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Published: September 2nd 2010
Grand Canyon National Park
Pictures don't do the magnitude of this place justiceAlright, back to it…
As I’d mentioned in the previous blog, we arrived in San Simeon late in the evening, hungry and tired. First priority was finding a place to stay, followed closely by identifying a place to eat. After traveling up and the down the strip, which appeared to be the entire town, we decided on the Silver Surf Motel for lodging and the restaurant attached to the San Simeon Lodge for dinner. High class, all the way! The bar was nearly empty and about ready to close when we walked in. The chef probably couldn’t have been too happy with us but to our amazement we were not even the last to arrive. Our hunger outweighed any feelings of guilt anyhow.
As could be expected the next morning we got moving slowly and were finally on the road by mid-morning. It was overcast which again put a damper on Liz’s desire to spend time on the beach. Fortunately the further south we went the nicer the weather became. By the time we made it to Long Beach in the early afternoon, it was a full on beach day. We parked the car and made our way down
At the edge of a cliff...
Hope that's not a metaphor! to a spot along the boardwalk. Liz had made plans to meet up with a friend from college for lunch.
The Mexican restaurant we ate at was right across the street and immediately following our meal we made our way right back to the beach. Now the beach is not my favorite place to be. I have no problem with the sun or the water but absolutely hate the sand. It’s too hot and gets everywhere. So instead of being a good sport, I moped. It was March Madness and Syracuse was playing. Liz was a good sport and after she got some beach time we left to find a place to watch the game.
We found a sports bar not far from the beach and decided to give it a shot. It turned out to be quite the experience. Immediately upon walking in there was a gentleman (term used loooooosely) bending down, plumber’s crack on display, while attempting to win a lobster out of one of those machines you typically see filled with stuff animals. We found two seats at the bar and would later find out that the lobster hunter occupied the seat to my left.
Zion
Zion was full of sheer cliffs When he arrived back to his seat after what we’d find out was his third unsuccessful attempt it was obvious he’d been drinking for a while. It’s possible that he was an entertaining guy but it was difficult to understand anything he said. He continued to stumble back and forth between the machine and his seat while I randomly met a guy who lived in Millis at one point in his life. The odds of running into someone who even knew of Millis are about the same as that drunken guy getting a lobster out of the machine. In the end, Syracuse lost and it was time to move on.
We left the bar to meet Liz’s father’s cousin for dinner. We had been going back and forth throughout the day trying to make plans and it was unclear until late in the date whether it was going to happen. We did meet with Peter but his wife, Alex, was not feeling well so she was unfortunately unable to join us. We went out for Italian at a restaurant near their house, which was a delight since we’d not been out for that genre of food for quite a
Zion
and natural waterfalls while - pizza being the lone exception. It was great to see Peter and hear how well the kids were doing. As had consistently been the case over the past week and a half it was not long after we said hello that was time to say goodbye.
We spent the next couple nights in LA with Liz’s friend Cassie. It was nice to be in one place for even a couple days - that is despite having to lug multiple suitcases up the about the longest staircase you could imagine to get up to house. And not even weary legs from the climb could prevent me from going for a run on consecutive days. Exercise was an area that had slipped since our departure from Jackson. One of the highlights from our visit to LA was our visit to the language center where Cassie teaches English as a second language. Liz was even introduced as a special guest and told the class about all the traveling we’d been doing. Apparently she was a huge hit!
At this point Liz’s birthday was approaching and, in order to meet her requirement that we not travel on the big day,
There's a hole in the mountain
Traffic could only go through in one direction we left LA for Chandler, Arizona to visit with my cousin Meg. The next three days were easily the most relaxing of our adventure. The complex where Meg lived included a lightly used community pool where we sat out each day and enjoyed the warm spring temperatures. I was also excited to learn that a Dunkin’ Donuts resided about a mile down the road. The first night we went out for drinks with another of my cousins, Kelly, who I had not seen in years. The chance to catch up with her was just another example of the unique opportunity this trip provided us with. The next day was Liz’s birthday. We spent the day by the pool, grilled out and then went out to an Irish pub to celebrate. Thankfully we had scheduled in a day of recovery as we nursed our hangovers (me, in particular) by the pool.
We’d already gone west, turned south, then banked east and now it was time to start back to the north. The National Park portion of our trip was about to begin as we left Chandler for the Grand Canyon. We forged ahead to the South Rim of the canyon
Checkerboard
The striations on this part of the mountain as we exited Zion National Park formed a checkerboard of sorts where we were only able to spend a little more than an hour. In fact, the next couple days would be jam-packed that we were not able to spend time to do more than quickly enjoy the views and take a few photos. Given more time we would have liked to hike into the canyon and some of the other venues we would pass through. We stopped at a lot of turnouts, probably more than Liz would have liked, on our way out of the Grand Canyon.
