Wow, you need to watch this amazing video from The Piano Guys filmed just outside of St. George, Utah.  Not only is the music spectacular, unique, and inspirational, the scenery is just as amazing.

The video was filmed just south of Washington City and Sand Hollow Resort and just north-west of the new St. George Airport.  The location is called Sand Mountain.  The view is of beautiful red ridges and red sand a la Snow Canyon State Park which is one of the many reasons the St. George area is so naturally beautiful.

The video is a cover of the Coldplay song Paradise. But, I believe the Piano Guys way outdid Coldplay and Coldplay may be doing covers for them in the future.  The Piano Guys did an African spin on the song and call it Peponi -  Swahili for paradise.

The Piano Guys are Jon Schmidt (piano), and Steve Sharp Nelson (cello), Paul Anderson (guy who put it all together), and Al Van Der Beek (composer).

Tuacahn Amphitheatre
1100 Tuacahn Drive
Ivins, Utah 84738
Tickets: (800) 746-9882

St. George Vacation Rentals has been informed that the new season shows will be Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Hairspray’.  The 2011 season with ‘Grease’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’ was spectacular.  2011 was by far the best season for Tuacahn yet.  I can’t wait to see how the theatre plans to outdo the previous season.  ‘The Little Mermaid’ received raving reviews and the special effects were second-to-none and an amazing visual treat.

Tuacahn has not officially announced the schedule yet but we were able to get the inside scoop.  The official show times, prices, and announcement are coming soon.

Win 4 tickets to a Tuacahn 2012 show! All those who “like us” on Facebook from now until March 1, 2012 will be eligible to win the tickets.  Simply hit the Facebook ‘like’ button at the bottom right of this page.  Our Facebook page has information on discounts to our vacation rental condos, fun activities in St. George, and information on possible 2012 Tuacahn discount tickets.

It’s true.  In the St. George neighborhood of Bloomington, you can actually park your car right in front of a neighborhood building lot and walk 20 feet and see amazing ancient petroglyphs up close.  So close you can actually touch them.  However, please don’t come in contact with the ancient petroglyphs as human skin oil will degrade the old Indian art.

The Utah park is called Bloomington Petroglyph Park.  In the middle of a 0.5 acre lot, a huge boulder appears to have been split in two.  In the middle are really cool images carved into the rock by Anasazi Indians that were most likely the ancestors of the current Navajo tribe in Utah.  In fact, the park is right on Navajo Drive in Bloomington.

Apparently the boulder and ancient art was discovered during the development of the St. George neighborhood.  The building lot was either purchased or donated to the state of Utah, who turned it into a mini-State park.

The carved images left behind on the rocks most likely either tell a story, or leave trail directions.  You can recognize some images as humans, horses, and perhaps deer.

Bloomington Petroglyph Park is located on the northeast corner of Geronimo Road and Navajo Drive in the St. George Bloomington neighborhood.  Directions to the park from St. George vacation rentals are below.  Bloomington is the meeting place of southern Utah’s Great Basin and the Mojave Desert.

Site Name: Bloomington Petroglyph Park
Country: United States Region: The Southwest Type: Rock Art
Nearest Town: St. George, UT
GPS directions Latitude: 37.052830N  Longitude: 113.6154W
View Larger Map

Bear Grylls from the Discovery Channel explores the Colorado Plateau which covers Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.  He calls it the wildest and most beautiful terrain in the United States.   See the link below for a video of Bear Grylls in an episode of Man vs. Wild.

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/man-vs-wild-hoodoo-voodoo.html

Hoodos are the colorful spires reaching as high as 10 stories.  Each totem pole looking terracotta colored structure is dangerously unstable and unique.

The lowest rock level formed around 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.  The sea deposited sediments through a huge seaway from the ocean.

The beautiful rock layer forming the hoodoos are about 45 million years old during the Tertiary period.  They are called the Claron Formation.   Rivers deposited limestone sediments with plenty of iron in a lake that covered most of Western Utah.

The cracking of the rock happens by a weather process called frost wedging.  As the snow melts during the day it flows into the cracks in the rock.  At night as temperatures fall below zero degrees the water freezes and expends 10% causing the opening to open up slightly further and further every time the process occurs.

The other weather process involves rainwater.  The slightly acidic rainwater dissolves the limestone and begins to round the edges of the limestone.

Ironman
Saturday May 5, 2012
2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run

Can you do it? Can you be known as an ironman? No, not like Robert Downey Jr. in the movie but a real ironman.  Great movie though.  In order to do so, you must complete the grueling course in under 17 hours.  Yes, that’s correct, can you imagine running, biking, and swimming for 17 hours?  Crazy!

The city of St. George, Utah is proud to host such great athletes again in May.

The 2.4 mile swim will be held at Utah’s newest state park – the beautiful Sand Hollow Reservoir in San Hollow, Hurricane.  Sand Hollow is perhaps the top new resort in the St. George are because of it’s natural amenities like Sand Hollow Lake, San Hollow dunes, and plenty of hiking and biking trails.

The 112 mile bike will continue from the Sand Hollow Resort through Washington City by Green Springs Golf Course then into Snow Canyon by the beautiful Entrada Resort Golf Club.  The bike loop continues past Kayenta and Gunlock until finally reaching downtown St. George.

And if that’s wasn’t enough for you why not throw a full marathon around downtown St. George the red hills area on top of that.  That’s 26.2 miles, I get tired just driving that far in my car.

