Day 7 - Zion

Fantastic canyon.  Fantastic colors.  Many many people of many many tongues.  The town surrounding Zion is very pleasant with quaint shops and restaurants and handsome plantings everywhere.

It is hot.  90F today even when shaded in the canyon.    The scenery really is spectacular.  Access by crowed shuttle buses to various view points along the narrowing canyon until the road stops and walking begins.  Cement path takes you a mile deeper into the narrowing canyon.  Then the path stops.  Hardy types then enter a nice spring and continue up the canyon wading in the 2' deep spring.  We didnt wade.  

Saw a few animals.  One deer, several wild turkeys and three squirrels well trained in begging.

We did take lots of photos.  Many with unlimited framing options.  i.e. one could point the camera in most any direction and capture a beautiful image.  

Day 14 - Bend to Cannon Beach

Final leg home to Charles' place.  Five hour drive in light rain until we approached the coast.  At the coast 40 knot winds a hard rain.

Great trip but we're glad to be home.  Lots of driving and the resulting sore butts!

Day 13 - Bend Oregon - Cascade Lakes Loop

Early on the road to Bend Oregon.  

Uneventful 134 mile drive through mostly arid land with few hills and lots of sagebrush.  As we approach Bend it gets greener with Ponderosa Pines appearing along the way.

Stopped for Starbucks inside a Safeway and picked up a couple of sandwiches with our coffee drinks.  

Headed to the Cascade Lakes Loop to enjoy the scenery.  Stopped for lunch along side Lava Lake.  Lots of fisherman out trying their luck on this pristine alpine lake.

Returned to the River House hotel for the late afternoon to catch some football.  Nice hotel. Nice lounge.  

Lava Lake

Main Street Sun Valley

Main Street a Sun Valley

Day 12 - Hemingway and Hines

Up early.  Breakfast at our hotel.  Then off to find Hemingway memorial and grave site in Sun Valley.  Found both.  Memorial was small but well done.  Grave stones for Ernst, his last wife and two children we descrete flat grave markers.

Left Sun Valley after grabbing a latte and headed for Hines Oregon.  Another slog with not much photography.  We were just setting ourselves up for a short drive tomorrow into Bend Oregon.

Day 11 - Full on driving day

Drove from Moab Utah to Sun Valley Idaho.  535 miles - 9 hours +

No photos - straight through drive/slog.

Gordon (driver) bushed.  Charles passenger (sore knees).

Staying at Best Western Tyrollean Inn in Ketchum.

Next........dinner then football game and sleep.

Tomorrow's another day.  Plan a shorter drive to Onterio Oregon.

Main Street Ketchem Idaho

Day 10 - Arches continued...

We got a late start this morning.  Charles has a rough night with some food poisoning from last evening's pizza (loaded with anchovies) followed by a G&T.  Gordon had a wonderful baked Tortellini in a light sauce and water and slept as always like a baby.

After we got moving we grabbed the free breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express (our hotel of choice) and then climbed the mesa to the Arches in the FJ Cruiser around 8:30am.  We spent most of 5 hours photographing everything in site.  Never been to places like these three national parks in Utah where fun landscape photography opportunities are everywhere.  We walked a few miles to several viewing areas in the course of our visit madly clicked along the way.

Returned to the Moab around 2pm and enjoyed a nice bowl of beer and cheese soup and a salad at the Moab Brewery along with a couple of fine lagers.  We then drove back to the hotel after stopping for a milk shake to sooth Charles' stomach.  Charles proceeded to immediately fall asleep. Gordon hit the pool for a couple of hours of cool relaxation.

We anticipate an early start tomorrow headed in the general direction of Salt Lake City.

Day 9 - Arches National Park

Early rise and breakfast at the Pines.  

Left Bryce for 164 mile drive to Moab Utah and Arches National Park.  Lovely drive.  More spectacular terrain.  Unlike Texas ( Charles' birthplace) there is always interesting topography around you.

Saw a a few mountain goats along the way and arrived in Moab around 3pm.

Had time for a quick survey of the Arches.  Can tell tomorrow with be great fun as the sights are pronominal.

View outside hotel room first thing this morning before leaving Bryce.

Just inside Arches National Park

Day 8 - Hoodoo City - Bryce Canyon

Got an early start.  Breakfast at JB's, the only decent place to eat in Hurricane Utah.

The road to Bryce was a white knuckler for Gordon.  Tight turns and many edges and big drop offs.  We made it but Gordon swore he'd never drive it again.

Along the way we stopped at a neat rock shop with an interesting story.  Before it was a rock shop it was a dinosaur mini park.  The original owner was a quirky engineer whose hobby was dinosaurs.  Over years he had built full scale fiberglas models of his favorites.  When he sold his business and retired the State of Utah bought his whole collection and moved it to NE Utah.  Quite a tribute to his hobby. 

The Bryce canyon was very colorful.  Charles took tons more photos than Gordon.....guess why!  The edges at the viewing points were HUGE.  Hence Gordon spent much time exploring other areas  and Charles took the canyon edge pictures.

Charles saw some really really dumb families take their kids past prohibiting fences to get closer to the 2000' edge drop offs.  Kids and adults are lost this way every year as the footing is also very unstable.

Had lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and regrettably it was not good.  We both had burgers and the meat was horrible.   This experience was wonderfully eclipsed by dinner hours later at the Pines Hotel Restaurant.

Settled into the Steelers and Bangals  game after dinner.

Overall a great day edges aside!

Hoodoos are the name of the towering columns of sedimentary rock rising from the canyon floor.

Next to last photo outside our motel room door.