Late last fall I submitted an application to speak at the Utah Library Association Conference in St. George with Annie, Regina, and Cheryl. Luckily our proposal was accepted.
For more details about the conference itself see: http://librarybanter.blogspot.com/2010/05/utah-library-association-may-2010.html
May 12th Driving to St. George
Early in the morning I picked up the minivan from Enterprise. This would have been easier if they hadn't advertised it as the Airport Enterprise Office and located it on Yellowstone instead of out by the airport. Regina met me out at the airport and we searched around and then finally realized that the address on the website had an address on Yellowstone. Very misleading advertising. Next we picked up Cheryl and headed south.
In Orem we snagged Annie and went to lunch at a great place called Mimi's Cafe. It's one of her colleagues favorites and I could certainly see why. More driving followed. I drove and drove and drove and then stopped and switched with Cheryl. I then fell asleep. What I didn't know was that the snow was awaiting us at the upcoming mountain pass. All the bad weather we encountered occurred while Cheryl was driving. The best part is, Cheryl is an extraordinary driver and we were safer with her than with anyone else in the car.
We bypassed Kolob Canyon, instead, we drove directly to The Best Western Abbey Inn where we were staying. I knew we'd be going to Zions the next day and didn't want to spoil it for Regina by seeing Kolob first. Zion's is spectacular and it may have seemed less so if the scenery of Kolob was viewed. For dinner we went to Pancho & Lefty's for Mexican food.
Then we stayed up working on sequencing and timing of our presentation, uploading it to the website and otherwise working.
May 13th Conference & Zion's
The Best Western provided a free continental breakfast then we drove over to the Dixie Conference center and attended conference sessions.
Later we met at the van and headed for Zion's. It was spectacular. We parked the car and got on one of the free bus things that patrolled around and around the park. You can get on any of them and then get off at any stop and back on any other one coming around. It was awesome. We got off and looked and then got back on. At one point the others decided to take a hike up the mountain. I stayed on a lovely bench overlooking a scenic valley and watched the birds.
Birds for the day included
Robins
Yellow rumped warblers
Yellow warblers
Western tanagers
Chipping sparrows
Wild turkeys
American goldfinches
Lesser goldfinches
Turkey vultures
Possibly a plumbeous vireo
More likely a canyon wren
Driving to and fro
Red tailed hawk
Osprey
Crows
Ravens
Magpies
St George:
House sparrow
Common grackle
Great tailed grackles
Mourning doves
Brewer's blackbirds
That evening, really late, we stopped for dinner at Olive Garden. We also practiced our presentation for a last time.
For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625367830621/
(Written Dec 2010)
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