Patio Lantern Tour

There is no easy way to get from Williams Arizona (where we have been for the last 4 nights) to Hurricane/ St. George Utah.   You might be wondering why we are back in Utah.   We want to visit the the fifth of Utah’s ‘Mighty Five’ National Parks, Zion. We could not resist one final look at the Grand Canyon.   It was just as amazing this morning as it has been the last few days…imagine that!   I have to admit that we were a little saddened to be leaving it behind, but new adventures awaited. We retraced our route from 4 days ago around the ‘Big Hole’ and out of Arizona.   We were once again astounded at the poor living conditions of the Navajo people as we traveled through their land.   The Navajo Nation is held up as a success story in the United States.   I am afraid that this part of their lands is ‘not’ a success.   We traveled alongside the Vermilion Cliffs once again and marveled at their beauty.   It almost made us forget about our experiences of the last 4 days…well, m

I am not sure that we could get tired of the views of the Grand Canyon.   Today was a little unique.   It was partly cloudy.   The sun filtering down into the canyon made for different views.   Some areas of the canyon would be in sunshine while other areas would be shadowed.   I doubt our pictures will show the subtleties, but we took an awful lot of them. Today we avoided the major crowds by staying away from the Village and the Visitor Centre.   We explored the eastern end of the South Rim.   It is just as spectacular but a whole lot less people bother to drive out there…fantastic!   Once again, I cannot list all the superlatives that could describe our experience so I will not even try.   Our memories of this visit (and maybe the 1000 pictures we took) will last forever. Distance Traveled = 265 km.   Wildlife Sightings = Elk, Rabbit, Alberts Squirrel, Lesser Goldfinch, House Finch, Turkey Vulture, Mountain Bluebird, House Wren, Barn Swallow, White-throated Swift, Violet-g

4.5 million people per year visit Grand Canyon.   90% of those 4.5 million visit the South Rim.   It seemed like half of them were there today! We were aware that we were going to be dealing with ‘too many’ people so we left the truck outside of the park and took their free shuttle in.   What a slick way to bi-pass the long lineups at the entrance. Where we wanted to go to hike today, required us to transfer to 2 different buses.   Everything was going fine until the second bus broke down.   After about a 20-minute wait, we were ‘herded’ like cattle onto another bus.   Enough ranting about crowds…not necessarily about tourists though.   We found a unique way to avoid the masses of people…actually going for a hike.   It seems that most people who visit the Grand Canyon are not there to hike or even look out into the canyon…it appears that they are there to take ‘selfies’…with their backs to the real ‘show’…The Big Hole! Today was once again overwhelming.   We hiked (pretty muc

Most people who find themselves within 80 km of the Grand Canyon probably would flock there.   Today, that is not what we did.   We decided to partake in a little bit of nostalgia, Historic Route 66. Route 66 was first designated as a highway in 1921.   It ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, California.   This route is firmly established in the annuls of Americana.   The lure of the road paints a romantic picture of a simpler time.   It conjures images of travelers in classic cars traveling through quaint little towns being catered to by ‘Mom and Pop’ motels and 60 style diners with their soda fountains. All good things, however, must come to an end in the name of progress.   Interstate 40 replaced old highway 66.   The quaint little towns were bypassed.   Chain Hotels and fast food places have become the order of the day.   Most of these small towns have virtually died.   Some are desperately trying to hang on.   We spent some time in 2 of them today, Williams and Flagstaff.

I know that I must seem obsessed with the weather, but we are finding the Southwest’s fascinating.   When we got up this morning, the temperature was 16 degrees.   As we were having our coffee the temperature started to drop.   By the time we were ready to leave, the temperature was 12 degrees.   20 minutes into our drive it was 2 degrees.   30 minutes later it was up over 16.   Bizarre!!! Today was a day of travel and again there was never a dull moment.   From the North Rim to the South Rim as the ‘crow flies’ (in this case as the ‘raven flies’…there are no crows here), is less than 20 km.   It took us 300 km.   We had to go back straight north for 60 km, go east for 70 km, south for 100 km, and then back west for 70 km.   The scenery was varied but fascinating.   After 300 km we were again rewarded by spectacular views of the Canyon. We are staying about 80 km south of the Canyon in Williams.   We are in another KOA for 4 nights so we can spend more time in and around the

