Arizona (and beyond) Adventure: Goodbye Arizona, Hello Utah. Or, Zion and Bryce Canyons in 1 Day...

Staying in Page, Arizona made it easy to leave Arizona. Let me explain. Page is a small tourist town perched above the Colorado River, Glen Canyon Damn and Powell Lake. This time of year there are very few tourists in Page, except for a few like us who are just passing through. Page seems to have all the problems of many small towns in the West. We came face to face with some of those problems including prejudice towards Indians and Indian problems off the reservation. Nasty stuff and realities one prefers not to experience. On the other hand, it is a good reminder of the struggles that exist in the real world. Makes one thankful for what we have and a reminder of what people need most, housing, jobs, education, family, compassion and community - not necessarily in that order.

We departed Arizona and entered the beautiful state of Utah on highway 89 to Mt Carmel Jct, Ut. Then we headed west on SR9 to Zion National Park. I am running out of words to describe these sights. Awesome. Amazing. Incredible. Inspiring. Life changing? Take your pick. Actually, I'll write about our time in Zion and Bryce Parks and leave out the adjectives. You fill in the word. Any of the aforementioned words will do. Here we go:

We entered the East gate of the Zion National Park around 10:30. The drive from the gate down to the visitors centre was ________. We went through a tunnel that was 1.1 miles long. We came out of the tunnel and dropped down to the bottom of the canyon. We were surrounded by ___________ rock formations and mountains. Around each corner was another _________ view. We took over 50 pictures. There is a road that goes up the canyon. What an ________ 5 miles. Really ________.

We doubled back on SR 9 to get back to SR 89 which would take us towards Bryce Canyon Park. Bryce Canyon Park is at serious elevation. One part of the park is at over 9,000 feet. Consequently there was a lot of snow on the ground that somewhat obscured the rock formations that we came to see. I have included a couple of pictures so you will get the idea of what there is to see and what we actually saw. Overall it was ___________.

The weather forecast was calling for a snow storm to blow into the region late today or tonight. We felt it best to head northwest toward Salt Lake City. After we left Bryce Canyon Park we doubled back towards SR89 and went north. We took SR20 to Interstate 15 and went north to where we are staying the night at Fillmore, Ut. I-15 was excellent. Utah wins the prize for the best roads so far. We even experienced posted speed limit signs stating 80 MPH. We travelled at 75 MPH and traffic passed us like we were doing 65 MPH. Zoom, zoom.....

Now a word about Utah hospitality, food and service. But first, Madelyn's words of caution burn in our ears. Madelyn wrote to us before we came south and warned us that Utah is a "a bit backward and not to get our expectations too high". Well, apart from the National Park staff, M is quite right. Now we are in a small town, beside the interstate, but the service and food here rate a big 3 out of 10. Perhaps I am being overly generous. Things can only improve from here. Tomorrow we head to Salt Lake City where we will find a motel close to the Alta Ski Resort. We hope to ski on Monday. Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Zion National Park. Wow!