Sept/Oct 15: Siobhan and Wendy USA: Zion, Colorado river, Bryce

Tuesday 6 October

More rain during the night. We were both awake at silly o'clock so we shared our well travelled kitkat (given to us as a snack in Pahrump and carried through California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah - so a little worse for wear!) - and we turned the telly on!  The first time we had actually done this during the whole trip.  We hadn't missed much but the flashfloods and storms around the country (not here thankfully) had been bad.

The time zone between California and Utah changes by one hour and as we have nipped over the borders a couple of times we keep forgetting and either losing or gaining an hour. Planning ahead is very funny when we are trying to work out what the time is/was/will be!!  It's like being in the film 'Back to the future'...

Pretty much the same as trying to work out where the sun will rise or set, which way is north etc,etc - mostly guesswork and giggles! 

Never more evident than when we were trying to watch the eclipse.  We settled down in a little plaza near to where we were staying in Monterey with blankets (thank you Virgin Airlines) and a bottle of wine and stared intently at the clouds, waiting for them to break.  After about an hour Siobhan said 'what's that over there?' and we turned to see the clouds clearing and the eclipse happening about 45° away from where we had been staring!  
Things haven't really changed since then and the only time we were really sure about it was in Page but then we didn't see it because of the thunderstorms!. 

Siobhan even tried loading a compass onto the iPad but it either refused to move or stayed stuck in one position while we turned in circles so we gave up. 

So basically it's down to serendipity and pure luck!!

The weather was overcast so we went off to Zion canyon hoping that it would brighten up. It did for a little while but not very much.

Another beautiful park again with very different terrain and lots to see. 

We stopped numerous times, managing to travel just 8 miles in the first hour - and over a mile of that distance was a long tunnel!!

The trees were very lovely and some were growing at 45° angles in tiny spaces in the rocks 

This park is primarily for walking and as the bad weather was closing in we decided not to use their walking trails but to head for the patch of blue sky and find our own!

Which we did! And we found water for the first time. Very murky and churned up due to all the rain - the Virgin river which flows through Zion park.

And our car - Red (full name Ms Cherry Red but Red for short) got her tyres wet (and very dirty!) for the first time!

But the bad weather started getting near again so we set off for a quilting store  just as the rain started.

And we crossed time zones again so for a few miles we were again out of synch by an hour (not sure which way but it sorted itself out!)

Siobhan was happy mooching around the quilting shop - and I spent a happy half  hour rummaging through their boxes of scraps and offcuts and filling bags at $2 a time!

And so back to our motel to eat a late lunch - and have a glass of wine.

Bit of down time then out for a short walk around the town and something to eat.

Stayed at:  Rodeway Inn, Kanab

Travelled:  134 miles

Wednesday 7 October

The sunshine was back so we went to sail down the Colorado river below the Glen Canyon dam near Lake Powell.

A great boat ride!

Sun hats and hard hats were needed for this trip!

Our Navajo Indian guide Sonny told us interesting bits and pieces about himself, his tribe and the river and environs...

And we had a little paddle which was quite enough in the freezing cold water!

 A brilliant trip in the sunshine!

On the way back we found the Toadstool trail - a short walk hidden behind some hills on the Escalante trail where we found all this!...

Stayed at: Rodeway Inn, Kanab

Travelled: 147 miles






Thursday 8 October

We had a 5am get up to see the sun rise at Bryce canyon. We arrived just in time and didn't have long to wait before the colours started to creep over the shapes of the amphitheatres below us.

Well worth the journey and extreme (freezing point in a very chilly breeze!) cold!

We were wearing five layers of clothing but the temperature did rise from 32 to 78 degrees later!

Such dramatic colours and gorgeousness!

And what is extra nice is that some of these beautiful amphitheatres are accessible for walking amongst.

After warming up with hot drinks and breakfast we were back in the sunshine and we walked part of the way down to the bottom of the Canyon.

Siobhan did as much as her knee would allow and I walked a bit further down.  

Very, very beautiful and so lovely to be actually in the middle of it all. 

A steep walk down and a long, hot slog to get back up but well worth it!

You may be able to tell that we both absolutely LOVED this canyon!

There were deer on the road...

Eventually we went off to follow part of the Escalante trail.  We found the waterfall and mossy cave almost by accident so we walked up to them and later had a picnic there.

Then it was a drive to the petrified forest and another walk.

I did the steeper loop while Siobhan went back to the car to have a snooze before driving us back to Kanab.

More gorgeous scenery and coloured rock.

I built a small cairn with petrified rocks and I had walked for over an hour and seen no one...

The petrified rock is very beautiful with layers of different colours running through it.  

At several points in the walk there was so much of it around that it was impossible not to walk over it!

Stayed at:  Rodaway Inn, Kanab

Travelled:  284 miles

Friday 9 October

A bit of off roading to find the old town of Pahreah.  This became a ghost town when the water dried up and the area was subsequently used as a film set for spaghetti westerns.  The buildings were burnt down in an arson attack a few years ago - great shame as it is a beautiful, if desolate  place to visit and you are almost looking for the dust tracks from the horses and wagon trains!  

The road was really bad - it is impassable at certain times when either too wet or too dry but Siobhan managed to very carefully get us past the little cemetery and through the mud and the dry creeks.  She said it would be ok if we got bogged down as she had remembered Bridget M's tip for using a stick tied to the car wheels to get out of stuck mud.  but with hindsight - where were we going to find a stick out there?!...

So we bounced happily along the tracks singing
'Rawhide' and cracking our imaginary whips...

It was time to have a final tidy up - both in the car where the empty bottles seem to have been breeding in the back seats.  And also in our room where we unearthed several room cards which had been lost and replaced over the course of 4 days.

Then it was off to Las Vegas

... via two quilting shops!  One of them en route and the other, (well-liked by both of us after our previous trip so we were very happy to return) - off route!

When we asked the ladies in the Hurricane quilting shop where we could eat nearby they kindly let us share their buffet - and even gave us the recipes for the gorgeous pies!  Now that's service!!...

So we had an evening arrival with a beautiful sunset at the Paris hotel where we dumped our bags before returning the hire car to the airport and saying goodbye to our little car Red and the busy, busy sat nav Susie Q...

Then a walk round with daquiris - as you do. .

We eventually stopped for a burger and ended up chatting to a lovely couple behind us in the queue who told us what was good (all of it!) from the long list in front of us. Burger decision making is not easy after a full bong of daquiri!





















Staying at: Paris Hotel, Las Vegas

Travelled: 295 miles