Tuesday, June 25, 2019 I once again am at a loss for words to describe what we experienced today.   So again, I am going to use a quote from the Visitor Guide.   “Grand Canyon – one of Earth’s most powerful, inspiring landscapes – overwhelms our senses.   Its story tells of geologic processes played out over unimaginable time spans as a unique combination of size, colour, and dazzling erosional forms:   277 river miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide, and a mile (1.6 km) deep.”   This place is ‘awe inspiring’. Sue and I hiked part way down into the canyon this morning.   It would have been great to go further, all the way down, but it is summer and accommodation at the bottom is impossible.   It has been described as like winning the lottery if you can get a reservation in the summer.   So, after climbing back to the top, we hiked as much of the upper rim as is possible.   We are tired as much from the emotional experience as from the physical experience.   It was

Monday, June 24, 2019 Five days ago, we were planning our strategy for our visit to the Grand Canyon.   We were pretty sure our odds of being able to camp anywhere remotely close to the Park were ‘slim to nil’.   All campsites at both the North Rim and the South Rim are reservable a year in advance.   As a ‘lark’, Sue brought up the reservation website for the North Rim Campground.   To our astonishment, one site was available for 2 nights and the timing worked beautifully.   We suspect that it was a cancellation.   So here we are at the Grand Canyon North Rim Campground.   The setting is spectacular.   Our site is huge.   It sits under large Ponderosa Pine trees, the largest trees we have saw since probably back in New York State.   Some of the campsites back onto the canyon.   Our campsite is not one of those…our luck only goes so far! Without realizing it, I think that I was looking forward to seeing the Grand Canyon more than anywhere else that we have traveled so far.  

Today can best be summed up by a guy we overheard today saying, “I have said ‘Wow’ 50 times today”.   That is what we experienced today at Bryce Canyon National Park…the ‘Wow Factor’. But I get ahead of myself.   The temperature this morning when we got up was 6 degrees.   We knew there would be radical differences between daytime highs and nighttime lows, but you have to experience this to believe it.   Bryce Canyon this morning was below freezing.   They get more than 180 days of the year where temperatures swing widely between freezing nights and warm afternoons.   We experienced one of those 180 days today. Today we got up and personal with the ‘hoodoos’.   We were able to hike down off the rim in the early morning.   You are probably by now wondering, what the heck is a ‘hoodoo’?   Simply put, they are bulbous columns made of rock.   Hopefully that is what our pictures will show. We then hiked the rim and were able to look down upon these strange looking formations.

For the first time on this adventure we took the day off.   It actually meant that we could sleep in…if you call until 6:15 sleeping in.   By noon we were ‘antsy’, so took a drive to get a glimpse of what we think we will see tomorrow in Bryce Canyons National Park. Again, the weather has been a bit surprising.   Overnight a terrific windstorm blew through.   Our ‘little tent trailer’ rocked and rolled.   The temperature dropped to 7 degrees and today hit only a high of 19.   It should be in the 30’s.   We have been chasing the sun around our campsite while trying to avoid the blowing sand.   It seems like the wind never stops blowing here. Distance Traveled = 111 km (just a short drive in Utah).   Wildlife Sightings = Turkey Vulture, Scrub Jay, Pronghorn (not much wildlife in this campground). Red Canyon Natural Tunnel in Red Canyon More of Scenic Highway 12

The ‘Rainmakers’ are at it again!   Yesterday as we were returning from our amazing experience at Canyonlands National Park, we ran into a severe thunderstorm with heavy rains.   Last evening, off and on during the night, and while we were packing up this morning, it rained.   For the first hour of our drive it rained.   Most people are probably saying “what’s the big deal”, you have a tent trailer.   This is a desert.   What few plants grow here are so brown that they look dead.   The average annual rainfall is only 10 inches.   We suspect that the Green River area received upwards of a quarter of that while we were there.   Two Wheels in Transit without bicycles… is at it again! Today was another driving experience.   We had a choice of expressway for most of the day or a 2 lane slightly longer route.   Of course, we chose the ‘2 laner’ which as it turned out, is classified in the top 3 roads to drive in all of the United States.   As an added bonus, it took us through one of