A Second Day at Zion

We at supper at the restaurant here at Majestic View Lodge. Lynda and I shared a broasted chicken dish with rice and steamed veggies. It was ok but nothing spectacular.

This morning we fixed breakfast in the room and got to the shuttle bus stop just after a bus left. After a ten minute or so wait we were off on our visit to the park. Our goals today were 1) retrieve the credit card that I had left or dropped at the gift shop at Zion Lodge, 2) take the lower emerald pool trail, 3) have lunch at Zion Lodge area, and 3) do the river walk trail at the temple of Sinawaba.

We have completed our goals and we are now back at our room resting a bit.

A Day at Zion

This morning we took the shuttle bus into Zion National Park. We left El Rio Lodge at 10 a.m. and drove down the street to Majestic View Lodge where we are staying tonight and tommorrow night. The shuttle bus route begins at Majestic View and we parked our van there. We rode through Springdale to the entrance to the national park.


Today was National Public Lands Day and there was a no fee day at national parks.

We took the Zion shuttle and rode to the first stop (Human History Museum). There we looked around and watchd a 22 minute video about Zion.
Our next stop was the Court of the Patriarchs. Then Zion Lodge where we ate lunch.


We got on another shuttle bus and went to the Weeping Wall stop. We walked the trail.
It was a bit cool for us.

A Restful Friday

Today we slept a little late, and then I got online and did some blogging and emailing.
We stayed last night in a small, but clean room at the Bob-Bon Inn in Kanab, UT. The wireless internet access is wonderful. It seems ironic that the two best places that I've had wireless access have been the two cheapest motels. The lack of access at Cameron Trading Post caused further mess-up in the postings.

We were the last ones to check out of the motel (14 units). The distance to Springdale, UT wasn't great and even with the slow driving (mountain roads) we got here slightly before two. We had a good nap after lunch at the Pioneer Restaurant. We took a short drive and shopped for some food items before coming back to the motel for supper. Tomorrow we plan to take the shuttle bus into Zion.

Thursday and The North Rim

We had breakfast at the Cameron Trading Post this morning then loaded the van and headed for the north rim of the Grand Canyon. From Cameron it is a two to three hour drive. We stopped in Jacob Lake, AZ at the welcome center, then drove to the park. The road to the lookout points is long (about 45 to the last one). We visited Cape Royal, Angel Windows, Roosevelt Point, Bright Angel Point, and Point Imperial.
It was after sundown when we got to Kanab for the night.

Then on Wednesday

Wednesday we went back into the park and did the Hermit Rest Route shuttle bus tour.

As we drove back to Cameron we saw some elks.

And On Tuesday

We spent last night in our room at the Cameron Trading Post Lodge. Today was our day to get our first views of the Grand Canyon. After entering the park we proceeded to Desert View and went up in the watch tower. The views were awesome!


We went to the bookstore and made a few purchases then continued driving to the next viewpoint In order to get more shadows we decided to drive on to Grand Canyon Village and stop at the viewpoints on the way back later in the afternoon.

A Good Monday

We drove from Holbrook to Winslow, AZ where we checked out he corner that is mentioned in the song by the Eagles (Take it Easy) The statue depicts a hickhiker on the street corner. The mural shows a young woman in a pickup truck having a look at him. Lynda chatted with a young man who had a gorgeous macaw.


We also saw a roofer putting a new copper roof on a church steeple.



After leaving Winslow we had a look at Walnut Canyon National Monument. We didn't attempt the 237 steps down into the canyon. The trip back up would have been a slow one for us.


Next on the list was a short walk into a lava flow at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.

We reached Cameron Trading Post just about sundown.

A Preview

We didn't do so well getting off to an early start. The major thing for today was seeing Canyon de Chelly. Lynda's verdict is that all the things she has read about the canyon were not exaggerations. She has wanted to visit the canyon for at least fifty years--and was quite pleased.

We awoke to a rain, so were a bit fearful that the day would not be a good one for taking pictures. The first thing on our agenda was to drive downtown Gallup and get some photos that we had missed yesterday.

Then we drove to Window Rock and took some photos. We next visited the Hubbell Trading Post and gave the rain clouds a chance to move on. When we got to the canyon, the rain was gone for the most part, but we did have to contend with the wind for a while.

We chose to view the canyon from the rim. There are seven overlooks along the south rim and three along the north rim. Each of the routes is more than thirty miles
(and then you have to come back the same way). We spent about two hours on the south rim route and didn't have time for the north rim other than a quick drive to one of the overlooks. Most of the overlooks involved a walk out to really view the canyon. So, we did get some good exercise.

We are staying in a Motel 6 in Holbrook, AZ tonight. I was pleasantly surprised when I asked the check-in clerk the time. I was expecting him to say seven something, but he looked at a clock and said six forty. Some way we have gained an hour.

I was even more surprised when I asked about internet access (after seeing two labtops in the lobby area). They have wireless internet access.

A Short Stay in Albuquerque

Well, the wireless service didn't work as it should have last night. Our room was in a second building and must have been a bit far from the reciever. It's working now at brekfast.

We are going to Gallup today. This is the first day that we will really be seeing some sights. (Well, we've seen some the first two days, but just in passing mainly).

One of the thinks we stopped at yesterday was the large cross at Groom, Texas. It is reportly the largest cross. Around the base are statues depicting the 14 stations of the cross.

I tooks several photos that I had planned to post last night, but will do that later.

Tonight we stay in Gallup at a Howard Johnson motel.

The Howard Johnson motel was not my best choice. I was not able to get online and that really upset me. There were a few other annoyances also.

One of our unplanned stops on Saturday was a visit to Acoma the Sky City. We did not take the tour but chose to visit the restaurant and some vendors in addition to taking photos of the surroundings. We had a delightful Pueblo Taco and Blue Corn enchiladas in the restaurant.

A Trip to Grand Canyon and More

We are spending the night in Elk City, OK. This is the beginning of our three-week trip out to Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National Parks and points in that area. The plans include spending a few days with David and Jeannie in South Fork, CO. Then we will wrap things up with a visit to Carolyn and Ray on our way back to Forrest City.

Today and tomorrow are mainly days for long driving to get us to the places to beginning the highlights of the trip. We drove olong I-40 today. I hope to post some photographs as we go along. Most of the motels that we will be staying in have high speed internet access, but I've discovered that doesn't insure that I will get connected.

I'm still working on an itinerary that I can mail (e- and snail-) out to folks.

A Beautiful Wedding

We have just returned to our hotel from Joel and Carrie's wedding. The weather behaved wonderfully for the wedding. It was a lovely event.

A September Day

We returned last night form Texas where we attended a wedding and had visits with friends and relatives.

This morning we finished getting some photos together for entry in the local county fair. We have entered photos for the past several years and didn't want to miss out this year. We didn't have as much time to get things together as in past years, so hope that we have chosen the right photos to enter.



Today has been a nice, cool day. I didn't really take advantage of it; just stayed inside for the most part.