Day 4 - Utah to Wyoming

Day 4 started off leisurely - you have to have some of those during your vacation. We slept in and even after heading north stopped for a Starbucks break. We thought we would get a glimpse of the Great Salt Lake but there were too many buildings and such in the way. In keeping with the nature of the trip we jumped back off the freeway not far north of Salt Lake City and were back on US-89 - yep the same road that goes through Page,AZ. The scenic route is definitely the way to go. It was so green and beautiful. We did a lot of up hill climbing and down hill coasting. As we got to the top of one rise we saw a sign for a scenic overlook and we figured it would be a good place to stretch legs - which it was but wow, what a view! Bear Lake. It is a huge and gorgeous lake. It was an incredible sight and unexpected (by me at least). As we traveled past the lake we passed into Idaho - State #3 for this trip. Idaho continued the progression into greener, lusher scenery. Our journey through Idaho was fairly short and then we were in Wyoming. We arrived in the small town of Afton Wy at around 5. We checked into our small family owned motel (corral out back) and were told about the spring which provides all of the water for the whole town. A short drive from our motel and then we were hiking along the stream in the quest for the source. It was an easy hike of about a mile and we came to the spot where one mountain stream met up with another. We hiked up a ways further and got to the waterfall where the water gushed out of the cliffside. There we got a huge suprise. Snow! It wasn't a huge amount but there was snow on the ground... no wonder it was so nice and cool. It was well worth the hike. Since the hostess of the motel had given us such a good recommendation on the hike we used her advice for dinner as well. It wrapped up the day nicely. Grand Tetons & Yellowstone tomorrow!

vacation side bar - what the heck!? Sea gulls?

What is the deal with seagulls in Utah!? Who brought them here? I saw one in Idaho, too. I am beginning to think that Noah's ark must have landed in the Rockies and abandoned some inland. Why are they here?!

Day 3

Wow! what a day! We had spent the night in Cedar City, UT and headed out to Bryce National Park... unfortunately we got a few miles down the road towards the park to be confronted with "road closed" notifications. We would have used the Tom-tom to help us find an alternate route however turning it on led to being told to take the next exit and u-turn back to Tucson (?! like that was going to happen ?!). Fortunately we are old school enough to have brought along paper maps. We cruised down the road which was very bucolic and actually got to see Bambi and his mother out in a field along the road. Everything was quite green and it was a pleasant drive. We were still about 15 minutes away from Bryce when we found ourselves in Red Canyon. We are convinced that we have now found the source of the Crayola crayon called "Burnt Orange". I had no idea that was a real color. What's the most amazing is to see Ponderosa pines sticking out of it. I think my first grade teacher would have told me that wasn't very realistic if I had drawn it! We finally got to Bryce but had to wait for deer to stroll across the road in front of us - zero fear there! We were delighted to find that the temp on the rim of Bryce canyon was upper 70's. We picked our trail and headed down the canyon and down and down and down. It was a lonnnnggggg way down. There were some really cool sticky up things which we learned are called hoodoo's. I kind of like sticky-up things as the best technical term. We took a nice rest at the bottom after looking at a field of man-made cairns - or at least someone else called them that. Stacks of rocks like you see in a zen garden .... there were hundreds of them. Then came the climb out. Switch after back after switch... I think the climb would give Tumamoc a run for its money...Anyway we made it and were glad we did. Monica was all for using the coin showers but since we had no towels, she would have had to dry off by streaking the parking lot - we opted for ice cream instead. We headed out from Bryce at around 3:30 and stopped at the Cowboy Smoke House for yummy sandwiches. Since we are on vacation we opted to stay off of the freeway as long as possible. We had a nice drive through more of that bucoliic countryside that I mentioned earlier. lots of horses cows, sheep and even a donkey farm.... About an hour out frrom Provo we started seeing a large cloud formation to the NW which we thought might bbe a rain storm but turned out to be a wildfire - fortunately on the other side if the mountain from us..Technical difficulties....will upload pictures and complete tomorrow.....

Day Two

Day Two started out early at the Marble Canyon Lodge. We were up at 6 to a beautiful morning. We took our time but were on the road by 0830. We headed west across the Kaibab plateau and past the entrance to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I (tish) was driving so Monica got to do the rubbernecking and was rewarded by seeing several wild turkeys strolling along just inside the tree line. We went through some stunning landscapes and finally found our way to Utah where we unaccountably lost an hour right away... okay I do understand but it was lost anyway. The southeastern entrance to Zion National park took us into some of the most awe-inspiring scenery I've ever seen. We spent the rest of the day hiking in and out of gorgeous canyons with a surprising amount of water. Monica, in particular, enjoyed standing in the spray of the waterfalls that we saw. Since we had been hiking in 100+ degrees, our day concluded with showers and alcohol... and of course, this blog entry.

Day one

Vacation started at 9:45 this morning, blowing out of Tucson 15 minutes early. Breezed through Phoenix leaving a haboob in our wake. Reached Marble Canyon Logde in time to watch the condors camping on the bridge. These were numbered 02, 54, and 73. Walked ALL the way across the Colorado River on the Navajo Bridge in 100 degree weather. Now enjoying a little of the bubbly!

Amost time!

We only have 2 more work days and then we are off. I am getting excited and wish the wait was over. See you soon!