Another date night drive...without deer!

We've been taking a few drives in our new car to try out the ways of a hybrid.  I miss the turbo in the Passat.  This 4-cylinder engine (when the engine takes over) isn't as peppy as the Passat's turbo assisted 4-cylinder engine was, but the electric engine in this is very peppy.  I miss the roominess, but I don't miss the higher price of diesel and the things that were starting to wear out on the Passat.  It was in need of new tires, the heater/AC was having problems and the brakes needed work too and it was just getting to be an older car. If it had to happen, this was a great time and we got good value out of it from the insurance company...better than we would have trying to sell it ourselves or trade-in value, so I am even grateful that it happened in some ways.  I had been hoping to go to a hybrid, but never would have done it probably without this reason.  But, on to the date drive...

We drove up to Kolob Fingers (East Zion) and the road was open a bit further up now.  It was a Thursday evening after closing and the gate was open!  We drove up as far as we could go (Lee's Pass) and then came back to the Taylor Creek/Double Arch Alcove trailhead and went for a little hike to the first stream crossing.  The water is higher than the usual jump over width we usually find.  We only saw a few people and it was a perfect spring evening.  So refreshing and beautiful!  We even saw a new waterfall coming off one of the fingers that we've never seen before - probably due to the big snows this year!  After that we drove over to see the pond at the side of the freeway that is filled to capacity this year!  We need to go kayaking!  The water was up over the road.  We did drive past a few road closed signs to get there, but all was well.