I woke today feeling much better and ready for a full day fun.  We decided to see if we could get a permit for the Wave.  We tried the online lottery, but did not win it, and so we went over to the Bureau of Land Management to enter the daily lottery.  They give out 10 permits every day and about 100 people show up to get one at 9 a.m. each day.  We didn’t win.  Oh well.  Instead, we decided to go on a hike through a slot canyon on the Wire Pass Trail.  It was about an hour away; the first 30 minutes were on Route 89, a standard state road.  The last 8 miles/30 minutes were on “House Rock Valley Road”–notice the quotes–at least the first 30 feet were paved, the rest not so much… (The Saab was making an interesting clunking sound whenever we hit a bump kind of like the engine was about to drop out.)

We arrived at the trailhead slapped on our boots and proceeded down the trail.  It was about 97 degrees in the sunshine.  There was a 1 mile  hike to the canyon and then about 1.5 miles in the canyons.  It was unbelievably wonderful.  The walls rose straight up and the canyon thinned to a minimum of 3 feet wide.  Because the walls were so high, we were hiking in the shade, and so the temperature seemed to be in the 80s.  Halfway through we had a picnic lunch in one of the alcoves.

After hike, we returned to Kanab and stopped for ice cream at Kanab Drug. yes…they have a lunch counter and an ice cream stand (with delicious vegan ice cream!!! and a pharmacist that helped me with my burning eyes).  While eating our delicious ice cream we watched a mother round up her 7–yes 7– kids. The mom looked under 40 and the oldest child looked about 15. BTW…the kids were all really well behaved. The car said the outside temperature was 110…but it could just be whining because we didn’t get it ice cream.  We then went to the local outfitters, Willow Canyon Outdoor, as Sue’s Camelback needed to be replaced.  We spent about 30 minutes finding the right combination of size, fit and, of course, color. (The saleswoman was knowledgeable and patient.) Afterwards, we went to the local state owned liquor store and got some gin.  Then to the local grocery store…and at this point I found out we were no longer in civilization….They had no tonic. I would understand no vegetables, that would be OK.  I could live with no good snacks or deli, but really?   No tonic? WTF?  Luckily one of the employees thought she remembered some in the back; she returned with a case…whew.  She is my favorite person in the whole word.  The horror that flashed before my eyes.

Back to the AirBnB for cocktails, snacks & a light dinner.