Tues. Oct. 4, 2011

There were lots of RV’s in the lot at Harris Ranch when we pulled in last night. It must have been a popular travel day on Highway 5! We decided to sleep in a bit because of the long drive yesterday. In the morning we opted for something better than cold cereal and toast, so we walked over to the restaurant for a good “home cooked” meal. Then it was back in the RV one last time, and we headed for P-Town.

We had a great time on this trip, and covered a lot of territory in just 13 days! We could come back and spend an entire week in some of the places we visited J The drive was perfect because the weather couldn’t have been better, and the scenic roads were awesome. I am so glad that we were able to plan this trip with Barb, it was very nice to get away and enjoy the great outdoors!

Mon, Oct 3, 2011

Today we slept in! We headed to the Las Vegas Strip at about 10am. Last night we looked at all of the lights, and today we’re going to see “The Palazzo” and “The Wynn”. Barb has not seen these two yet. We walked and walked, looked around some shops, and played a few slots. Rich won $10 and Barb won $15! I lost a dollar L It was getting to be lunch time, so we walked over to “The Mirage” and ate at “BLT Burger”. We thought about going to “The Venetian” for some ice cream at Hagen Das, but our lunch was HUGE, so we just looked around at the canal shops. We left Vegas a little before 3 and headed to Harris Ranch.

Sunday, Oct 2, 2011

We headed out bright and early today for Bryce Canyon. We wanted to get there right when they opened at 8am. I drove behind the RV so that we could leave it at the visitor’s center and take the Honda through the park. Leaving the RV in the park allowed us to hook up and continue on to Zion without returning to the KOA. This saved us about an hour.

Bryce is a very beautiful park! It feels sort of like the Sierra’s because it has lots of trees, campgrounds and a lodge almost like Yosemite. There are hundreds of miles of horse trails, bike trails, and hiking trails. From the second look out we watched people zigzagging all through the canyon like ants! There were hikers on rims, in crevasses, and on the flat trails. After quite a hike in, Barb stayed to take lots of pictures, and Rich and I climbed down the Navajo Loop Trail. It was straight down into the bottom of the canyon! It was Awesome! It was so beautiful that we just kept going down and down, climbing over boulders and under tunnels. We stopped every once in a while to look up and see the canyon walls towering above us. Now that the pictures were all taken and my legs were like noodles, it was time to climb back up J Stopping every chance we could helped get my heart rate back on track, and after about a half an hour of climbing out, we were back up to the trail. Barb and I drove to the next look out while Rich walked on the Rim Trail, almost 2 miles, and met us. The three of us walked and climbed for over 4 hours!! We went to the Bryce Canyon Lodge for lunch, and did some shopping at the gift shop. We hooked up the car, and headed off for Zion National Park.

On the way we passed through yet another National Park – Capital Reefs National Park. Yes, this is beautiful country out here in Utah! We arrived in Zion at 4:15. Barb and I checked out the gift shop while Rich parked the RV and unhooked the car. He picked us up outside the store and we drove all the way through the park to the East entrance, stopping at all of the lookouts along the way. We drove through a 1.3 mile tunnel that was built in 1930. At three places along the way, there were huge windows carved out of the walls of the tunnel, offering you a picture framed view of the mountains! It was slow going because they stopped the traffic to only a few cars at a time, going one way. The Ranger gave a baton to the last car they let through. On the other end, that car surrendered the baton, and cars were then sent through, a few at a time, in the other direction – the last car carrying the baton. We left the park at sunset which was a beautiful sight behind the mountains. We went just outside of the park to the town of Springdale where we stopped at an award winning restaurant called “Parallel Eighty Eight” in Driftwood Lodge. It was a VERY fancy dinner, and YUMMY!!! Barb had fillet medallions surrounding a grilled Portobello mushroom, with a sun dried tomato aioli, and a drizzle of Dijon mustard sauce, all on a bed of baby spinach. Rich and I had a roasted garlic appetizer and pan seared pork over a sun dried tomato polenta, with a goat cheese, apple and fennel sauce. SO GOOD! We didn’t plan on such an extravagant meal. We were just trying to find a place with a big enough parking spot and this was it. Lucky for us J

We left Zion at 6:45 and headed to Las Vegas. This was a big day! 3 National Parks, 3 States (Utah, Arizona and Nevada) and a killer meal! We arrived in Vegas at a little past 10pm.

Sat, Oct 1, 2011

Today we left early for our drive to Bryce Canyon. The GPS showed a 7 hour drive connecting to highway 70. We checked out another route south/west through the canyons, and it said 4 hours. So we called ahead to the Cannonville KOA and asked about the roads suitability for an RV towing a car. She said that highway 12 was a beautiful drive and if we were up to the challenge, she would suggest that we take that route. It was a lot shorter than highway 70, but we would definitely be going slower. Well, she was right, and I’m SO glad we took on the scenic challenge!

WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!! This area is beyond beautiful! I can’t say enough times how breathtaking the vistas are. We meandered up and down the mountains, reaching an elevation of 9600 feet on Boulder Mountain. There were a few hamlets along the way where they farmed hay and grazed cattle and sheep. These little green areas with their irrigation sprinklers on were picture post card worthy against the rugged and towering canyon walls. There were cows actually hanging out right on the road in several spots J At times we found ourselves driving on the spine of the mountain which was literally just wide enough for the two opposing lanes of traffic. You looked over the edge on BOTH sides of you to a vast canyon that seemed bottomless and stretched out as far as you could see! There were many pull outs along the way allowing us to take advantage of every treat that came around the bend. At one of these pull outs, there was a long wooden walkway that you could walk out on, letting you get up close to several petroglyphs. The longer you looked at the side of the wall, the more of them you saw! Most of the way on this route we could only go from 25 – 40 miles per hour, but it was more than worth it! We still managed to save about a half an hour getting to Bryce.

After checking in at the KOA we drove a few miles to the “Mossy Cave” and water fall. The water flows through here from the river, via a canal that was dug by the early settlers in the 1800’s to bring water to their town. This was not a small task with primitive tools such as picks and shovels. There are a few small orchards left in the area that still take advantage of this engineering marvel. It was a mile hike into the falls and cave. There were two bridges that crossed the river along the way that offered great views. From down at the river, you could look up and see the beautiful rock formations of Bryce Canyon.

We drove into the little town of Tropic for dinner. Hahaha, it was easy to decide where to go – there were only two restaurants in town. The one we chose also served as a gift shop, gas station and grocery store! Tomorrow, it is off to explore Bryce Canyon.

Fri, Sept,30, 2011

Today, we have reservations for a 4 hour jet boat trip down the Colorado River. It took us 64 miles round trip through Moab Canyon and just into Canyonlands National Park. The view of the rock formations from the bottom of the canyon was very different than it was when we were driving high into the mountains. The temperature reached 95 degrees today, a bit cooler than yesterday. Sure glad we weren’t here in August! There are SO many things to do here; jeep trails, rappelling, climbing, rafting, biking, canoeing and lots of hiking trails. We hiked several miles all together in Arches National Park alone J

After our boat ride, we went back to the Arches Loop and began where we left off yesterday. We ended at “Delicate Arch”. It was quite a rugged, rocky climb to get there, but it was beautiful! This is the arch that is depicted on the Utah license plate and the welcome to Utah signs on the highway. We also took a little time at the visitor’s center to buy T-shirts, pins, a hat and a magnet for the RV. Then it was off to dinner at “The Blue Pig” a really good BBQ restaurant! Tomorrow we are off to Bryce Canyon.