Grey Nomads in USA: The Scenic Wonders of Southern Utah

We stay in Cedar City, Utah for 6 nights. It is a great place, tucked into the mountains and surrounded by some of the most spectacular landscapes we have ever seen; truly scenic wonders. It is situated 250 miles south of Salt Lake City on I-15.
We arrange a rental car for late Wednesday.

Our first morning waking up in Cedar City is a cold one - 34F - but it has the promise of turning into a beautiful day. We do some serious cleaning inside the RV - woodwork dusted and polished; floors and mats vacuumed and floors washed; mirrors and glass cleaned. It all looks great. Not that it doesn't ordinarily look great .. it does. But now it looks even greater!!

We also finalise arrangements for our trip to New York in June - flights, car shuttle from/to LaGuardia airport and hotel - booked. We ring Pikes Peak Shuttle and Longterm Parking at Denver Airport. We will probably leave the RV in longterm parking (for oversized vehicles) while we are in New York. That needs a bit more thought as we get closer. First we have got places to go!!

We walk into town for coffee and lunch, then visit the Museum and Visitors Centre.

Frontier Homestead State Park Museum was originally named Iron Mission State Park for the pioneering attempts of Mormon settlers to create an iron industry in the area. The name change reflects the growth of the museum around a collection of horse drawn vehicles and agricultural implements. Items of interest include several historic cabins, a large collection of horse-drawn farm equipment and a replicated pioneer household. One of the displays is a shearing shed!!!

Iron deposits were discovered in southern Utah in the mid 19th century. Mormon leader Brigham Young organised volunteers to colonize the area around what is now called Cedar City - previously Coal Creek. In 1852 a small blast furnace was constructed and an iron foundry began operation.

The history of the area is one of incredible hardship; the difficulties and obstacles faced by the Mormon settlers were enormous; financial difficulties, floods, heavy freezes and furnace failure. Add to that the threat of starvation due to crop failures!! How did they persevere??

The iron works closed after a few short years though iron mining continued in the area until the 1980's. The Mormon families who remained in the area prospered from sheep ranching.

A shearing shed!

With the completion of a railroad connection in 1923, Cedar City was established as a tourism gateway to nearby Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park and Grand Canyon National Park in addition to Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Trevor was intrigued with the shearing shed and displays of the history of sheep ranching in the area.

The museum also displays local and regional arts and crafts.

Cedar City is also the home of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, held during the summer and fall on the campus of the Southern Utah University. The Festival was founded in 1961 and produced its first season in 1962 on a makeshift platform on the college campus.

The Adams Shakespearean Theatre was constructed on the University campus and completed in 1977. It is world renowned for its accuracy in duplicating Shakespeare's Globe theatre.
The season runs from mid June to mid October.

As soon as we have the rental car we are off - driving up Hwy 14, a scenic route to Cedar Breaks. The road to the National Monument is closed. It doesn't open until late May. We climb to 10,000 ft; the temperature drops from a mild 61F to 39F. There is quite a lot of snow on the ground; spectacular views from several stops along the way.