On the day we spent there, FF and I rented bikes and biked down from Vail Pass--about 14miles or so of beautiful scenery down a mountain. We ate lunch at Copper mountain (halfway down) and AK had a wonderful dinner for us (and wine!!) that evening. Wine is obviously an essential here in this family.
Staying with UD and AK was pretty much the best part of the trip- well it was defintely up there in comparison to everything else.. On a scale of 1 to 10 (as this scaling was added on my visit with them) I have to rate them a 9.75. Now, you may wonder-- wow! why is that .25 taken off?? -- and well, b.c. it is a ritual to have the hottub wind us down after a strenuous day of recreation. I arrived prepared for this type of relaxation and the hottub had yet to be filled!!! (Now, the UD and AK DID compensate with a pretty neato Steam bath... but the steam bath could never top the Hottub!..)
So. overall the trip to UDandAK's (that's Uncle Dick and Aunt Kathie to the layperson) rocked.
I left their homestead rather sullen b.c. I knew it would be quite sometime before I had the luxuries which they had provided for me. We wanted to go to the Hot Springs they informed us about BUT the pice had gone up since they had last been and we figured that if we were going to pay $17 we would want to be there all day instead of just an hour. (so, I'm pretty glad they don't live TOO far away.. b.c. then the springs are still accessible to me!)
We skipped the springs and went to Arches National Park.
Now this place is amazing and I couldn't believe these geologic formations existed in this area. I mean, I have seen pictures of these things however I used to think that the whole area around it was like it too, this is so not the case. 
The Arches are surrounded by regular plain-like grasses and dirt all over. The arches are a geologic wonder placed in the middle of grass and dirt. We did not go see the infamous "Delicate Arch" but instead saw it's runner up "the Windows"... 
this was due in part to: 1. the lateness in the day and it being farther than the Windows, 2. the rain, and 3. it was a shorter walk to the windows (not that we did it)We drove that night to Green Springs, UT b.c. it was raining and we wanted to not camp in it. Green Springs State Park, UT was THE best state park we have been to. With well-maintained lawns, nice picnic benches, and nice bathrooms and showers-- we were fairly impressed.
The next day (26th) we headed to Bryce National Park. Now you drive through Red Rock Canyon in order to get to this canyon and RRC was in itself extremely impressive. Red Earth and Cliffs all over... again-- you're driving through the normal dirt, grass, and shrubs and then all of a sudden-- redness!
We go on towards Bryce and it was raining (b.c. we decided that we brought the rain with us.. it rained the whole time while we were in the Southwestern Desert!) .. and Bryce was AMAZING! again, I had never seen anything like it and am amazed that something like it exists.
That night we went to Zion Canyon National Park and wow! I did not think there could be anything more impressive than Arches and Bryce until we entered Zion. Gorgeous and Spectacular!
I loved how the roads were red to match the rock
and we also drove thru the longest tunnel Ive ever been in. 
It was about a mile long and built into the rock. It was built in the 30s so it was made to fit the cars from back then, which were much smaller than those of today, so you have to be escorted thru one side at a time. We waited in line for a little while and there was a woman in charge who really was "The Woman in Charge"!!
I kept thinking the Grand Canyon would not outdo these places.
I was wrong.
Pictures, videos, anything which could portray this place to you, the non-visitor, will not do it justice. The Grand Canyon, is indeed Grand, and I have NEVER seen anything so impressive in my entire existence.
As I was driving into the park towards our campsite, I looked out FF's window at an overlook and that was a pretty big mistake. I had just glanced at the largest wonder of the world that plunged thousands of feet down into the depths below... and I was driving on top of it.
Oh My!We did go and check out the overlooks and attended some ranger talks. The best ranger talks of the whole trip, I must say. The first night we saw Ranger Stew talk about William Shakespeare and the two Rims. I must say, it was a rather unique theme, but 'ole Stew pulled it off making it pretty interesting.
We attended a Full Moon hike with Ranger Dave and it was pretty neat-o. He told us stories of the old hopi and navajo indians and the moon, etc. We really liked Ranger Dave.After the AWESOME GC, we did Mesa Verde on the way home. Mesa Verde was also pretty cool..
I had been wanting to see Cliff dwellings and pueblos but since the numerous breakdowns we weren't going to be able to... 
so im glad that we fit it in. We met Ranger John Bruce there who had been a HS science teacher for 28 yrs, then retired and was a ranger. He gave me lotsa tips.We made it home in 3 days-- Mesa Verde to Amarillo, TX where we stayed in an AWESOME sleezy motel that was a castle!
then Amarillo to Memphis, Tn and Memphis to home.I had a great trip and am sad that it's over. I can't believe it's over and it's also very strange to be home. Sleeping in my bed and playing with my cats are simple everyday things but they seem very taken advantage of after this trip. I'm really excited about laying on my couch and watching Harry Potter. A definite pastime of mine.
Thanks to all who followed in my adventures... You rock!!
Until next time--
Aims
No comments:
Post a Comment