Fredonia’s fantasy is that it’s the Gateway to the Grand Canyon. And if you didn’t know that already, the plethora of recreation related businesses and signs promoting this on vacant land available for development make it perfectly clear. In reality, it’s a “last chance” suds stop for us regular Joes stuck driving through, or living in Utah, and in desperate need of a six-pack, or two.
Imagine being at liberty to purchase a cold one at any time of day, on any day of the week. That’s something we don’t even enjoy in Indiana. That’s freedom. And that’s Fredonia.
By this time we were no longer winding downhill through scenic little canyons. We were gaining altitude again and plowing through a vast high desert. In the distance we could see the hazy outline of the mountains that butted up to the rim of the canyon. I wondered if the line of the horizon was the actual precipice and that if we went past the horizon here, we really would fall off the edge.
The terrain changed as we got closer. We were still probably 60 miles away but the desert began to give way to aspen and pine tree forests and rolling meadows. There was evidence of some fairly recent and pretty extensive fires that probably took out thousands of acres of forest.
It was late in the day by the time we paid our park entrance fee and nearly sunset when we finally pulled up to the lodge. We noted a bus near the final loop in the road, right in front of the lodge, and hoped they weren’t all checking in now. We also noted that cars are no longer allowed there, even for guest check in, and so we made a U-turn and took a tour of the parking lot. We found a spot about a mile away (good thing we sent those Kiwis around to the South Rim) and made the final trek to the lodge.
Imagine being at liberty to purchase a cold one at any time of day, on any day of the week. That’s something we don’t even enjoy in Indiana. That’s freedom. And that’s Fredonia.
By this time we were no longer winding downhill through scenic little canyons. We were gaining altitude again and plowing through a vast high desert. In the distance we could see the hazy outline of the mountains that butted up to the rim of the canyon. I wondered if the line of the horizon was the actual precipice and that if we went past the horizon here, we really would fall off the edge.
The terrain changed as we got closer. We were still probably 60 miles away but the desert began to give way to aspen and pine tree forests and rolling meadows. There was evidence of some fairly recent and pretty extensive fires that probably took out thousands of acres of forest.
It was late in the day by the time we paid our park entrance fee and nearly sunset when we finally pulled up to the lodge. We noted a bus near the final loop in the road, right in front of the lodge, and hoped they weren’t all checking in now. We also noted that cars are no longer allowed there, even for guest check in, and so we made a U-turn and took a tour of the parking lot. We found a spot about a mile away (good thing we sent those Kiwis around to the South Rim) and made the final trek to the lodge.
