How Long Do We Look At This?

Having left Las Vegas in Nevada we kept criss-crossing the Utah-Arizona border for the next 10 days visiting various national parks along the way. Inside the parks naturally there is beauty to be found but outside the terrain ranges from bland to surreal, come to think of it that description fits the towns as well.

            

First up was Zion National Park followed by Lake Powell & Glen Canyon

            

Highlights here were Horseshoe Bend and a cruise on the Lake & Antelope Canyon where the waterway was so narrow I didn’t think the boat would be able to turn around.

             

As well as the waterways above, Antelope Canyon has what is called ‘slot canyons’ which are crevices in the ground that you descend into. The first image is of our Navajo guide taking the image you see at the top of the article. In the 2nd image she is throwing sand to make the suns rays stand out as in the next shot. Later in the canyon we came upon another sunbeam and Deb excitedly bent down to grab some sand, but before I could say she was facing the wrong way, I and the guy next to me (and our cameras) were covered in sand.

           

Glen Canyon

      

Next was Bryce Canyon with some crazy rock formations. As with most National Parks (NP) there is a road that travels through the park with various viewpoints along the way. At each stop tourists would get out, snap pictures then after what seemed like an ‘appropriate’ amount of time, move on to the next viewpoint.

            

      

Out in these parts the choice of good dining establishments diminishes so just to show you that we are not eating out EVERY night my clever wife bought some basic camping cooking gear so we could have some great home-cooked meals in the motel.

      

We had been looking forward to visiting the Grand Canyon for quite a while and we were not disappointed. Even though the other parks boast some beautiful landscapes I felt they didn’t quite compare to this magnificent area. It is actually unfair to compare them as they are all quite different but the GC definitely has WOW factor.

            

Debbie braving some of the more ‘adventurous’ lookouts.

            

And so it went on as we travelled Northeast towards Colorado, with each NP boasting just an ever-so-slightly different view of the landscape. After GC came Monument Valley & then Moab, it seems to go on forever.

      

I now have more pictures of rocks than a geologists convention so here are just a few.

            

We kept waiting for the roadrunner & Wiley Coyote to come around the next bend.

            

After a lifetimes supply of beautiful, hot, dusty canyons we look forward with anticipation to our last destination, the Rocky Mountains.