Lotteries and other things

Well Lee and I were up early..
 me 4 am and Lee 5:30!
 Long tunnel is not open  until 8 am and we have to be in Kanab to put our names in at 8:30.
So around the long way and we get there 30 minutes early..
 better that way in my mind.
LOL
Only two other people there.. good news.
By the time it came around to enter your name for the lottery to see who would be the lucky folks going to the Wave
 there were 74 people!
Ten names drawn there and ten from the Internet.
The draw takes place at 9 sharp..
 the ranger has the most wicked and dry sense of humour
 and I now begin to understand why..
 with this happening day after day.
By 9:30 after all the names on the applications had been assigned numbers
and a bingo ball like thing is going in circles,
 people waiting with bated breath as the numbers start to fall and are spoken put loud...
people that are called are super ecstatic
 and as the last name is called..
we sit there knowing that we will not be going on the 6 mile round trip hike the next morning along with 34 other people that were not chosen.
Our application would stay in for one more day
and Lee decided that there was no way he was doing this again!
We will try again but we will not be so far away
 or maybe we will just do an Internet attempt.
So we are on our way back
 the way we can now stop and start where ever we want..

We came back through Zion and as we have a duelly truck we had already paid the extra $15.00
so we had one more ride through the long tunnel all by ourselves(too wide to have two way traffic, thus the extra fee).
This makes pulling off the road a bit tricky
 but we managed to get off the road a couple of times...
walked up slick rock and marveled at the ancient stones and the hues of unimaginable colours.
It occurred to us that there seemed to be an unusual number of people around..
but as we were doing our own thing,
 we continued on.
The unusual number grew and grew..
 no place to park anywhere..
 no way a photograph in the river ,
 by the river ,
near the river without many people in the shot..
 the colours are still in many cases green..
there were a few here and there gorgeous blazes of bright plugged in neon yellow looking trees.. couldn't stop,
 couldn't park
 but I finally said "stop the damn truck right here right now, I am getting this shot and the folks behind us can just bloody well wait til I am done!
Yeah...
wouldn't you know it..
the ranger is the one right behind us.
 Gulp!
OK so I got one pic of the tree and one of a four point buck..
That is the good news..
the news that was not that good
was there must have been 40,000 people in the park that day.
Gotta go..
 too many for me..
It is late afternoon by now and Lee is dragging..
I am wanting to go somewhere else but it is not going to happen at this time..
 so we head home..


I promise some pics and soon..
 I have edited only a few as we have been gone allot..
But I will get some done today and perhaps tomorrow..
 please remember I am going to do Black Friday Shopping in St George..
 so for those of you who KNOW me..
 I will be certifiable when finished!

We are joining our American friends to celebrate their Thanksgiving with them.
It  is an honour..
 and I will take some good food with me that will be remembered..
as anyone that knows us
 knows we Canucks are "foodies"
.So to those of you celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow,
 may your day be filled with joy, good thoughts and family.
For the rest just enjoy..

Thanks for joining us on our adventures
Peace