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Archive for December 3rd, 2019

Fall Road Trip Loop, Part 1: It’s Not a Canyon, Really

December 3, 2019

To avoid being on the mountain during one of the less entrancing times of year up here (between first snow and the lifts opening), Mr. K and I embarked on a road trip south to Utah and Arizona and California. Even though Idaho and Utah border each other, the fastest way to from our place down there is through Montana, so our first day of driving ended there, in a fancier hotel than we usually stop at thanks to it being a reasonable number of points in the rewards program I’ve focused our hotel nights in since we retired. The next morning, we zoomed south rather than our usual east or west through that state, stopping for a break in Lima, Montana, which boasted this view.

landscape with five pine trees in foreground and snow dusted mountains in background

 

Lunchtime found us back in Idaho, in Idaho Falls to be specific, where we stopped at a local steakhouse which had this display of glassware in their entryway:

colorful glassware on shelves in front of a window

 

I leaned in for a closer look at the purple ones, which was a good thing, as otherwise I’d have missed the charming log cabin in the mountains motif on the clear frosted glasses next to them.

four decorative glasses in a window

 

We stopped the second night in Richfield, Utah, where we were able to park right outside our first floor room; the door opened into an interior corridor and was not at all convenient to any exterior doors, but the window had no screen and could be opened far enough to fit our luggage through, so that’s how we unloaded our stuff (granted we were only staying one night, so we didn’t have that much stuff, but it was still more convenient and fun to slide it in the window than schlep it down the hall).

The next morning, we headed off to Bryce Canyon National Park, somewhere I’d never been and Mr. K hadn’t been since he was a kid. It was stunning. Seriously. And a bit scary for me, even though there were railings at most all of the overlooks and the trail we chose wasn’t one of the more challenging ones. It was so beautiful and interesting I didn’t mind that it wasn’t a canyon at all, but rather a series of amphitheaters.

Bryce Canyon in Utah with tree in foreground at edge of cliff and orange rock formations in background

 

Bryce Canyon in Utah with orange rock formations

 

Woman in brimmed hiking hat standing next to fence along dropoff at Bryce Canyon Utah

 

We stayed at Bryce until the sun set, stopped for dinner at yummy vegetarian restaurant in Kanab (Peekaboo Canyon Wood Fired Kitchen), then drove through the deepening dark to Page, Arizona, where we stayed in a motel built in an architectural style I think of as “classic Tomorrowland”. I’ll pick up with that in the next installment of Trip Report Tuesday.

*****

On this date in 2018: Mundanity on the Mountain
2017: The Mountain is Calling
2016: Driving, Driving, Driving
2015: Achievement Unlocked
2014: To Everything There Is a Season
2013: Creepier Than Elf on a Shelf
2012: Getting Better
2007 through 2011: No entries
2006: Eye Candy is Better Than No Candy at All
2005: No entry
2004: Catching Up, Again
2003: Bad Logo on the Rise
2002: Winter




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