Our Fall Trip:

Pete Wass

Pete Wass

Well-known member
She Who Must Be Obeyed and I flew out to Jrand Junction, Co, Wednesday for a 10 day tour of the big circle of National Parks in Utah and Arizona. We drove to Moab Wednesday, finding a good motel and dining in the former home of the man, Mr Charles Steen, who first found a significant quanity of uranium. The home now is a restaurant called the Sunset Grill. Thursday morning we headed for Page, Arizona. On the way, we stopped by an interesting ruin called Hovenweep and then on to stand on the 4 corners monument. Page didn't turn out so well as we ended up eaing dinner in a frumpy Steak House with an over priced menu and hovering waiter.

Today we drove through Zion twice because we could not find a parking place so that we could take the shuttle up the canyon more than we could drive. It is beautiful all the same, The word Awsome is not stretched one iota when one uses it to discribe Zion. For those who haven't visited Zion, the entrance from the east has a tunnel about 1 mile long that was finished in 1930. That was a bit of a surprise to me.

We then drove to Cedar City and hove too here for two nights. Had a pretty good overly priced hamburger tonight here in town but will drive out to Milt's, which is suppose to be good, tomorrow evening We'll see. Utah has a bunch of very wierd liquor laws, which defy logic but a waiter assured us they were the new liberalized laws. (roll eyes)

Bryce tomorrow!

Pete
 
Last edited:
Pete, I'm kinda envious! Post some pics would ya case I never get out that way.
Also in a previous post you mentioned that you were going on vacation. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how a retiree goes on vacation...??

Keith
 
Vacation from Youse Guys!

linekin said:
Pete, I'm kinda envious! Post some pics would ya case I never get out that way.
Also in a previous post you mentioned that you were going on vacation. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how a retiree goes on vacation...??

Keith
Click to expand...

I don't have the know how to post pictures but can email you some. Trying to capture pictures of this stuff is a challenge. I have yet to see a consumer camera that can capture the awe of actually seing these natural vistas. For instance, last year I was anxious to photograph the awe of one of the Giant Redwoods. We stopped at a park and there they were. I took pictures but the perspective of them trying to find their way to the chip in the camera somehow became diminished.

Vacation, I've been on vacation for 8 years as of August 25 but even so, one needs to get away from their "Life" now and then to get freed up from the day to day and to spend even more of the Nursing Home's Money. :)

Pete
 
Ole Ebenezer Bryce:

It's always interesting, to me at least, to find out how and why places get named. Bryce canyon is named for Ebenezer Bryce, who was a settler here. He just happened to have the dern thing in his back yard they say. Tennyrate, it was sort of a let down, to me, after seeing Zion. It's a lot different and not as BIG in it's features but more RED. We barely got out of there before a huge black cloud decended on the hoards in attendance. I'll bet the Pacific Rim folks took selfies right through the rain. This whole Selfie thing is something to watch, isn't it?

So down the hill a couple of thousand feet to Milt's. Milt's looked promising in the beginning and had a cool history in deckapage on the back of the huge paddle of a menu board. We ordered up some steaks. SWMBO's Filet was so tough she couldn't chew it up and her sweet potater was not totally cooked. My ribeye was so tough the steak knife they gave me wouldn't cut it. Ya know, the secret to a good steak dinner is a sharp steak knife. One's teeth can grind up some pretty tough stuff but in my case this evening, I left about half of the steak un-chewed, it being too RARE as well. The salad bar was ok as were the mushrooms that came with the steak. I was tempted to ask to speak to the manager and suggest they buy their steaks from Walmart. I get some pretty good steaks from Walmart and the best thing is, they don't seem to know the difference between Tbones and Porter House, Check it out sometime. One would think the WEST would abound in excelent beef, but alas!

Tomorrow, back to Page to stage for a run to the Grand Canyon West Rim and the Canyon Walk. We have a couple of spots we noted on the way over to stop at tomorrow. It's all in a young man's life I guess, eh?

Pete
 
Last edited:
Pete,

When SHMBO and I were full time in our RV, we spent a lot of time in Zion and thereabouts. One (of many) thing we really loved about Zion is that you're actually IN IT unless you climb out/up. Bryce was a disappointment; just a bigger Cedar Breaks IMHO. And we did the north rim of the Grand Canyon, stood right on the edge of a 5000 foot drop; we both felt it was basically a really big hole in the ground! Might have been because we were there around noon-ish so nothing special in the lighting and no spectacular weather.

Don't know what your plans are, but we also loved Mesa Verde in CO. If you can get there, go to Ted's Tacos in Mancos CO for some truly great chow. Or Main Street Brewing in Cortez for some Schnorzenboomer beer - best I've ever had!

