Breakfast first, then off to the park!
It was a non-trail start to the day. We jumped off of the bus at the Court of the Patriarch's, wandering up a short path for a good view of the peaks, and then down to the river to watch the water smoothly flowing, then tumbling over rocks.
We started down the road, heading in the direction of the visitor center, the park entrance. The first half of our jaunt was along the road, a road without traffic. There were the shuttle buses, some folks wandering on bicycles, and an occasional service vehicle. For the most part it was very quiet. Down the road, looking, absorbing the sight of the canyon walls changing color as the sun inched higher. We stopped a lot, sometimes to look at the colors behind us, sometimes to sneak down to the river to watch the flowing water, sometimes to follow the flash of color from the wildflowers.
At Canyon Junction, our feet led us to the Pa'rus trail. No more cars! Just other people looking, absorbing the beauty. We crossed the river several times, floating across some sturdy but still pretty bridges. At one point Denise just stopped on the bridge and stared at the river. She stared, and smiled. There was a bird flitting about, dipping down closer to the surface of the water, flitting up again. It looked like a hummingbird, but it was big. There are nine varieties of hummingbirds that hang out in Zion. Of those, there are six that flit here in the spring, and only some of them hang out in the area near the river. I know Denise has a bird book at home. I hope that I can figure out which of the hummingbirds we saw.
Oh, we saw little hummingbirds all week, on all of our hikes. We only noticed one of the big birds.
We walked a little further, still along the river. A big bird flew by, a big but familiar bird. It was a great blue heron. Those birds hang out in a lot of places, don't they?
Hey look! What a beautiful bird that is, with bright blue wings, almost like an artist's painting. Denise had to look a a few times. She kept seeing that splash of bright blue, but when the bird landed, prancing on the ground, looking at us, well it almost looked like its face was gray. That bird had a very fitting name too - it was a bluebird.
Before we headed out, we had another smile moment. As we walked slowly through the exhibits outside of the visitor, we paused to watch skittering lizards playing games. They were playing in pairs, but the pairs kept changing. Running, looking at one another, changing directions, They were moving so fast that Denise couldn't catch them with her camera. Funny and beautiful.
All too soon it was time to end our visit. I know we'll be back again; I don't think Denise will ever take Zion off of her list of must visit again places.
It was hard to get a photo of one of these beautiful birds. I wish that we were a little closer, and I wish that we could have stayed in this one spot watching the bluebirds for longer. But I'm so glad we were able to share some space with this blue-winged creature.
And what a fabulous shade of blue!
