Day Twenty of Western Adventures

We awoke today to slight showers after the high winds last evening.  We left Tropic and our cabin and were on the road.  We made the decision to follow our trip plan and were rewarded with more spectacular scenery.  We had contemplated going to Capitol Reef, but did not make the turn in that direction.  We saw so many more sights as we left the Bryce Canyon area.

      

 

          Mt. Delano at 12,173 feet.  First snow we have seen since Glacier.

                               Tiny town of Torrey before we entered Capitol Reef.

 

As we progressed on our trip, we had a second chance to see Capitol Reef and we took this one, diverting our tour to this national park not on our itinerary. This is the most serendipitous decision of the trip.  We were not disappointed as we spent most of the afternoon in the midst of such canyon walls that defy any description.  Again, our memories will serve us far better than any of our photos, but we have these to share with all our blog followers.  So many of these rock formations were definitely “in your face”, and we felt as if we could touch them.

 

                

 

     

 

                   

 

    

 

                        

                         This one we call chocolate peanut butter pie.  Doesn’t it look delicious.

For the first time on the trip, we are able to see petroglyphs.  Bob read this morning that these at one time had been defaced/erased by vandals and have since been restored. 

We leave Capitol Reef with regret and travel along the road to Moab and our condo for the evening.  Outside the park, we encounter even more photo opportunities.  The different rock formations never end.

                               

 

We have some rain along the way in an area that looks as if it might receive only 10 inches a year, and we are in the middle of half of it!  Our drive to Moab is rewarded with even more spectacular scenery and we haven’t even seen Arches National Park yet.

Late afternoon finds us at our condo, checking in to fabulously fast internet and everyone is happy!!!  The condo is gorgeous and we settle in to our home for a night.  It is laundry time and we manage to clean some of our clothes….enough to get us back home.  From now on, we have no reservations, so we drive until we decide to stop  ( what a novel idea!)

                                    

                                 We love our condo and wish we were staying more than one night.

 

After relaxing, we are out for an evening meal at the Moab Micro Brewery.  WOW, this is a happening place.  We are seated quite promptly and enjoy a nice meal. After visiting the City Market, home it is, and we try to find our way in the dark!  The night skies out here are REALLY, REALLY dark.

Day Nineteen of Western Adventures

We are on our way today to Bryce Canyon in Utah.  Overnight, we have charged all our toys as well as ourselves and are ready for another day.  We aren’t on the road very long before we encounter the rock formations that are a prelude to Bryce itself.  

As we enter Utah, we have another time change.  We have all lost track of how many times we have changed time zones, and all our devices don’t automatically change, so we never know who really has the right time. Usually time is irrelevant, so we ignore the changes.

 

By the time we reach Bryce Canyon, it is lunch time, and we decide to eat in the Lodge at the park.  Bryce Canyon is viewed following an 18 mile road through the park.  All the lookout points are on the left side, so it is suggested that you go to the end, turn around and start back with all the lookout points now on your right side.  There are a total of 14 points to see the canyon and we didn’t miss a one.  The canyons or amphitheaters are filled with walls, fins, spires, columns and hoodoos—all from the sandstone formed by wind, water, snow and ice.  Early Scottish Mormon pioneer, Ebenezer Bryce was reputed to have said, “ It is a helluva a place to lose a cow!”

 

 

           

   

 

The wind was fierce at times as we climbed to 9,115 feet elevation, and the temperatures dropped to as low as 53 degrees.  Lydia remarked that “ this was a two-jacket park”, and we all agreed.   Happy to use all those jackets we have moved around in the back of the car dozens of times.

 

As we left the park, we were stopped dead in out tracks as a prong horn antelope jogged across the road in front of us.  He left behind an entire herd that stayed sheltered in the forest to our right. Other than a hawk in a tree, these were pretty  much all the wildlife we saw in the park.

 

We left the park and headed toward Tropic, UT, where we stayed in a duplex cabin. We didn’t have too many choices for dinner, but were pleased with a small restaurant serving very good meals.  As we retired to our cabin, the wind picked up and was blowing with terrible force, maybe as much as 50-60 miles an hour. We weren’t aware of any severe weather warnings, nevertheless, it was rather disconcerting.  We had rain overnight and woke up to scattered showers.

Day Eighteen of Western Adventures

This morning, we woke to crisp air at Jacob Lake Inn near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  After a hearty breakfast in the Lodge, we were off to the North Rim.  In the 45 minute drive, we were all impressed with the verdant green meadows.  So many places we have visited were brown from the severe drought.  The clusters of quaking aspen trees were a striking contrast to the dark coniferous forest that surrounded them.  The leaves have turned at this higher elevation and gave us quite a show in many different areas of the park. 

The sun played peak-a-boo most of the day and probably contributed to some of our best photos. The day was cool and comfortable as we had our picnic lunch at a scenic overlook.

Our first stop was the Grand Canyon Lodge, first built in 1928 for the Union Pacific Railroad.  This lodge burned in 1932 and was rebuilt to today’s elegant structure in 1937.  Our first view of the canyon is through the floor to ceiling windows in the sunroom which is several steps down from the lobby.  It was indeed breathtaking. We spent some time trying to capture the grandeur of the canyon from the lodge, and all decided that our eyes were better than any of our fancy cameras.  However, that did not stop us from taking hundreds of pictures anyway.  Bob and I had over 400. Lydia and Jerry must also have had that amount.                         We captured Bob and Jerry as they were taking our picture on the outside terrace. 

                       This is who they saw. 

 

While the canyon walls and their ever changing colors are what people usually remember from their trip, some of us were also captivated by the myriads of weathered trees standing as sentinels, watching over the canyons.  They all seem to tell their own special story.    

 

              

 

           Bright Angel Point Trail

Jerry, Joyce and Bob made the 30 minute hike out to Bright Angel Point, along some pretty narrow walkways….no railing. no shoulder, no way!  We went anyway and several times were hugging the inside wall for all we were worth. We were rewarded with spectacular views at the point, though, so it was worth the walk.

 

  This was my most favorite tree along the Bright Angel Point Trail

 

We returned early afternoon to the lodge which now welcomed us as long time friends, with its comfortable leather seating inside and the many chairs on the outside veranda.

 

We sat outside for an hour or so and all whipped out our little toys to either read or go to the internet as Lydia and Jerry had access on their I-Pads.

 

It wasn’t long before we were called in to the dining room for our dining experience.  We enjoyed great food and service and finished in time for the most glorious sunset at 6:22.  Again, it was impossible to capture the beauty of the sun through the clouds, reflecting on the canyon walls.  Our eyes hold tightly the precious  memories and hopefully our pictures will share just a bit  of this grandeur with our audiences. We all agree that we have spent one of the most spectacular days of our trip.  Sunset on the North Rim, Grand Canyon

 

On our way back to Jacob Lake Inn, we encountered 9-10 deer, some way too close to our car, and also an owl nearly hit our windshield.  He was probably as stunned to see us as we were to see him.