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Published: April 6th 2010
Every day we think we've seen the most incredible rock formations and that there can't be anything more spectacular....and then there is!
Day 16 Page, Arizona to Zion National Park, Utah
We started the day out with a trip to Antelope Canyon...Bill had struck up a conversation with a German tourist at an overlook outside of the Grand Canyon, and she had mentioned that she was heading for Page to see this canyon. On the way into Page, we saw a sign for the canyon but knew nothing about it. We were given a tourist booklet in the hotel, and saw the tours offered by the Navajo to this beautiful sight and decided to book one for the morning...the canyon is a slot in the beautifully colored rocks....you walk through with a guide...it takes about an hour. An amazing experience! We were the only Americans on our tour: we were joined by a family of Russia Jews from PA and a French family living in Renton WA.
We had another beautiful day of driving....out of Page and south to the Navajo Bridge, where we saw a condor and had some snow for a few minutes, and then onto
Page Boy Motel
...in Page AZ...a great place to stay!route 89A, along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (the road to the Rim is closed til May). We lunched at Jacob Lake then headed up into the mountains of southern Utah. We drove through Zion in the late afternoon, and then took the free shuttle into the canyon around 6:00 pm. We got off and walked up the the Weeping Rock, which we had to ourselves at that time of day. We drove a very long 20 miles in the dark into the small town of Hurricane for the evening. (We later found out that many polygamists live around there).
Day 17 Hurricane, Utah to Torrey, Utah
We drove back to Zion and went for a two hour hike to the Emerald Pools, and were part of the crowds that had the same idea. We drove back through Zion and then northeast to Bryce Canyon...there was much snow in Bryce, so we couldn't do any hiking. We continued on into the mountains and plateaus beyond Bryce, getting up to over 9000 feet at times and down to 27 degrees. Hard to believe that we had been hiking in T-shirts earlier in Zion!
We stopped for
the night in the small town of Torrey, near the Capitol Reef National Park. We had a great pizza and beer dinner, and slept fitfully because of the strong winds that rattled our windows all night.
Day 18 Torrey Utah to Linton, Utah
The next morning we drove to Capitol Reef, and took the scenic road that led deep into the canyon. There were warnings about flash floods all along the road. We got to the end of the road and hiked a half mile deeper into the canyon, passing petroglyphs and grafitti from pioneers who had passed through in the 1800's. We drove back through Torrey, and then north, on back roads almost to Provo. We passed through small Mormon settlements, and through snow swept plains, arriving at my friends, the Egberts, in time for dinner. It was so great to see Stephanie and Chris (former students), their familes, older sister Lisa and family, and their parents, Diane and Ross again after too many (13) years...
Days 19 and 20 Salt Lake City area
Diane drove us (me, Bill, Stephanie, and adorable son Jackson) around Orem and Provo, looking at some of the houses she
and Ross had built, visiting BYU, and then up into the mountains to Park City, where we had lunch. We returned home to help prepare another family dinner, and this time Diane's father attended. After dinner, Diane used the LDS website to help Bill trace his mother's side of the family back to French kings....so now you can imagine what I have to put up with...
The next day, I ran along the canal with a bit of snow falling, and then we headed into Salt Lake City. We visited the new conference center, walked around Temple Square, went to the Visitor Center and the the genealogy center. We headed home ahead of the snow that was fast approaching: the freeway had signs warning of a state wide snow storm overnight. Bill and I fixed dinner, and Stephanie and her family came over for the evening. the snow started falling during dinner...beautiful large flakes...and is still falling as I write this at 11:00 pm. We will head out to Montana tomorrow unless the freeway is bad...we take it all the way to Helena....
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Michele B
non-member comment
Fun Trip!
Greetings Lynn! We went to Zion and Bryce a couple summers ago - was very hot - no snow - so many shades of orange. Errol spent time looking for the little snails that live in the algae on the rock walls in Zion. Great memories. Thanks again for posting!