The Penultimate Day

Boy, you can really tell that we're close to the end of our trip... sleeping late and moving slow! We ate breakfast in the diner and then went back to the visitor center so that the boys could collect their Jr. Ranger badges. The main requirement for this one was attending a ranger program, which we didn't finish until late last night with the astronomy talk. They had run out of Jr. Ranger patches, so they'll mail them to us when they get more in.

Our final NPS unit to visit on this trip was Cedar Breaks National Monument. It was only a short, 60-mile drive to get there from Bryce Canyon -- UT-12 to US-89, then UT-143 from Panguitch to UT-148 and the park entrance. Pretty scenery!

Sunset View

We drove on to the visitor center at Point Supreme (elev. 10,350). Brrrr! It was cold up there!

Our friends who went with us to Yellowstone came through this area a little more than 2 weeks earlier and their pictures showed a lot of snow still on the ground. It's all gone now (too bad for the boys!), but at least the wildflowers were starting to bloom.

Bluebells and columbine

The boys turned in their Jr. Ranger booklets and were sworn in. But they'll have to wait to get their badges in the mail, as they were all out!

Then it was down the mountain to Cedar City for lunch and on to Vegas! We got an hour back when we crossed into Arizona, so by the time we pulled in to the Main Street Station, R still had enough time to meet with the catering coordinator at the Cal to set the banquet menu for our family reunion next month.

We had saimin for dinner at the California and Lappert's ice cream for dessert. Sooooo good! Can't wait to come back next month for the reunion, when we'll have more opportunities to eat!

And to top it all off, we ventured out to find the world-famous "Gold & Silver Pawn Shop", home of History Channel's Pawn Stars. It's one of our family's favorite shows! It's not too far from where we stayed downtown, on Las Vegas Boulevard (though this part isn't considered "The Strip").



No, we didn't see Rick, the Old Man, Big Hoss, or Chumlee

Very interesting! There was a hot dog stand outside (likely because of all of the tourist traffic), but the store was surprisingly small inside. A good portion of the floor space was devoted to merchandising for their show... T-shirts, posters, etc. You'd think, given the number of Chumlee items for sale, that he was the star of the show. Fun place to stop!

Almost home...