On our way down to Las Vegas we stopped off at a WillowWind RV Park that allowed us to visit both Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.
Very nice campsite with a shady back-in for us.
The following day we set off for Bryce Canyon which meant a drive through Zion national Park to reach it, so I will not steal Zion’s thunder!! But I will say it involved quite a steep climb and a tunnel.
We reached Bryce Canyon about midday and boy oh boy is this place spectacular. It involves an 18 mile drive up the canyon and every stop seems to get better and better. For those of you who have never been there, Bryce is famous for its “hoodoos”. These are tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and “broken” lands with multiple levels of strata in them, all of different colours. The ones in Bryce Canyon are hundreds of feet high!! So with that explanation here they are.
We moved up the route and discovered this.
We got to the end of the canyon route where there was a controlled burn going on, so there were lots of fire fighters.
We then tracked our way back filling in the bits we missed and I climbed Inspiration Point, which made me puff a bit, climbing 500ft at 9,000ft does that, but the view was worth it.
There is one other place I ought to mention, Red Canyon. This is on the road up to Bryce Canyon and it has some pretty impressive red rocks in its own right. But in the evening sunset they are something else!!
The next day saw us visit Zion National Park which we had previously just driven through. A different type of park, but equally as spectacular with its massive rock faces, the 1.1 mile tunnel to the top, and at the top so many types of rock formations.
After this we moved on to Las Vegas, one of the subjects of my next post, but I will always remember the hoodoos!!
As I said in my last post we moved on to a site near Green River Wyoming as a base to see the Flaming Gorge.
Our route took us along the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway all the way up to a spectacular view of the valley we had driven through.
After arriving at Green River we set off the following day on a circular route that took in the Flaming Gorge Dam, Flaming Gorge and the Sheep Creek Geological area.
After about an hour we reached the dam but on the way we saw quite a few herds of Pronghorn Antelope.
And many bluffs displaying great strata lines of rock.
Just before the dam there was a “scenic overlook” that gave a great view across the dam and the lake.
So we moved on to the Red Canyon visitor centre to see the Flaming Gorge.
We then went round the Sheep Creek geological area where there were many examples of how the rocks were formed.
We then moved on to Salt Lake City Utah.
We arrived in Salt Lake City on Saturday and set off to explore on Sunday not expecting much to be open, and found that the Visitor centre and State Capitol building were open.
The next day we took the Trolley Bus tour and visited the Pioneer Memorial Museum, which did not allow pictures to be taken, but I managed to persuade them to allow me to take a photo of an amazingly restored Steam Pump Fire Engine.
The next day we decided to go and visit Antelope Island State Park, which is an island in the Salt Lake accessed by a causeway.
The island is surrounded by the Salt Lake which gets a bit stinky in places but was a fascinating place to visit.
It is also home to one of the largest Buffalo herds in the USA.
On the Thursday Anne and I spent the whole day in the Mormon Family History Museum looking up our family trees and filling in the holes. It is an amazing place that allows you to set up a free account to investigate your family trees and while you are there you get access to records that would normally cost you money to access. You also get access to some Mormon helpers who lead you through how to access certain sites and how to use the search facilities. A fascinating day, which finished all too soon, but we had planned to go and see the Mormon Tabernacle choir which held its practice on a Thursday and you could watch for free. It was a fascinating 2 hours and the choir and orchestra were very good.
On the Friday we went to the Utah State Fair and in the evening the Rodeo. We finally got to see a complete Rodeo from start to finish including the bull riding. How they stayed on the bulls I do not know, but getting off looked even more dangerous.
On our last day we spent the afternoon back in the Mormon Family History Museum completing some of the searches we were unable to finish the first time we were there.
The next day we set off for Las Vegas, but first stopping half way down to see Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, my next post.