Our goal was to drive as far as we could and position ourselves to visit Zion National Park early the next morning. Unfortunately there were too many interesting points along the way, including Glen Canyon National Recreation area and Lee’s Ferry, which I’d learned about from the book “Under the Banner of Heaven.” The book discusses the history of the Mormon Church, the rift between the Latter Day Saints and their Fundamentalist counterparts, and the resulting violence. The book made this section of road interesting as we began to pass through areas rich with the Mormon history and culture. Right before we crossed the border of Arizona into Utah we passed through
Colorado City just as it was getting dark. It was there that we were able to see the enormous complexes, which housed the fundamentalist Mormon families, who believe in plural marriage. Interesting, indeed.
It was another late arrival and dinner as we pulled into Hurricane, UT. This time it was the Rodeway Inn and a local sports bar that would provide us with the bare necessities. Once again, we were among a small number of people out to eat at 9:30 in the evening. The next morning we enjoyed a modest continental breakfast before moving on toward Zion. The highlights in Zion were the natural waterfalls, the sheer rock faces and the tunnel through the mountain, which was pitch black and allowed traffic to flow in only one direction at a time. There was also the area known as Checkerboard Mesa at we exited the park to the east, which was pretty neat.
From Zion we moved on to Bryce Canyon National Park. We could have headed west to highway 70 and gone straight up to Salt Lake City but we decided to take another side trip. Going east took us off the beaten path and soon we’d
And that's standing how?
Found this guy at Glen Canyon National Park find out just how far. The trip to Bryce forced us to drive in approximately 40 miles and then backtrack to the road that would eventually take us to the highway. It was certainly out of the way but it was also pretty spectacular. The park abounded with natural bridges and an amphitheater of red rock formations (think phallic).
While we were not done with “Tour de National Park” quite yet, our next destination would give us a break from the natural wonders of the world. That is unless one considers the Salt Lake Temple (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) a natural wonder. The main reason for our stay in Salt Lake was because I bought tickets to Michael Buble as a Christmas present to Liz. We arrived the night before the concert, which allowed the opportunity to relax that night and the following day.
The concert was both outstanding and the tiniest bit uncomfortable. Michael Buble gave a great performance, mixing some of his classic hits with several songs from his most recent album. Between songs he interacted with the crowd and there were times when it was obvious to Liz and I that
Lee's Ferry
A look from Navajo Bridge his jokes didn’t go over with the conservative crowd. In fact we felt out of place after taking our seats, looking around and realizing that we were close to the only people having an adult beverage. The crowd was pretty lively though and cheered, sang and danced - well, maybe they didn’t dance - enthusiastically. We were treated to multiple encores and senor Buble finished up by belting out the last few notes unaccompanied by music or a microphone. It was unbelievable to say the least.
The next morning we were on our way once again. We went south on I-15 so we could make our way to another national park. This time it was Arches. We had debated whether or not we were up for this side trip. We were on our way to Denver and decided that we’d break it up into two days. We walked around in Arches a bit more than we’d probably anticipated. There were simply too many enormous arches, double arches, formations and balancing rocks to go to for a closer look. A storm was rolling in though and we needed to be on the move again anyhow.
We had talked about
Bryce Canyon Amphitheater
These things are either called hoodoos or spires stopping at Glenwood Springs on our way to Denver and that is where we made camp. The Rodeway Inn was right off the highway and looked nice enough. If our trip was going to extend any longer we might have considered joining their frequent guest program (that’s if they have one). Since it was still relatively early we decided to get a look at the downtown area. We got a drink at Doc Holliday’s Tavern, which is supposedly where he died. In the morning we visited the hot springs. Liz had been as a child and was excited about jumping off the diving board. I took a couple turns and then left it to the children - and Liz. She must have gone at least 20 times.
It was difficult to pull myself from the naturally heated spring but we had Easter dinner to look forward to in Denver. Well, not before we made another side trip. When we realized how early we were going to arrive in Denver, we decided there was plenty of time to stop in Golden, CO to see what was going on at the Coors Brewery. Well, it was surprisingly crowded and we could
Bryce Canyon
More hoodoos and/or spires...they could also be fluted walls or pinnacles not believe the number of people who brought their kids along. The tour took us all over the impressive campus and ended in the cafeteria where we enjoyed a couple of complimentary beverages.
After leaving the brewery we picked up some flowers and other supplies for our stay with Icenogle family friend, Suzy. Liz’s work at a flower shop in Jackson piqued her interest in designing arrangements so once we arrived she created a beautiful centerpiece for Easter dinner the following evening. The best part about Liz’s family friends’ is that they have always welcomed me as though they’d known me for years. And I know my parents’ friends would do the same.
It was a great way to close out our trip and start to consider the reality that awaited us. In the last several months I have had a number of opportunities to feel bad about our situation but at least 10 times as many chances to be thankful for what we do have. It was impossible not to leave Denver for Kansas City (actually Harrisonville, just south of Peculiar) with the feeling that everything would work out. And it has. Liz is working, I’m in
Bryce Canyon Arch
One of the first arches we came across - I know I was impressed school, we are planning a wedding, and finally have a place to call our own.
We are grateful for the amazing journey we’ve been on but more grateful that we’ve been able to share it and that we have people out there who care enough to come along with us.
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wendy
non-member comment
Wow!! Love the detail in the story told and the beautiful pictures. It was like I was traveling with you both on your journey. Memories you will never forget. I'm so happy you took the time to travel..... xo