Friday, October 12, 2012

Bits and Pieces

To wrap up our visit to Zion, we have a few miscellaneous pictures.

First we found this strange tourist attraction.  I call it Dr. Seuss's wild west.

Although it doesn't show up too well in pictures, the buildings are all larger at the top than the bottom.
Weird.

Then there's the shoe tree.

Not sure of the purpose.  Is it making some kind of a statement?

Ron's checking for a pair in his size.

We paid a visit to the historic ghost town of Grafton.  In 1859, it was one of eight settlements that the Mormons established along the Virgin River with the purpose of growing cotton as a cash crop.  Unfortunately, there was hardly enough flat land to grow food for the farming families.  Only three of the eight towns survive today and you can bet they're not growing cotton.

All the beautiful scenery that surrounded them couldn't help their situation.

A plant seen throughout the Zion area is the Datura, a beautiful, but potentially deadly plant.


Most parts of the plant contain toxic hallucinogens which can even cause death!  I assume you have to ingest it, but I don't take any chances and don't even touch it.  Makes me shiver.

7 comments:

  1. I guess the builders of that time did not have too many straight edges when they cut the wood to make those buildings.

    What kind of seeds grow a shoe tree?

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  2. Where was 'Dr. Suess' Wild West'. I'd like to visit that someday. Looks neat.

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  3. Grafton is a great spot Ive seen some awesome star trails photos taken using that old school house in the foreground... Weird looking Suess Town, never heard of that! Your Photos are excellent!!!

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  4. Judy, that strange 'town' was just west of Virgin on route 9.

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  5. I wish we'd known about Dr. Suess's Wild West last time we were there. It looks neat.

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  6. Yes, I want to see Dr. Suess' Wild West too! It must not be that old, I don't remember seeing it.

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  7. I had a datura plant in our garden at our last home, totally safe to touch! It had gorgeous giant blooms...I sure miss it sometimes.

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