Jim was in his man cave mode so I took off exploring on my own ... heading south on Utah Bypass 12 for Kodachrome Basin State Park to do a photo-shoot hike through the towering spires in the canyon.
I had just made the turn to go through Cannonville onto Kodachrome when I see this Visitor Center sign; I do a quick U-turn at the only stop sign in town and go back to check it out. Unfortunately, the Grande Staircase-Escalante National Monument's Cannonville Visitor Center was closed.
I was bummed, but thought they did a good job with the outdoor displays. Through a snapshot back in time, you can see how geography affected the Paiute (Utah's historical tribe arriving in A.D. 1100-1200) and 19th century pioneers to settle on this beautiful but unforgiving landscape. What a difficult life they had.
I peeked through the windows of the Visitor Center and saw wonderful artifacts and a topographic relief model of the 1.9 million acre monument. Never made it back when they were open, but what I saw gave me a good insight how life was like before this little town (1.2 square miles) of Cannonville, Utah was founded in 1874. The last census I could find was the 2000 population of 148. The town's namesake was early Mormon pioneer George Q. Cannon.
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| Early pioneer style of fencing |
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| I can't even imagine trying to live and raise a family in this water willow hut ... we're roughing it in a 40' coach! |
So why this story about a closed Visitor Center?
After a career life of mostly self-imposed anal strict schedules and procedures; I challenged my retired self to learn to be flexible and spontaneous. I'm happy to report I making headway.
This quick stop proved interesting and educational; and that's another retirement challenge ... learn something new everyday.
So thanks for coming along with me and hope you'll be back soon.
Wishing you safe travels!
Pam
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