Life in Kanab - The Sorenson's

Well, I guess it's time to add to the blog. Jim needs to teach me how to add pictures so I can show off the grand kids - OH and the kids too. LOL

We are having wonderful weather here in good ole Kanab. The last few days it has been snowing and we have a total of about 12". Fun Fun Fun. There is more coming if the weather forcasters are right. This is a little unusual for us. We do see snow in the winter time but usually from 1" - 6" is the max and that usually melts away in a day. Those dreams of a white Christmas are now reality! YEAH! I love the snow!

It seems like no matter what season it is I can look out my front door and be lifted by the beauty before me. When I got up this morning and looked east, the sun was at the horizon and the snow sparkled with abandon. It was a glorious sight!

I did change our blog page.  I couldn't edit it very well and it didn't work well with Windows Live Writer which I like using.

Well I changed our blog look this morning.  I saw Laura and Alan's and got jealous, so I decided to change ours.  Not sure if I will change it again.  I will be showing Grandma Sorenson how to look at our blogs and hope that she will write a response or two. - Well thanks all for now. I am using Live Writer to write this entry.

My husband Jim set up this blog site. Apparently, I am to write and he is to - I'm not sure what his part is in all this! Anyway, life in Kanab is everything it's cracked up to be. Oh, you don't know what that is? Well......let me tell you.

Kanab is 100 miles from everywhere.

Listing the biggest attractions I would have to start with the Grand Staircase Escalante. The monument is a tantalizing picture of rock, sand, water and rain swept scenarios that absolutely take your breath away. This is a wilderness area few knew about until President Clinton decided to take a million plus acres from Southern Utah to protect it from bad people. You know, the kind that go out and throw their beer cans and bottles all over. Before the monument was set up, so few people knew about it, we actually didn't have many desecraters. The few there were, the locals picked up after. It is also the home of the biggest deposit of clean coal in the US of A - but now that the area is protected by the "government" the coal cannot be mined.

Now everybody and their dog knows about the staircase and it takes tons of full time jobs just keeping up with all of them. People come out to our part of the world and decide to drive to this wonderful place to commune with mother nature. Some apparently have never been introduced to her, because they will go to the monument in their two wheel drive cars, take no food, take no water, forget proper footwear and dress for whatever weather we have in town. No clouds, sun is shining and life is good, right? We will leave our happy travelers there, trying to figure out what to do now that the road is washed out and they are out of gas and they have not a clue where they are.....

Next on our list of 100 miles from everywhere is the Grand Canyon. It is populated by tourists from every corner of the globe. There are always lots of people around, so getting lost isn't as easy! If you stay on the well marked trails, life is good. But there are those who, for some unknown reason, want to stand on a precipice so they can look down a thousand feet without any pesky railings to block their view. It's a long way to the bottom and sadly many have taken the fast trip, instead of being patient and riding a little burro down to the bottom. One event that I will brag about is the Symphony of the Canyons. Yes, Kanab has it's own symphony which presents a concert on the north rim every August. What a delight it is to see friends and neighbors share their musical talents in such a pleasing way. In any case, the Canyon is amazing and never the same no matter how many times you go there.

Let's see, I think Lake Powell should be next on the list. The Glen Canyon Dam is the second largest dam on the Colorado River. The river backs up for a hundred miles or so into what once was a very deep gorge. Other rivers also feed Lake Powell making it one of the biggest man made lakes in the US. The only way to really see even a small part of the lake is to take a house boat and spend as much time as you can. There are so many canyons, nooks and crannies it would take a hundred years to even begin to see it all.

Flying over doesn't really do it justice. Fifty miles up the lake is the biggest sandstone arch ever discovered. If you keep going, you will come to the point where Father Escalante found a place to cross the river. A few miles up the lake from there is the famous Hole in the Rock where the Mormon pioneers lowered wagons over the extremely steep cliffs to get to the Colorado. If you are brave enough to climb up that gap and travel about five miles down a very rough road, you would come to what is known as the Sodie. There my father, mother and brother rounded up five hundred head of wild cattle. But, that is another story!

Most of you are familiar with the famous canyon country of Southern Utah - but did you know that just north of Kanab lies Brice Canyon also within that 100 mile radius, as is Zion's Canyon. Codachrome State Park is a less known place but still within our radium. The state park for the Coral Pink Sand Dunes (yes, they are coral) is only 30 miles from our small town. Brian Head ski resort, Cedar Breaks, Navajo Lake and Panguitch Lake are all there too. Scenic highway 89 runs through what is called Long Valley and the drive from Panguitch to Kanab is absolutely georgeous. The drive over Cedar Mountain is spectacular in the fall - at least then all the dead pine trees (thanks to all you environmentalists who just loved that little bark beetle) look natural. If you turn south west from Kanab, you will find Pipe Springs, Toroweap, the Piute Indian Reservation, and the south side of Zion National Park.



A few more things to mention and then I will cease and desist....

Every year in August the town of Kanab, along with a bunch of the greatest volunteers ever assembled, put on what is now the famous "Western Legends Roundup". If you were ever a fan of the old western movies/TV shows, you would absolutely get a great big "bang" out of this event. Go to the website at westernlegendsroundup.com to get a feel for what happens.

We also have a great time with our annual Greyhound Day parade. Kind people, who have rescued greyhound racing dogs, come from all over the world to Kanab, Utah to dress up their dogs and show them off. It's an animal lovers dream! We have lots of animal lovers who come to tour/work at Best Friend's, an animal sanctuary just five miles north of town.

The very best thing about Kanab, Utah is, without a doubt, the people who live and work here. I have never seen a more friendly bunch in all my life. Even though this is an old town don't get the idea that nothing new is going on. It's a great mix of old, new and in between.

Now, don't you want to visit?

Well we are finally going to set up a blog. I (Jim) will do all the computer stuff, while Annie does all the composing. I might on occasion write something. So far we are just experimenting.