That whole area is fantastic from so many points of view.

Dennis
 
Thanks Dennis

DeltaBravo said:
Pete,

When SHMBO and I were full time in our RV, we spent a lot of time in Zion and thereabouts. One (of many) thing we really loved about Zion is that you're actually IN IT unless you climb out/up. Bryce was a disappointment; just a bigger Cedar Breaks IMHO. And we did the north rim of the Grand Canyon, stood right on the edge of a 5000 foot drop; we both felt it was basically a really big hole in the ground! Might have been because we were there around noon-ish so nothing special in the lighting and no spectacular weather.

Don't know what your plans are, but we also loved Mesa Verde in CO. If you can get there, go to Ted's Tacos in Mancos CO for some truly great chow. Or Main Street Brewing in Cortez for some Schnorzenboomer beer - best I've ever had!

That whole area is fantastic from so many points of view.

Dennis
Click to expand...

We went through Zion again today on our way back to Page. While we were waiting for our motel to become on limits we went on the Antalope Canyon Tour. Fantastic! We are going to the South Rim tomorrow and we decided to drop down to Sedona for an overnigt instead of the Canyon Walk. We had planned to do the Canyon Walk Wednesday for my birthday but it's just too far off the beaten path for the remainder of our trip. We figure we'll do it next year along with another run @ the California National Parks we missed last year because of the fires in them. We'll probably go to Mesa Verde next week.

Pete
 
An easier day today;

We decided to drive back through Zion today on the way back to Page. It still looked as Awsome to me today as it did Friday. We got there earlier today so there was actually some places to park @ the Welcome Center. Bought a few more things and headed back. Would have loved to visit the Museum but it meant getting the bus so we blew it off.

Had a leasurely drive back to Page and because of the difference in time between Az and Utah, we were too early to get into our motel so we took the tour through Antelope Canyon. The Canyon is a walking tour through photographic expedition.The canyon 1/4 m long of sandstone that has been eroded by flash floods, creating some of the most interesting shapes and colors via the sunlight above. It's a Native People concession , which is done very well. Our guide was well versed in getting the right angle for pictures in there.

We are off to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in the morning. If we can see that tomorrow, we will drop down to Sedona for an overnight. We have decided the Canyon Walk is too far out of the way for this trip, whicn we had planned for Wednesday. It doesn't appear to be an easy trip to do so we will catch it at a later date, probably from Las Vegas and perhaps next year.

So, a restful evening and night and back at er in the AM.

Pete
 
Grand Canyon

Our national parks are treasures. Been to some of them. Grand Canyon, Teton, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Smokey Mountain , Buffalo River, but I think the prettiest sight I can remember was the Grand Canyon at sunset. The setting sun put a different light on it. Man it was beautiful. Doug
 
Treasures, indeed

Doug Casner said:
Our national parks are treasures. Been to some of them. Grand Canyon, Teton, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Smokey Mountain , Buffalo River, but I think the prettiest sight I can remember was the Grand Canyon at sunset. The setting sun put a different light on it. Man it was beautiful. Doug
Click to expand...

I had the thought yesterday it was a good thing the National Parks were built when they were because I doubt they would be allowed the way they are today. Today's regulations and the law suits that would come from all the tree huggers who want everyone to walk to everything and or not disturdlb any animals would squash any attempt to do one.

Pete
 
if you come back on 70 to denver,
stop in rifle and eat at the local cafe..
pro gun, gun totting staff!

it made national news once
 
and if you have not done so,
drive up us 1 along the west coast
from south to north.
some is bumper to bumper,
but view of the ocean is great.
 
We will go back to Grand Junction

CMaier said:
if you come back on 70 to denver,
stop in rifle and eat at the local cafe..
pro gun, gun totting staff!

it made national news once
Click to expand...

so won't get to Rifle. I have seen that place listed on the internet. We did Rt 1 last fall. It is beautiful, for sure.

Pete
 
The South Rim:

We had a leisurely morning and arrived @ the South Rim around 1:00 PM. We didn't realize how this area is focused on handeling the masses who come here. Parking was available there today but most things are geared to happen by shuttle bus, which neither of us like, so we went to the Watch Tower, the Visitor's Center, rode through the village and left. On the way out we stopped at the National Geographic welcome center and watched their IMAX film of the canyon, which took us to places in the canyon that are unaccessable otherwise.

We drove on to Williams and found a very good to excelent Best Western with a very good restaurant in it. The food was pretty good and the service great.We prefer hotels with restaurants so that once we are in, we can stay there. They seem to be coming back, slowly.

