Monday, October 8, 2018

A Quick Visit to Zion and Bryce

It has been 20 + years since I was last at Zion National Park, and 17 years since I have been to Bryce Canyon.  Wow how things have changed.

Springdale the little town that at the entrance is huge and very touristy.  You cannot drive into the lodge anymore, you may only take a shuttle which would be a big negatory with Bobbin.  So we just did a drive through.

The colors and the rock formations still are amazing.  We were heading toward Mt. Carmel up the twisty, turny road to the tunnel.

All along the road were these huge white flowers.

There was road work going up the steep twisty grade.  Imagine my surprise when I looked up and spotted this climber.

The road work was welcome, I could take pictures out of the sunroof of the car.

We made it out and headed toward Bryce Canyon.  The last time I was there was right after 9/11 and that time there was a forest fire.  Guess what?  There was a forest fire burning one more time.  They are allowing controlled natural burns now, so we didn't make it to the very end of the road.


The hoodoos are amazing, and again the color gradations of the rock, and even the sky were fabulous.

From Bryce Canyon we backtracked to Kanab, UT and toward Monument Valley.  I was always under the impression that it was a turn off, but actually you can see all of the rock formations from the road if you travel highway 163.  Unfortunately dusk was settling, and there were really no turn offs so that I could take any photos, but the images saved in my mind are amazing.

We found a place to stay the night in Blanding, UT, and we were lucky to find it.

The next morning we were definitely on a heading toward home.  The poison oak I had contracted was getting worse even though I put Calamine lotion on and washed many times with Fel's Naptha soap.

We headed into Colorado, through Cortez, Durango, Pueblo on a beeline toward Kansas on Highway 50....yep still on the loneliest highway in America.  I had seen signs before for the Sand Creek Massacre Memorial, and decided that it was a good time to visit.


As I mentioned in my I like post we were too late to go into the memorial area, but we took pictures of it from the road.

This is where I saw the butterfly tree.

Then Bobbin and I got lost.  I wanted to get to I-70, but somehow ended up on I-40 a road going through miles, and miles of farmland with an occasional small town.  I figured if we kept heading East we were at least going in the right general direction.  Finally we reached I-70 and stopped for the night in a town called WaKeeney, KS.

The next day was an early awake, and long drive, but Bobbin and I arrived at home on September 23 at about 2:30am.

Bobbin and I are done traveling for a while, it is nice to be home, and I missed my blogger friends.




9 comments:

  1. We missed you too.glad you are home safe and sound. You have seen some beautiful sights travelling this year.

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  2. Amazing photos--("You do that Hoodoo that you do so well" lol--file under songs for all occasions ) I imagine that in person it is even more spectacular...hugs, Julierose

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  3. We hope to visit Zion and Bryce someday in the next few years, but I admit, the thought of going up mountain roads makes my tummy lurch. The pictures of your views are beautiful!!! I'll bet that butterfly tree was something to see! I would love to see something like that! Thank you for sharing your adventures. You are so brave to travel like that alone!

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  4. Wow! What a trip you had! The pictures are amazing...such breathtaking scenery! Sounds like quite an adventure!

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  5. Amazing adventures you and Bobbin had. Memories will last a lifetime. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Zion and Bryce are so gorgeous. Glad that you got to visit them. Your trip sounds like fun, but I am sure you are relieved to be home.

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  7. glad you are safely home to! did they fix your car?

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  8. This is on my bucket list. Hubby has been here and wants me to see it too.

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Thanks for dropping in to visit.