May 29, 2013 Travel to Provo

We woke to a beautiful day, packed up and off we went on our way. 

We traveled north on SR-63, then west on SR-12 thru Red Canyon:

And the famous tunnel - There goes Andy and our rig -

And finally, we headed north on US-89.  US-89 is a north-south route from Mexico to Canada and is sometimes called the National Parks Highway.  This highway links seven National Parks and fourteen other National Parks areas are reachable from this route.  We traveled on this road from its intersection with SR-12 to its intersection with US-189 in Provo and the scenery was awesome!  We passed a number of farms and ranches and also a number of little towns that warrant more exploring in the future.

Here are some pictures from the road:

We arrived in Provo, Utah and are staying at the Elks for a few days.  Here is their building:

And here is our space and scenery - WOW.  Full hookups too - .

After we signed up, we went to Wal-Mart for supplies - this is going to sound sad but I was having Wal-Mart withdrawal -

This evening we met our neighbors and had a great time in the Elks -

Enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 234.0 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Utah: SR-63; SR-12; US-89; US-6/US-89; US-189/University Avenue

May 29, 2013 - Guided Rim Tour in Bryce

This morning we headed out to the Visitor Center to take our narrated tour to Rainbow Point and back.  While waiting for the bus, we met a gentleman who had just hiked “The Wave” - one of our bucket list items.  He gave us a few pointers and we continue to file them (and hoped we get picked in that lottery).

The bus arrived and off we went. Our tour guide was very informative about the history of the park.  We also learned about the different animals, trees, and plants and he pointed out a number of them as we rolled along.  We did see prairie dogs and many prong antelope - but I could not get any pictures - .

We made a few stops at the overlooks and our guide pointed out what we were seeing on the horizon.  Along the walk way, he also pointed out some plants and trees.

This is the needles of the bristlecone pine tree - they were very soft.  These trees can live over 1500 years.  They are located in the high country because they can handle all the elements - high winds, extreme temps, a wide range of dryness and wetness.  As they grow, their trunks twist but the bark does not twist - very interesting.  I posted a few twisted trunk pictures the other day.

This is known as the limber pine - it’s younger limbs can be tied together like shoelaces.

This whole area was once an inland sea and then pushed up and is now part of the Colorado Plateau.  However, the soils are just like those found in the seas.  As time goes by, they continually erode .

Here are a few pictures of Bryce Canyon National Park from our stops:

We really enjoyed the tour for the information.  There were only five overlook stops and there are fourteen in the park.  So it was a nice mix between the tour and doing our own exploring.

This afternoon we had a mix of weather - rain, hail, wind, sun, then rain and wind again.  Right now it is clear and the sun is setting.  The forecast for tonight is freezing temperatures and snow flurries - BRRRR...  Time to go.

We have had a great time here and tomorrow we are moving  north to Provo. 

Stay tuned and enjoy today.

May 27, 2013 - Memorial Day

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO FOUGHT AND CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS.

We were just going to hang out today but decided to take our pictures to the Visitor Center for the Hike the Hoodoo Program. 

We received this nice pin for our hikes - COOL - .

There are shuttles in the park that go to a few of the overlooks - about 4 miles into the park.  Twice a day there is a shuttle that goes down to the end of the road.  When we went to the Visitor Center last week I asked if it was a guided tour and was told no.  Well I asked again today and found out that it is a guided tour - 3.5 hours and free.  So we signed up for tomorrow morning.  (A little peeved that we were not told that last week!) 

Since it was still early we decided to take a ride on the shuttle - just for fun .   Then we found out there was a ranger talk at Sunset Point on Bryce geology so we got off there.  But we could not find the meeting place so walked on the Rim Trail to Sunrise Point.  The views:

From Sunset Point, we walked to the Bryce Lodge and found this along the way:

Andy LOVED the price - 21.9 cents per gallon:

And then into the Lodge:

We wandered around the lobby, gift shop, and patio and looked at the menus for the restaurant.  Beautiful inside.

The shuttle was coming so we hopped on and hopped off at the Visitor Center and walked home - nice.  Our new neighbors are from Pennsylvania so we had a nice chat - small world.

I spent time updating the blogs but have not been able to upload.  So when the signal is strong, you may be seeing a few of them instead of one.

Enjoy today and stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure.