second time around

I have missed a few days, but trust me they were busy and wonderful. The drive down to Reno was good, some back roads and light traffic. Memorial day we drove the long flat road to Salt Lake City, got in and walked around Temple Square and had dinner. The next morning I checked at the LDS Genealogical library for some information, but no luck. Then we headed south on I-15 toward Zion National Park. You can make some good time going 80 (the legal limit). Just a little up the road prior to Zion we pulled off to look at Kolob Canyons. A short but beautiful five mile drive got us up to the lookout which was stunning. The deep red walls of the canyons and a view out over the plateaus all the way to the Kaibab Plateau of the Grand Canyon were well worth the hike at the end of the road to the viewpoint. I did not realize the plateaus of Utah are so high up. I have been hiking trails at 7-9,000 feet! Gasping and clutching at my chest but I can’t wait to see what is around the next bend. We stayed at the Cliffrose Lodge in Silverdale about one mile from the entrance to Zion National Park. Our room’s porch overlooked a river and a range of cliffs that were striking. We watched them for a couple of hours as the sunset shone on them and changed the colors, until it got dark, Just amazing.
Wednesday we got up early and beat the tourists to the park. They don’t allow driving up the canyon, everybody takes the shuttle and gets on and off at several stops. The sights are breathtaking. We had sun breaking through, lighting up the hills and almost no other people. Saw deer, a turkey, squirrels, Ravens, and even the “great white throne” (mountain not commode.)More hiking (gasping) and by the afternoon we felt we had seen enough of Zion’s canyon, so we set off up the road to Bryce Canyon. That was a totally different but equally impressive experience.

Since the captioning isn’t working so well, these pictures are: 1) a random lizard 2)The Great White Throne in Zion 3) Hoodoos at Bryce and believe me they are big, the green are trees not shrubs 4) view from the North Rim.

The nature of the stone at Bryce is different, so the erosion pattern creates these tall spires called Hoodoos. They are very large and delicately balanced, fields of them. Again dramatic vistas paired with up close amazing geology. Like they say, “you can’t cure stupid.” I had to look away while some tourist kid stepped out onto a tiny ledge for a photo-op. No joke, a slight slip and he would have been gone.
The next day was for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There is a reason it is called “THE Grand Canyon.” It is hard to put into words, and pictures and video are so lame. This place has to be on your bucket list. Staggeringly beautiful, it just leaves you slack-jaw dumbstruck. Tonight we are in beautiful downtown Blanding Utah (pop. 3218).

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 8:52 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.