Sounds like you’ll need a nice place to relax after that brutal exhibit of superhuman ability.  You should stay at the Las Palmas Resort in Green Valley and enjoy 6 pools, 4 jacuzzis, massages, and full kitchens.

Ironman Triathlon Lodging St. George Utah in May.

St. George Area Parade of Homes – Details

The schedule for the St. George UT area Parade of Homes has been released:
Dates: February 17 – 26, 2012
Times:  10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Prices: $12.50.  Access to every house once during the 10 day period.
Purchase Location:  Lin’s Market or the Center Court at Red Cliffs Mall
What: 25 beautiful homes in the Washington County, Utah area

What is so great about Saint George Utah’s Parade of Homes?

26 of the best built homes in Southern Utah surrounded  some of the most unique landscapes and amazing views.  Come see the most innovative home designs including a completely automated home, green design, home theaters and infinity pools and spas.

Saint George Parade of Homes Location

The homes will be scattered all around the greater St. George area.  In close proximity to the Green Valley Resort and the St. George Vacation Condo Rentals.

More Information

St. George Area Parade of Homes website

St. George Area Attractions

The parade of homes is just one of several attractions that attract many visitors to Southern Utah each year.  Stay tuned for additional blogs on other attraction like:  Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, The St. George Marathon, The World Senior Games, Sand Hollow, Tuacahn Theater, St. George Area golf, and St. George weather.

There are plenty of great spot to fish in Southern Utah.  This summer and fall’s outlook looks great for St. George area fishermen.  Here are a few spots that look the most promising:

Quail Creek:
Great place for large mouth bass even as the lake has been planted with rainbow trout.  The bass is typically found on the west and north shorelines.   This summer looks great for the trout if you’re fishing in the deep water of this lake.

Sand Hollow Reservoir:
If you like trolling and plugging, this is the place for you especially if you like large mouth bass.  There are a bunch this year and they are large.  Bluegills seem to have disappeared.

Ivins Reservoir:
Spawning efforts have paid off as there are a huge increase this year in large mouth bass.  The woolly black bugger is picking up smaller bass of less than 16 ounces.   From small to about a pound, they eagerly pounced on a size 6 black woolly bugger. Bigger than a pound fish are found with a jig by the moss.

Gunlock Reservoir:
Gunlock is back! The water levels are high and there is plenty of feed.  Bass are looking strong on the west bank.  Fishing is even better with a boat.  All boats now have to be teated for quagga mussels.

Some other good spots to fish this summer include:  Sandove Reservoirs, Baker Reservoir (huge brown trout), Enterprise Reservoir (upper large rainbows), and Otter Creek Reservoir

Dia Frampton from Washington City, adjacent to St. George, Utah was almost crowned ‘The Voice’.  NBC’s “The Voice” held its final performances and votes at the end of June in Burbank California.  “The Voice” is a reality show a la “American Idol” with celebrity singers and host like Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Brown, Adam Levine (Maroon 5), and Blake Shelton.

Carson Daly said that Javier Colon just beat out the local favorite Dia Frampton by just a 2% margin.  Although, she did not win, her single “Inventing Shadows” hit the number 1 spot on iTunes just after her performance.

Frampton sang locally and frequently sang at the Washington County Fair.  We are all proud of her and are happy she brought more positive light focusing on Southern Utah.

Final Performance from Dia Frampton on ‘The Voice’

Mountain Meadows Massacre
25.4 miles North on UT-18 from St. George
Close to Veyo, Utah in Washington County

In 1999, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint placed a burial site monument in Mountain Meadows to remember the horrible deaths of 100 to 140 people in September of 1857.  Just a two minute walk up a cement trail is a display with information of what took place and views of where it took place.

There has been plenty of controversy over what happened in that fall in 1857 but whatever happened it was a horrific tragedy.

The victims were a wagon train full of emigrants from Arkansas simply looking for a better life in California.  The group is know as the Baker-Fancher wagon train group.

The Utah Territorial Militia (Mormon Battalion) solicited the help of the Paiute Indians and actually dressed up like Indians t0 apparently give the impression that Indians were responsible for the attack.

Before the attacks, the Mormons were persecuted and murdered driving them to the west.  The deaths include the church founder and profit Joseph Smith.

Rumors of misdeeds lead to the hostile environment which lead to the deal of all those over 8 years old in the party.  Those under 8 who were spared were then placed with Mormon Families.

Church leader at the time, Brigham Young, was not found guilty in the matter but it is believed that he planned a denial and cover-up.  Much later, the church opened up about the massacre and placed a monument at the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Sand Hollow Aquatic Center
1144 N. Lava Flow Dr.
St. George, UT 84770
(435) 634-5938

Hours and Cost:
Mon – Thurs 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Friday 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Youth (under 18) and Seniors (over 59) $5.50
Adults $6.00
There is a $2 discount for St. George area residents

Ok, don’t get stressed out – southern Utah names can be a little confusing.  Sand Hollow Aquatic Center is not at the Sand Hollow Resort and it looks like it’s in Santa Clara but it’s actually located in St. George City on the way to Santa Clara next to Ivins.  Oh, and it’s not the Washington Aquatic Center either.  Why do the names have to be so confusing?

Including the Las Palmas Condos and Green Valley Resort Pools, there are plenty of fun and relaxing pools in St. George to enjoy.

The Sand Hollow Aquatic Center has many open lanes for swimming laps but the main attraction is the water slide and the water features that shoots water.  Kids can play for hours and hours and you don’t have to worry about getting sunburned as the center is indoor.