Road Trip ‘23, Part 2

Grand Canyon - Brice & Zion Road trip – part II

  It was nearly mid-morning on Wednesday , June 14, when we drove away from Bob and Ann’s to continue our road trip back to NW Arkansas.  Aaron was driving as we left Bakersfield and headed towards Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.  Before our arrival in Bryce, we just had to stop and take a few photos of the beautiful Red Rock Canyon.  It was such a sharp contrast to the miles of brown desert country we went through in Nevada.  This part of Utah is very scenic.  

Bryce Canyon did not disappoint us.  I suppose it will always amaze tourists who have never seen it before.  Aaron and Melody had never been here and they were quite taken with this scenic wonder.  The canyon is, of course, colorful and majestic.  The awesome part is the in-canyon rock formations called “Hoodoos” These rocks appear as columns of rocks as if standing at attention.  It is said that these columns are formed by pieces of rock breaking away from the main cliff whenever winter ice forms.  These columns are also pushed around by the winter weather and erosion.  Anyway, it is a gorgeous and unusual sight.  The entire

canyon can be seen from different lookout vistas along the rim.   We stopped at the visitors center before driving to the overlook.  The sign suggested we take the tour bus as the parking lot on top was full.  We decided to take our chances and upon arrival, found 8 or so parking places available.    

From Bryce, we headed for Zion National Park.  In our minds we were headed for the main entrance but in reality, we were on the road to the north end entrance, which is much less populated and busy.  It took a while but soon we pulled off road onto the canyon entrance and a stop at the visitor’s center.  The sign said the canyon entrance road has been closed due to a sink hole forming in the middle of the road at about the two-mile mark.  So, we drove on to that point just to see what we could see.  We were able to get out of the car and take a couple of photos of the entrance canyon.  The small part we could see was very scenic.  We could have walked in as only the road was closed but our tired old bones had no desire to do that.  The grandkids were also of the same mind.  So, we drove back out and headed towards the same way we came to find our motel.     We stopped for a little dinner at a crowded food trailer and then headed to our motel. Aaron quickly headed down the hallway to the hot tub to soak away the stiffness.  He struck up a conversation with a man who had just taken his family to the main entrance.  He suggested that Aaron get there at 6:00 AM to avoid a long line.  Considering that the park did not open until 8:00 and the part about “crowds”,which sounded like a long wait anyway, so we opted to continue on towards the Grand Canyon.  So we did.   We passed alongside the canyon rim, stopping a couple of times to take photos and look over into the deep canyon.  It was awesome, as usual.  We drove on out and pulled into the Red Feather Lodge, where we had motel reservations for one night.  We found some dinner just across the street and had a nice sit-down meal followed by some relaxing time in the motel.     The next morning, we took advantage of their free breakfast and coffee.  I was not hungry but Aaron took advantage.  I did grab a cup of hot coffee and sit outside at one of the picnic tables.  After we packed our car and checked out, we drove over to one of the small airports where we would board a helicopter for a Grand Canyon tour.  Debby did not go with Aaron, Melody and me, but remained behind with Toronto while we were gone.     The Chopper had room for six.  We sat in the front seat, side by side while two other passengers sat in the seats behind us.  Melody sat next to the pilot.  She had been apprehensive about this ride for a while but I kept reassuring her we were safe enough.  She actually did really well and enjoyed our scenic flight.  As the GC is a National Park, aircraft have elevation restrictions.  We were not able to fly down inside the GC but were able to see quite well anyway.  The mighty canyon was even more amazing from our vantage point.  The Colorado River was quite visible.  We could even see kayaks on the water.  The pilot showed us the Little Colorado, a smaller tributary off the main river, looking very pristine.  He said the water is turquois because of the mineral deposits in the creek bed.  With the water crystal clear, it appears to have colors of turquois and purple.   It was a most enjoyable flight with a great pilot.  Our flight lasted less than an hour.  It wasn’t cheap but it was well worth the cost.  Debby and Toronto were on deck waiting for us to land.  We made our way through the visitor’s center and out to the Sienna.  We soon merged onto the Interstate and headed east towards home.  We stopped for the night in Tucumcari.  The next morning, we got an early start for a long drive back to Springdale.  We stopped for lunch and a short visit in Oklahoma City at our son, Matt’s house. He and Brent fed us some great sandwiches! After resting up a while, we continued traveling.   We had a great trip but were happy to sleep in our own bed tonight.   We had a great week spending time with Aaron and Melody.  We enjoyed much time around the pool and in the hot tub. We enjoyed looking over our photographs and laughing over the helicopter ride.  “Ethyl”, our Sienna, was a trooper!  We were blessed to have a van that gave us absolutely no trouble.  We put about 5,000 miles on her and she never complained.  With nearly 200,000 miles of cross-country road trips, she may need to think about retiring.  I’m not sure Debby and I have long road trips in us anymore.  Sitting for so many hours is hard on the old bones.  It’s either hang it up or get new bones! Mike