We are going to drive over to Winslow tomorrow so that I can stand on a corner and wait for a girl in a flat bed Ford to come by. Regardless of my luck or not we are going to "Take it Easy" tomorrow and end up in Sedona. We like this kind of traveling; going without a schedule and making it up as we go.

Pete
 
Winslow Az.

Pete, I said the very same thing when we went to Winslow the same trip. Im crippled but I can stand up if I pull myself up. I told the wife , I want to stand on a corner in Winslow Arizona and I did but I didn't see a flatbed Ford. Doug
 
That flat bed Ford ?

It's there now, but first I need to bring you there. I mentioned how good the motel was; well, it got better the more I looked around. Supper was first class and moderately priced. There was a fire pit in the courtyard for folks to enjoy and I noticed a huge flag pole there this morning. Breakfast was the usual motel fare but real plates, coffee mugs and flatware. The best motel we or I have stayed in in years.

When I saw the first McDonalds sign, I pulled er off the road. The exit was for Downtown Williams. We were in the heart of old Rt 66 and a very well done retro rendition of it with lots of neon signs and storefronts. I then realized that Williams is the destination for the train to the South Rim. Daaaaah!

After the coffee fix we headed east again and directly saw a sign for an asteroid crater. Hey, why not look, we had all day so in we went. The crater is a for real deal and very interesting. We liked it ?.

So, we hit the road for Winslow. Pulled into town and saw a big greeting sign in front of the Chamber's welcome center. When I got out I noticed the outline of a young man with a guitar in the lower left corner. So we went in. The hostess began to tell us about the corner park with the bronze of Jackson Brown and the new one of Glenn Frye or ey, not sure. They also had a stamp to go in our National Parks Passport.

So, off to the corner park. We parked about 1/2 block away and when we got there, there sat a red flat bed Ford along with the two life size bronz's aforementioned. We took pictures and suddenly an Eagles song became audible. I looked across the street and saw a souvineer store. How could anyone resist I ask? Well, we didn't. Full of every kind of momento one could ever want ?. We consumed some of it. The shop is run by a retired Navy ceebee who gave us a generous discount for my being a Veteran.

So, we headed for Sedona, riding cross country and arrived here @ 5 pm their time. We are in a new Holiday Inn Express with the most modern furnishings I have seen to date and reasonably priced for this area. Tomorrow we celebrate the 72nd anniversary of my nadal day. I think I will climb one of the "spiritual Vortexes" after breakfast just for good luck.

Pete
 
A quiet day:

Slept in a bit this AM and after a pretty good "Free" breakfast, headed out to look at Sedona. First stop was the overlook near the Airport, passing the most accessable "Vortex" in the area. After a few useless pictures, eased back to the Vortex to find no parking; not an isue, really so we headed off to Jerome.

SWMBO had found a brochure on the Grand Hotel @ Jerome so it was there we were to have my BD lunch. We cruised on through Cottonwood and Clarkdale, both full of touristas as was Jerome when we arrived but not so full that parking was unobtanium. Now, Jerome, for those who haven't experienced it is an old Phelps-Dodge mining town that was esablished in the late 1800'ds. It is built literally on several clifs that appear to be carved out of the side of the mountain it resides on. Jerome was alive with touristas and is full of all manor of money loostening attractions. I'll bet there were at least 5K touristas there today. Nevertheless, we were able to find parking @ the Grand Hotel.

The Grand Hotel is a former asylum of some sort and is pretty much as it was when built. It was purchased from the state at some point and opened as a Hotel. We leaned that the Asylum Restaurant is a seperate concession from the hotel. Nevertheless, lunch was good, albeit slow to arrive.

After lunch we began our trip back to Sedona. Once we reached the dottom of the hill, we noticed a sign for a National monument named Tuzigoot. In we drove and found a re-constructed ruins of a village built on a small hill which sets above the Verdi River and a plain that the former inhabitants farmed; we talking 1200 years ago now but there are plenty of artifacts that prove it all out. It was quite interesting and we got another National Park Passport stamp there and a free pass as we both have Senior Lifetime passes. Best twenty buck anyone could ever spend.

So then, back to Sedona, cruising through town and marveling on how much it has grown since we were here in 2008! Lots of people seem to have retired well here. Saw signs of new homes in a 50's plus community for the low 160's. We speculated that they probably were 20'X20' "Open Plan" flats but don't know for sure. Settled in without dinner, picking on leftovers, etc.

Tomorrow we head back North toward Moab. I am considering driving over to Gallup and then North from there. Don't want to go back to Page and there is not much for services above I 40, from what we have seen. I want to do about half of the distance tomorrow if I can. We have racked up some 1800 miles on the ole Excursion thus far.


Pete
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top