St. George and Red Butte

St. George, with a population just over 100,000, was the biggest city we'd seen all week. Leaving Zion, we checked in at the Mulberry Inn, a bed and breakfast with a long local history.

The grand fifteen-room mansion was built in 1873 by Edwin Gordon Woolley, a prominent local judge, carpenter, and partner in a mercantile firm. Known for his appreciation of luxury, Woolley imported fine woodwork, glass, and furnishings from England, creating what was regarded as the county's finest home.

The drawing room boasts a chandelier which was purchased from the St. George LDS Temple after a renovation, and furniture gifted by Brigham Young, whose historic winter home stands just across the street. A hidden door and attic hole in the house are thought to have once sheltered Mormon polygamists evading U.S. Marshals, adding to the mansion's storied history.

Today, each guest room in the house has been inspired by classic 18th and 19th century English literature. My parents stayed in the Phileas Fogg Suite; a steampunk sort of room designed to evoke the travels of the main character from Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. The highlight of the room was the bathtub built inside an authentic Ford Model T motorcar.

I stayed in the Sherlock Room, named of course for Sherlock Holmes.

The cozy attic room was inspired by the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, and even featured a wooden pipe and the famous detective's signature cloak and hat.

The next morning, it was time to leave St. George and drive back to Salt Lake City for our final full day in Utah. It's amazing how quickly the landscape and weather changes depending on the altitude.

The weather in St. George was mildly cool and comfortable, but as we drove up and over the mountains, we once again found ourselves surrounded by a snowscape.

Arriving in Salt Lake City, we once again found ourselves in a warm, pleasant, early autumn. It was a little bit too early to check into our hotel, and the weather was so nice that we decided to drive up to the University of Utah Campus, which sits in the mountains looking down on the city in the valley below, to visit the Red Butte Garden.

Operated by UU, the Red Butte Garden is a botanical garden and arboretum which contains 100 acres of gardens and several miles of hiking trails through native vegetation.

It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. In the evening, we checked into our hotel and enjoyed a curry pizza (at the appropriately named Curry Pizza). Now, our adventure in Utah was coming to an end and it was time to fly on to Texas.