We lack one important store in town......

Everyone is Christmas shopping now, and St. George has stores and businesses galore. There is something new being built and opened all the time. It is fun and exciting to anticipate what new establishment is coming next.

But St. George lacks one important store, I feel. That store is a Toys R Us. We have one very small retail toy store and of course there are the toys within Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, and other similar stores. But I feel we NEED a larger toy store with greater variety and volume. Goodness….we have over 100,000 people living here, and lots of children who like toys.

Our phone book has pages and pages of listings for eating places….and only one listing for a small toy store. Toys R Us…..WHERE ARE YOU!!

Additional information about St. George

image above...bird on snow (brrrrrr). Wouldn't this bird like to come to St. George in the winter and be a snowbird?

St. George is the most southwestern town in Utah and closest to the Nevada state line. It is only 119 miles from the famous city of Las Vegas and many travelers heading to the bigger city often stop by in St. George for a night or two.

In recent years, the St. George economy has boomed and with it brought an increase to the city’s population. Tourism is the greatest attributer to the economy of St. George and many come for recreation and sights.

St.George is famous for its “snowbirds”. These aren’t actually birds, but what is referred to as the people who come and spend their winters in St. George and then about March or April, they will go back to their regular homes in northern Utah and other places. The mild winter weather draws many senior citizens to move permanently to St. George or at least to become “snowbirds”.

With the city expanding steadily, it has plans to build a new, much larger airport by 2010, which will keep the flow of buyers into the region and increase the economic gains due to tourism.

I can't believe this weather!

It is 3:30 pm. and our temperature outside at this moment is 72 degrees!

It is a down right gorgeous, shirt sleeve day. That is what is so therapeutic about living here in St. George....the beautiful fall and winter weather. Some days when I get into my closed up car, I have to turn on the air-conditioner for a few minutes....better yet I open my car windows and let the refreshing wind blow on me as I drive down the road. Heavenly!!!!

Utah's Dinosaur Land

Yes, dinosaurs really did exist! And Utah can prove it.

Millions of years ago, all types of dinosaurs roamed across the landscape of what is now Utah. Literally thousands of actual remnants of this fantastic prehistoric era are carefully preserved and interpreted in sites, state parks, museums and quarries all across the state of Utah...just awaiting your discovery.
There are prehistoric sites and attractions throughout all of Utah....the northern part, northeastern part, central part, eastern part, southeastern part, and the southwestern part.
By visiting these dinosaur sites, you can see and learn how these fossilized remains have been protected and preserved. These prehistoric fossils and bones represent a priceless part of Utah's past, and these remnants are protected by federal regulations.

Interesting Facts....

**Digging up new types of dinosaurs allows paleontologists at Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, Utah, to reconstruct the environment that the dinosaurs lived in. Each piece of information, from the types of rocks, to plant fossils, to remains of the frogs, lizards, and salamanders living at the same time as the dinosaurs, helps scientists describe what northeastern Utah looked like when the dinosaurs roamed.

**Fossils are remains or traces of ancient life. They provide the clues that paleontologists use to learn about prehistoric animals and plants. When a plant or animal dies, it usually decays or is eaten by other animals. However if it is buried before that happens, it may become a fossil. Hard materials, such as wood, bones, shells, and teeth have a better chance of being buried and fossilized because they decay more slowly than soft tissues like leaves or skin.

**The dinosaurs of Douglass Quarry, in Jensen, Utah, lived in the middle of the Age of Dinosaurs. They were one of nature's experiments that succeeded. The first dinosaurs survived, thrived, and ruled the earth for some 150 million years, while adapting to changing conditions. The early dinosaurs multiplied. Some grew larger, some began to walk on four legs, and others grew into different shapes. Each new feature.. a long neck or sharp teeth, or bony plates, if it helped the animal survive, was passed on to later generations. These features became the hallmark of each new kind of dinosaur.

**In order to be classified as a dinosaur, an animal must have...

1... hip, knee, and ankle bones that allow it to stand with its legs directly under its body.
2... a ridge on the upper arm bones.
3... jaw muscles that attach to the top of the skull.
4... three bones (that make up one side of the hips) that form an open socket for the thigh bone to fit in.
5... the second finger is the longest digit of the hand.


Dinosaurs in Southwestern Utah....

The St. George, Utah Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm.. http://www.dinosite.org/ Dinosaur tracks were discovered on the farm in February, 2000, and it has become quite an attraction. The site is in the early stages of scientific study - so far more than 1,000 tracks have been found within a 10-acre area. Most were made by Dilophosaurus-like creatures and are three-toes, 13-18 inches long. There are also some smaller tracks and researchers have identified skin prints and impressions made by tail drags and swimming movements.
The tracks were found in large slabs of sandstone from the Moenave Formation, dating back some 205 million years to the beginning of the dinosaur era. Residents tromped over that very sandstone for years, never realizing it sheltered such treasures. Nobody new, until Dr. Sheldon Johnson flipped over a slab while trying to level his land. There, on the underside, the tracks were clearly visible.
Most of the tracks are actually "negative impression" casts that appear as bumps on the stone. The area was the bottom of an ancient freshwater lake in the center of the super-continent Pangea. Footprints left in the mud filled with silt and sand, and more sand was deposited over the top. The mixture eventually solidified into sandstone and mudstone, forming the casts. Now, when the slabs are flipped over, the casts appear, much like Jell-o popping out of a mold.
Dr. Johnson donated his land to the city of St. George and the U.S. Congress appropriated funds to help construct a science and visitor center. Volunteers do most of the work at the site.

~ ~ ~ Readers please note: This article is part of a much larger article I wrote in the Story Pages section of Footnote.com.http://www.footnote.com/page/1586/utahs_dinosaur_land/ I used about 50 photos and I also write under a different name. I have about 25 stories that I have written on the Footnote website, so far.

The size and climate of St. George

St. George is a very large city compared to the small country western town where I lived before. We are growing by leaps and bounds as people have discovered the area's great diversity of things to do and places to see. I am not sure of the current population....over 100,000 people and growing each day. We have constant construction of new buildings all the time...both homes and stores. Every store you can imagine!

Not that I like large cities, I really don't. BUT....I do love the dry climate here! And for me, that is the very big plus side of living here. I can't handle very cold, snowy winters. It makes my depression much, much worse. Living here in St. George provides the ideal winters for me. I would say the normal high temperature during winter hovers around 50-65 degrees. The average normal winter lows at night gets around 25-30 degrees (sometimes maybe a touch colder). Our summers DO get a little hotter than most places (110-115 degrees average). But a person gets use to it, and it is really not that bad after awhile.