still freshly molten.

Here is the entrance to one of them. I was hoping the caves would go on for miles, but alas they just went down about 20 to 30 feet and stopped. At least the temperature was cool down at the very bottom; it was most likely 68-70 degrees. I could have stayed there all day; But my daughter was pushing me back to the air conditioned house and the backyard pool. We hiked out in 100 degree heat and made a straight line back to the water.

On Saturday we drove up to a much cooler Cedar City some 45 miles north and 3000 feet higher in elevation. We had tickets to the Shakespearean Festival which has become very popular during the summer there. People from all over the world will come to partake and study acting.

We found a cute Bed & Breakfast, ate dinner next door at some small restaurant and walked to our 7:30 performance of “Dial M for Murder” It was well worth it, especially to escape the heat of St. George. For anyone near the area I would highly recommend taking in one of their plays, the ambiance and location is well worth it.

Richard Boyer