I left my campsite shortly after 8:00 am to head to Kanab to enter my name in a lottery to hike the Wave, an incredibly gorgeous area nearby. 10 permits are given out per day to people who enter the lottery online 4 months in advance and 10 more permits are given to people in a lottery at the visitors centre for the following day. I arrived there at 8:30 and there were somewhere around 50 other people present, one person I heard talking was from Russia. Finally, we were called in to fill out the form, then wait until 9:00 am when the lottery was drawn, there were 35 entries, each group could only fill out one form, I was number 23. The numbers were called and the guy drawing the names told us to remember that the winners were nice people too before informing us that the group consisted of six people, only 4 spots remained. The next drawn was a group of 3, he told us that he would accept a group of 2 for the next one, but a single person was drawn and that was that. I next headed to the McDonalds parking lot to use some wifi, then ended up back at the Visitor’s Centre to inquire about nice slot canyons that were dog-friendly, the woman who helped me was very nice and full of good information.
Next, I went to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary; we had been told of a $5 vegetarian lunch from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm and I wanted to check it out. I was there early, so headed to the Angel’s Rest pet cemetery to see what it was like. As I opened the gates I was immediately blown away by the beauty of the place, particularly at the incredible sound of the many chimes that people have places there with plaques on them to commemorate their pet. I have no idea how many chimes were there, but the music they made was so beautiful and varying, I may as well have been at a concert hall. The graves were laid out in a very organized manner and each of them had small stones and gems placed on them like offerings. I found one with a quarter on it and another with several US coins; some had rocks with paintings laid on the gravestone, some toys, collars or horse shoes. There was one area with many names all clumped together on sticky-out things (thank you to Dr. Marion Anderson, my wonderful and highly esteemed professor who taught us using the term “sticky-out things many a time), but most names had proper gravestones with names, dates and a nice saying on them, some even had photos in the stone.The rock wall surrounding some of the cemetery had shelves in it with memorials to pets as well. I wasn’t sure what to think of pet cemeteries before, but this place was absolutely incredible and really brought forth the message that each individual buried in that cemetery made a huge and unique impact on the lives of the people that cared for them.
I headed back up the road in search of the cafeteria, finally locating it and finding a spot to park in the crowded parking lot, it seemed that this lunch was a popular one. I left Luna in the car while I purchased my meal and loaded my plate with the food, then got set up in the patio outside and brought Luna to sit with me, it was too hot for her to be in the car for long. The meal was delicious, particularly after being on the road with no refrigeration for 50 days! It was salad with as many fresh vegetables and other toppings I wanted to put on it (they had so many different toppings, it was the Marble Slab of salads), plus some pasta rolls (not sure the correct term for whatever these yummy things were), fruit and banana bread. Luna got many compliments as people passed by, so I constantly had to swallow my mouthful quickly to respond or give the old chipmunk-cheek smile. I had neglected to grab water before as my hands had been full, but I was so thirsty and that fresh, COLD water with ice cubes in it was tantalizing me, so when someone gave Luna a particularly long hello (turned out it was one of the shelter staff), I got up the courage to ask her to hold Luna for me as I quickly grabbed a glass of water. Several people were entering the building as they talked to Luna as I exited. Luna was very relieved to see me, putting her paws up on my legs and leaning in to me for a cuddle, but I knew she’d been in good hands for the 45 seconds I took. I finished up my meal, then put Luna in the car before heading back to take my dishes inside. A woman held the door for me as my hands were fairly full and my knife slipped off the plate, landing gently in to the pocket of my sweatpants, I was torn between being embarrassed for making the person hold the door for me longer as the knife fell and amusement that the knife fell right in to my pocket like that, I was almost glad to have witnesses to that miracle, the woman taking payment for the meals had seen it too “that was luck!” she laughed.
I next looked for some trails, first driving up a dirt road which ended up having such huge dips in a steep area that I was very proud of and thankful to have my Lexus. I walked around a little, but the road wasn’t the trail I had in mind, so I went back down. I found a trail called Angel’s Overlook soon after and walked along the nice little path, then sat where I had a view of the cemetery and listened to the chimes again. There was another pet cemetery in that area and I took some time to walk around that one as well. When I had parked a few people and dogs had been gathered around one area in the cemetery, one waved to me as I went by, but I realized that they were likely burying a pet or ashes and sure enough, there was an area of recently disturbed dirt with a gravestone overtop, sad. This area had much fewer chimes, but was still lovely.
We then headed to the Welcome Centre, I had decided I wanted to make a donation and become a member of the society, plus I wanted to look in to the Parelli Natural Horsemanship demonstration they do every Tuesday and Friday morning. I signed up for the Parelli demo, telling them it was possible I wouldn’t be there as I wasn’t certain I’d still be sticking around the area on Friday, but knowing me, I would make sure to stay to watch the horses and learn a bit more about the method. All the staff or volunteers that had met Luna the previous day when I checked in for my tour came to say hi to her. An enthusiastic Labrador was in the room and I made sure that Luna could greet him, a staff member asked how old Luna is “One and a half” I replied, another staff member laughed, “She’s one and a half and he’s nine!” Luna was behaving as well as ever plus acting more docile because she was nervous while the lab strained at his lead to try and play with her, she played back a little, but it was hard with them on leashes inside.
I headed to right near the highway and parked so I could use some cell service, then headed back to my campsite, spending the afternoon and evening reading.
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. A barn and the surrounding area in the right, slightly above center of this photo was used in the movie One Little Indian.
Another view of the sanctuary, the cemetery is visible in the bottom right.
No comments:
Post a Comment