October 30, 2019
Woke up a bit late and it was indeed freezing outside. It was so cold our pipes froze and we did not have any water. Instead, we drove to McDonald’s for breakfast, brush our teeth, clean up and even do some schoolwork. Then we went the Little Hollywood museum that had some old movie sets. On one hand, it was small and not very impressive, on the other it was free so I guess it balanced out.
We didn’t stay long and drove another few minutes up the road to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I must say it is not only the largest but the best organized, best looking and most well-funded animal sanctuary I have ever seen. Home to about 1,600 dogs, cats, birds, horses, pigs and other pets it is a huge compound spread over hundreds of acres with separate areas for dogs, cats horses, goats and other animals. They have a lovely welcome center where you can pet cats, dogs and rabbits. They offer multiple free tours with excellent tour guides and nice vans. We went on the Grand Tour which lasted over 90 minutes and included visits with puppies at a puppy preschool and cats. The place was so large that the 90 minutes went by quickly and did not cover everything. There were separate specialized tours for just dog, cats and birds as well. All the kennels were large and spacious and looked a lot more like a fancy pet hotel rather than a sanctuary for unwanted animals. All in all a most impressive place. If you are looking for a pet this is the place to get it. They even offer shipping and will send the pet to you.
After leaving Best Friends, we went to the Coral Pink sand dunes. And indeed there were sand dunes and they were pinkish. Of course we had to break out the sand toys for Olivia to play in the sand. We didn’t stay long because it was cold but the $10 admission was worth it. One tip is you can bring a sled to sled down the dunes if you want. I think you can even bring your ATV if you want.
By this time it was late afternoon again and we finally headed up to Bryce. The RV campground I wanted to stay at was closed but no problem we found a place near the highway that we boondocked. At the site was a Unimog owned by an Italian couple that fascinated Holly. For those that don’t know, a Unimog is an motorhome built off of a European military truck. Very rugged, quite expensive, go off road anywhere RV.
That night after dinner we bundled up and went outside to look at the stars. The area around Bryce is very sparsely populated so there is little light pollution and we were able to see thousands of stars and even the Milky Way galaxy. It was freezing though so after a few minutes we rushed back into the RV to go to bed.