Day 13

Day 13 saw us leave Arizona and drive into Utah, we left Flagstaff a little late after a little shopping and stopped for lunch in Tuba City, hunting for another Double Down sandwich at KFC but they had never heard of it there. I had some chicken strips and garth had a chicken burger. 105km after Tuba City we started driving into Monument Valley and I reached for my camera bag to take a picture, and then realized (to my horror) that I had left it next to my chair in the KFC!  Swearing profusely and pulling a u-turn we quickly started the hour drive back to Tuba City. Garth called 411 and after a few busy signals we got though to the KFC and with a HUGE sigh of relief they said they had the bag (which had a camera, 3 lenses and my passport in it!). Still worried, I drove back (because it’s never a done deal until you have it in your hand) and got it back. The guy looked very confused when I handed him $20 but I was very happy.

After driving the Tuba City – Monument valley road for the 3rd time we continued on in Utah until sunset when we looked for a campsite. We found an amazing one right on the edge of Lake Powell in Glen Canyon State park. We watched the stars and the moon come out as the sun set over the ridge. Tomorrow we head for Bryce Canyon park via an offroad trail!

Day 14

So! Day of canyons – left our campsite at Lake Powell in Glen Canyon park and headed off in search of Burr Trail Rd. The GPS got us on a “shortcut” onto it (we didn’t know this until later) but it turned out rad, nice windy dirt and gravel road that meandered though the Utah countryside for over 100km before finally arriving in the small town of Boulder. There are a few other dirt roads around here I’d really like to drive, but need to check and see if they are open. After that we drove down to Escalente and then to Bryce Canyon National Monument. Bryce Canyon is a long strip of highway on top of a ridge with some amazing Hoodoos on one side. Hoodoos are crazy rock formations created by freeze/thaw cycles and weather erosion, Bryce Canyon is special because all of the rock is pink and orange so it looks really cool. It was also the first place we’ve really encountered snow – one of the lookouts was over 9000ft so it was pretty high up. It was still warm out though (around 17C) so it was pleasant to wander around and take photos.

Tomorrow we’re on our way back to Vegas for a few days as Garth flies out of there on Wednesday.