St George, Utah -

3 nights here from which we have visited Zion National Park and Kolob Canyons National Park. The scenery in this part of the state is surreal with massive red stone cliffs rising up from the desert floor. The temperature today was 38 degrees. The suburban houses are built to blend in with the landscape in earthy colours and most are single storey.
In Zion National Park in summer cars are banned so you park and then ride the park bus which has 9 stops throughout the park and runs every 7 minutes from 5.30 a.m - 11.00 p.m. It is a good system and means traffic jams are eliminated. We found the park wasn't crowded despite being peak time. A late afternoon thunderstorm (common here) ended our day but we had seen the main highlights. The next day we visited the smaller and lesser known Kolob Canyons National Park. Just as beautiful as Zion but not as commercial. In these temperatures we are going through a lot of water which is great but on occasion we have left our water in the car only to return and find it too hot to drink.
We went to Walmart today - USA's answer to The Warehouse only 20 times bigger and they sell food also. They also have a pharmacy, cafe, hairdressers and optician. The Mormon's were in buying up large, dressed in their ankle length, long sleeved dresses, wool stockings and shoes despite the heat. One assumes they must not show any skin?
Our choice of food is severely limited due to price and having no cooking facilities. We have cereal and milk or fruit for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch or we go for the 99c menu at the fast food places. Tim bought a chilly bin today for $1.50 so we shall give that a go in the car.
We still marvel at the heat and the consistency in temperature, a novelty for us Wellingtonians! The children have never been so brown in their lives.