Day 29: Don't visit Zion National Park

After the fastest camp break down of the trip we headed out-ready for Vegas, a shower and AC. Since we'd be passing close by a few National Parks on the way to Vegas, we planned to stop at Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.

We spent the morning driving through some beautiful desert canyons and listening to the end of our Dietrich Bonhoeffer book. For the first time on the trip we got lost for a brief period of time. Nothing major, we just missed a turn off but it was easily corrected and we didn't loose any time. Because this detour we're not sure what town we had lunch in. Rachel got really amazing chicken at a place called Wingers, while I drove through a Taco Bell/KFC (one store) and ordered both tacos and biscuits.

Our 10th National Park was a very brief visit (about 2 hours) in Bryce Canyon. We weren't there long but we were able to listen to a Ranger Talk and get several good views of the amazing "Hoodoo" rock formations. Rachel was also able to earn her 10th Junior Ranger patch!

Our next and final National Park was Zion National Park. We got there around 3:30 and planned to drive as much of the park as we could while Rachel worked towards her 11th Junior Ranger patch.

It's important to note here that we pledged to get a patch at every park we visited and so far we were 10 for 10. Some parks require Junior Rangers to go to a Junior Ranger program but usually have many talks available. We had been lucky up to this point to be in all of the parks when there was a program available. We noticed on the park schedule that there was a program we missed at 3:00 and not another one until 6:00 and that was a 3 hour hike. We only wanted to spend a couple hours in the park so we could get to Las Vegas at a decent hour.

Before we purchased the Junior Ranger booklet, we read in the booklet that if a Ranger Program wasn't available you could still earn a patch by watching a video or studying the Visitor Center Exhibits. So we spend several hours exploring the park, visiting the exhibits, and watching the video.

As we were preparing to leave around 6:30, Rachel went to a Ranger to be "sworn in" and get her patch. The Ranger was probably the rudest one we had met so far. It was clear he didn't like Rachel participating in the Junior Ranger program, even after we explained that she is doing this for her future elementary classroom. He reluctantly gave her a plastic badge without swearing her in and refused to give her a patch. He wouldn't give us the patch because we didn't attend a Ranger Program. We showed him the page in the booklet that says attending a program wasn't necessary, but he said the booklet hasn't been updated since the off season. Then he pulled out the "official policy" in the park newspaper. We then explained how this was our 11th National Park and we've collected the patches from all of the other 10 and if he could make a small exception, and we'd be willing to pay if there was some cost issue. We also explained how we would have gone to a Ranger Program if there would have been one available while we were there. We pointed out that we had to drive several more hours that night and we had been at the park for several hours already and no programs were available.

To this, he rudely and sarcastically replied, "Oh we're so sorry, if you would have called and let us know when you were coming, we could have completely re-arranged the schedule to fit your specific needs."

At that point we had to walk out so he wouldn't see Rachel start balling and I wouldn't punch him in the face.

I assumed we had just gotten a bad Ranger and decided to go over to the Visitor Center to straighten it out with another Ranger. It turns out that Zion National Park Junior Ranger patches must be a matter of National Security. The female Ranger I spoke with was just as rude and just as adamant that there could be NO EXCEPTIONS to the Junior Ranger patch law. You would have thought I was asking them to give up their first born child for my sick pleasure.

We hadn't driven almost 6,000 miles and 29 days to fall short of Rachel's patch goal at the last National Park. We stayed at the park another 2 hours, attended an evening Ranger program, and GOT OUR PATCH! I had the Ranger open the Ranger station just for us so she could give us our patch.

We drove several more hours in the dark and got to Las Vegas around midnight. After a 17 hour day, we finally got a shower and a bed.

Bible Reading: Up to Exodus 33