DAY 8 BLOGGood morning form Bryce Canyon in Utah!
Yesterday was a day of driving. We hauled from Grand Junction Colorado, down through the scenic view of MOAB National Park and out to Bryce Canyon Utah.
It is staggering how in Colorado and its traditional mountains, just on a bigger scale, with crystal clear skies, are everywhere, then 60 miles west (Utah) you are in a BRIGHT red canyon winding with the Colorado river. The scenery in MOAB was absolutely brilliant and is a place we would definitely re-visit to raft down the river. There are several lodges that looked very nice.
Once you exit MOAB and make a left back on route 70, you are in a Desert of Mountains. It is absolutely DESOLET and eerily stark, but just drive a little and it changes to a split scene. Dessert on one side, Badlands style on the right but with greenery. Then a little further up Sand Storm alley!
Utah the first 150 miles was lets say interesting and in some regards, not a good way. We drove through a sand storm that made visibility about 10 feet and was very scary. The wind was so fierce that when I pulled into a rest area to clean the windshield I was nearly blown over. The winds had to be in the 60 – 80 mile range, and the hour we drove in this storm, I have to say was by far the WORSE driving conditions I have ever been through and all of us were on edge. To boot the mountain climbs were the steepest of all the climbs we have done including last year through Bighorn. Very steep grade, so steep my CAT stayed in 4th and could not get above 45 mph.
Once out of the storm and mountains we entered into a very majestic and beautiful part of Utah, and this continued all the way into Bryce canyon which is WOW, very RED!
The day ended with a great fireworks display, in contrast to the day before, this was one of the best shows we have ever seen. Oh yes one more thing…We LITERRALY just pulled in and as Michael stepped out of the Motorhome, and a group of kids were walking by. One of the girls yelled to Michael…”Hey want to hang” and guess what, he and Nicholas were gone for the next 3 hours having a blast and meeting kids from the UK, and other parts of the US. This has and is continuing to be an experience beyond explanation.
Well, have a VERY BLESSED day, and I will speak to you
Family
ReplyDeleteI am glad you did not get blown away in the sandstorm and made it through safely. Which reminds me, has Patti done any driving in the bus yet? She should learn how so you can have a break on these long days especially if there is nothing challenging during that segment.
Pictures are great, scenery is beautiful, but... where are the people? If the kids are still pciky about their image, you can provide pics of you and Patti instead. At least that way we will know you are not sitting at home sending up pictures off the net when we see proof of you in these places.
Keep enjoying, stay safe & healthy.
Jim
Ok...Tomorrow, I will have family photos of us in the Canyon....No Patty has not driven, and Jim, you cannot image how bad that drive was....
ReplyDeleteI am SO happy you are tracking this and commenting, it is great.
And you can rest assured these photos are the real deal....