Puzzled 2: Trip Memories — Tuesday June 15, 2021 — Virgin River Gorge; Zion; Bryce

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Trip Memories — Tuesday June 15, 2021 — Virgin River Gorge; Zion; Bryce

Tuesday morning we headed out from Mesquite, NV on our way to Bryce Canyon City via Zion National Park in Utah. The route began with a northeast section of Interstate 15 through the northwest corner of Arizona. I wasn't expecting any scenery so did not take any pictures, but now wish I had. It was an amazing stretch of highway, about 30 miles long through the Virgin River Gorge. There are Youtube videos people have posted, and a Wikipedia article about it. I wish I had known more about it before the trip.

Our Utah National Park adventure started with Zion National Park.

As you can see we chose to do a drive-through of Zion. The plan had been to stop at vista points, but they were too crowded, so we just kept going. It was still and enjoyable drive with plenty of photo ops from the car. We did stop once and got a selfie just before leaving the Park.

The hour, give or take, drive from Zion to Bryce Canyon had a lot of wide open spaces. Google Photos' map says I took this around Hatch, UT. And the following photo in Dixie National Forest. Forest???

Bryce Canyon was our favorite Utah Park. There were lots of places to stop with short flat walks to vista points, and amazing scenery. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After turning off 89 onto 12 and going a couple miles, we came to a spot where we could get out and take pictures.

We stayed at Best Western Plus Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon City. It was too early to check in when we got there just after noon, so we drove into the Park.

First stop, Rainbow Point, which is at the end of the road. I guess the wildlife here is not all that wild. At least not this little critter.

Here is a wide angle shot of the view, followed by various other zooms and angles taken at this stop.

Next stop...

On to...

Followed by...

The next stop was dubbed Natural Bridge, but according to the interpretive sign posted at Natural Bridge, it isn't a bridge, but rather an arch. Whatever. It is cool looking to me whatever they want to call it.

Another short drive and we came to...

As far as I know we did not actually see Sheep Creek Swamp Canyon. Here's the deal. If you really want to see everything there is to see in the National Parks of Utah you have to hike. We were content to see what we could see from the car, or in the case of Bryce Canyon, from vista points you could drive to.

Our last stop in Bryce Canyon was...

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Rubik's Cube Books

I got my first Rubik's Cube in the early nineteen eighties. The only way I could solve it was to take it apart and put it back together solved. Until, that is, I got some little books that explained sequences of moves that could be used to put pieces where you want them without messing up what was already in place.

The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube
by James G. Nourse
Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube
by David Singmaster
Solve That Crazy, Mixed-up Cube Puzzle
by Don Frederick.

I think I put together my own strategy using bits and pieces gleaned from all three books. Eventually I lost interest and forgot how to complete the cube, forgot I had those books, and lost track of the cubes.

Mark Jeays' Working Corner Method

http://jeays.net/rubiks.htm

In 2007 my interest in Rubik's Cube was rekindled when I watched the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Marae found my 1980s cube for me and I tried to solve it. Huh-uh. I could do part of it, but not the last layer. Looking online I found various tutorials. Mark Jeays included YouTube videos with his Solution 2. This method worked for me and although I no longer use it in its entirety, nor could I, as I have forgotten the yellow edges sequences, I still find the basic working corner technique helpful, and use a slightly modified version of his corner twisting technique at times.

In the summer of 2014 we packed 30 or so puzzles and flew to visit Raymond and Fam in the Czech Republic. Breann, who had learned this method and no other, made some comment about bubururu or something like that, and it piqued my curiosity. What were those algorithms, and how similar are they to the EPS technique I use now when using a working corner? So I looked them up. Actually, the three algorithms were for dealing with the two last edges solved, which either needed to be swapped, or flipped, or swapped and flipped. The swapper is very similar to the one I have learned and used since, but I actually like it better in one sense, with a slight modification.

To swap UR and FR without flipping:

U' R U' R' U' R U' R' U'

To swap and flip UR and FR:

F' U' F U' F' U' F U2

To flip UR and FR:

F' U F U' R U' R' U

Will I actually learn and use these? Probably not. But I like them. :)

There is a slightly different implementation of the Working Corner Method. Arnaud van Galen calls it the Keyhole Method. I like his demonstration better than the one I originally learned. It just dawned on me why he is able to get away with doing it the way he does. He goes ahead and finishes the F2L before going to the last layer, unlike the way Jeays uses the working corner (keyhole) to also get the last layer. Since I no longer use the working corner to get the last layer, I should implement Arnaud's technique.

Jasmine's Scalable Method

http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html

This was the next method I learned. For awhile the idea of speed cubing appealed to me. This promised to be a good beginner's method for those that wanted to go on to faster method's later. Now that I know what I know, I wouldn't recommend this method if your goal is to be able to consistently solve the cube in less than 30 seconds. Rubik's Speedsolver Champion Leyan Lo presents a beginner's method that I like the looks of although I've never learned it. I have recently watched Arnaud van Galen's complete beginner's method video series and recommend them. Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that is very close to one of my favorite ways of solving the cube. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. Also, if you are interested in speedcubing you should check out this YouTube video.

After trying for months to get under a minute with both Jasmine's Method and the Corner's First Method—and failing, I finally decided to quit trying and just enjoy cubing at a nice slow pace.

Don't get me wrong. Jasmine's Method has its merits. The sequences for orienting the last layer edges and corners, and permuting the last layer edges are still in my arsenal of useful algorithms.

Adam Cheyer's Corners First Method

Philip Marshall's Ultimate Solution

http://helm.lu/cube/MarshallPhilipp/
After learning to solve the cube corners first, what is next? An Edges First Method! This was a very difficult tutorial to follow, but once I got it, it was my favorite way to solve the cube for awhile. It uses only a few algorithms, and when you are finished solving the cube you feel like you've solved the puzzle, not just used memorized sequences to unscramble it.

Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that could be used to solve the cube edges first. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. His technique is much easier to follow than Marshall's.