Getting Out the East Portal of Zion

Granpa has paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars for his cameras over the years.  We have thousands of pictures just from the last five years of traveling.  The newer cameras take great pictures because they have a gazillion digital pixels.  Even the cell phones take good pictures!

But looking at a bunch of snapshots is absolutely NO reason to say you've been there.  You can't imagine the grandeur.  You can't see the panorama - even though we have cameras capable of doing a panorama shot.  You don't see the subtle changes in light when a cloud passes.  You can't smell the things around us or feel the wind or sun or snow!  It. is. not. the. same.

When we're runnin' down Route 66 you don't get the sinking feeling in your stomach due to the ups and downs or get goose bumps when there's a screechingly tight hairpin turn on the side of a mountain - with no guard rail!   You don't get the thrill of going into tunnels drilled through mountainsides, honking the horn and feeling the sudden darkness surround you.  It's just not the same, is it?  Or being absolutely stunned by what presents itself when you come out the other side.

Someone once said that if I put too many pictures out there, you won't feel a need to go.  If that's true, I'm guessing you've never seen anything like this in person.  Otherwise these photos would make you crazy to get there yourself.

Where's "there"?  Oh yeah, this is how you get outside the east end of Zion - through a bunch of tunnels that even have giant windows in the side to let fresh air in.  Because we were there in the off -season, and it was getting ever closer to sundown, we could chance stopping in the tunnel long enough to snap a quicky.