Hey now....We’ve been cruising around southern Utah for the last several weeks having a great time. The weather has been decent, a little warmer than average. But first, you may have noticed Patty has got the Jamie Lee Curtis hair thing going on. She said before the trip that she wanted to go “natural”, stop coloring her hair so she cut it all off…says it’s a lot easier to take care of… I kind of like it. Anyway, after Arches, we drove a couple of hours over to Capital Reef NP and stayed 5 days. A much less visited park…we had [View Full Entry]

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Bryce Canyon Drove to Bryce canyon early this morning; words cannot describe it. Green flora backgrounded by red rock and blue sky, it was immense and indescribable. I think my favorite picture is of the Hoodoos, but the huge erratic and staircase turned out quite well, too. We took Queen's Garden trail to the Northern part of the Navajo Loop. The hike out kicked both our butts; gorgeous day, amazing scenery. We were starving when we returned to St. George, and went to the Brazilian grill. Too much wine, and lots of great conversations followed. I am sleepy, and it is [View Full Entry]

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We hit Hat Shop trail on our last day in Bryce. The weather certainly was nice to us by keeping the clouds scattered all over the sky protecting us from the heat of the sun during the hike. Exactly as described in the trail guide, Hat Shop trail was obviously quiet and less crowded than any other trails. It's not stunning like Navajo trail-but it sure provides you with ample solitude and a good opportunity to observe Clark's Nutcrackers, birds of the high mountains of the American West, in their nature. It was so quiet that even small movements of various [View Full Entry]

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Thank you weather for continuing to behave, so we had an opportunity to enjoy a nice hiking day today. I couldn't wait to get down to the bottom of the canyon and stand among the strange-looking hoodoos. Reading from hiking trails descriptions, Queen's Garden and Navajo trail combo seemed to be the most interesting trails. Starting at Sunset Point where a panoramic view of Bryce can be appreciated, we gradually descended into the canyon. The trail was rocky and gravelly and varied in coloration in different areas. As the sun became stronger and stronger, many hikers found refuge in the shades [View Full Entry]

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We started our day with food, of course. We stayed at Bryce View Lodge, a motel, owned by Ruby's Inn Best Western located across the street. It seemed as though we crossed the road to the civilization. The motel had, well, a place for you to sleep while the Inn had pretty much what a tourist would want. The biggest disappointment for us at Bryce is availability of good food. The hotel served standard American food either buffet style or regular style; I don't get it. Serving basic American breakfast is not in any way bad, but managing to make basic [View Full Entry]

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12th May, 2009 Bryce Canyon Left Zion NP today headed for Bryce National Park. Steep Climb out of Zion Canyon and through two tunnels, the first 1.1 miles long and only able to fit a large vechile through by shutting off one end and then driving down the middle - yep that was us and we paid $15 for the privilige. Quite breath taking. On this winding steep road we came around a corner and everyone was stopped all over the place taking photos of a herd of Big Horn Sheep on a steep cliff. Then off through Mt Carmel, Hatch, [View Full Entry]

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Paul slept in this morning but he felt much better. He actually had a really great day. Hopefully whatever bothered his body yesterday was just a fluke and we'll be good to go for the rest of the trip! After eating breakfast in our room, we checked out of the hotel and spent the morning exploring Zion Canyon. Since cars are not allowed in the park (unless you stay at the lodge, then you can park there only), we took the bus system up to the North end of the canyon. We enjoyed visiting the bus stops to see the beautiful [View Full Entry]

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Up at 8am on the dot and showered ready - hopefully - for our ride. Karina rang the office at 8:45 to book the 1/2 day morning ride. They were only running afternoon rides and told us just to turn up at 12:30pm for the 1pm ride. After a couple of breakfast bars and an orange juice for breakfast the first order of business was seeing about getting the slow leak in the tyre fixed. We suspected it had been flat since we hired it, as the handbrake warning light had always been on - until the tyre was flat enough [View Full Entry]

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We enjoyed a lazy morning before heading out for Bryce Canyon. It was a beautiful sunny day, warmer than yesterday, and we were all excited about seeing Bryce. We stopped at the visitor center in Red Rock Canyon, which is really your first hint of hoodoos, but in bright red. Then through two small tunnels cut through the red rocks and on to the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. We had seen post cards and pictures of Bryce with snow, but to actually see it was overwhelming. The colors were so bright and the contrast of the snow, the green [View Full Entry]

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Went to Bryce Canyon NP today. This is a really beautiful park! Very different from anything else we've seen. They had snow day before yesterday and a lot of it was left on the ground. The moisture seems to enhance the color of the rocks. We took lots of photos and video. The weather was clear, breezy, and occasionally a little chilly. Visibility from the pull-offs and view points was well over 80 miles. Charlie wasn't feeling well by the time we headed back to the camp ground and didn't have dinner with us. We had left a crock pot with [View Full Entry]

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