Arches National Park, Utah
Rocks, rocks, and more rocks…Utah Parks.
We left Monticello, Utah on yet another snowy morning. We had a late start today, which was a bit concerning since we had intended to try to do the Utah National Park trifecta today….Arches, Bryce, and Zion Parks. Granted, it was pretty poor odds that we would make it to all of them, but we decided we’d try our best to get as far as we could.
We left the snowy high elevation of Monticello and went down to Moab, home of the Arches National Park. However, our first stop was at House in a Rock – a roadside attraction that Kathleen loved so much she had to show me. The red rock dotted the landscape of Utah, sure, it’s beautiful, but who knew that it could also be a family dwelling. Near Moab, carved literally into the Canyonlands, Albert and Gladys Christianson built a completely functioning 5,000 sq. ft. home inside of a rock. They spent 12 years carving it out. Kathleen and I took the cheap, quick tour; it was definitely a hit on the quirky road side attraction list. It actually started as a diner for the miners and Albert and Gladys decided to add on – or maybe I should say ‘add in’. They drilled further into the rock and made a 3 bedroom home complete with fireplace and electricity.
Photo: Delicate Arch
Once we had our daily dose of ‘weird roadside attraction’ aside, we moved on towards Moab, a cute hiking/adventure town, filled with young hikers and kayakers. We stopped at the subway for a quick, healthy lunch. After days of fried, full fat food in the South, we thought we better start to reverse the effects as we were getting closer to California! Unfortunately everyone had the same idea as we waited in a long, long line to get a sandwich. Trying to be healthy cost us valuable time! We took off and made it to the Arches National Park around 2PM. This park was different than Monument valley; it was the home to over 2000 sandstone arches. The most famous one is Delicate Arch. Since we were on a time limit, we did a drive around the park and had to pass up any hiking. The park was beautiful and well worth a stop.
For all photos of Arches National Park – click here!
We decided to stay off the un-scenic interstate and instead take the scenic byways as long as the weather looked good. We were going to be driving through mountain passes, and even though it was April, we still had to keep any eye on an storms.
The drives in this area of Utah were gorgeous. Desert land with amazing rock formations, rivers and colorful canyons. We wove in and out of river valleys and finally arrived at Scenic Byway 12 in Utah. This road led us to Bryce Canyon and through a couple of mountain passes and on the corner of Staircase-Escalante National Park. The weather around the mountain looked grey and dismal. The wind was cold and we wondered if we should be going through the pass, but the visitor center said that it was all clear. They went on to tell us that Scenic Byway 12 was the most beautiful drive that we could take. I chuckled to myself thinking of all of the times we’ve been told a particular route or restaurant or park was the ‘best’. They can’t all be the best, but Americans are proud, and everyone is proud of their area. Sometimes I want to tell these people who make ‘the best’ statements that maybe they should get out a bit more, or simply get a passport. Oops, sorry, I got off track. Regardless, when someone says something is the ‘best’, then we might as well check it out – you never know maybe they are right!
The sun had started to go down, but we took off up the pass. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.
Click to Enlarge:
It was one of the most beautiful drives of our whole trip. We drove in and out of snow and a storm. Every corner something new; deer, snow, wild turkeys, forests of birch trees, breath-taking vistas, views of mountains, and deep canyons. The road actually took us on a ridge through Staircase-Escalante National Park that felt as if we were driving on a ribbon. On both side were steep drop offs into the colorful canyon, and the road was built on this little ridge of canyon that wound through the landscape – it felt like a cartoon of sorts. The sun was perfect for lighting up the canyon for photography. Thank goodness we got such a late start else we never would have had this amazing light.
We drove all the way to Tropic that night. Tropic is a small town of 508 people located about 10 miles from the entrance to Bryce Canyon which we decided to do the next morning. We pulled into Tropic and quickly got a cheap hotel room as I begged the young boy behind the counter to give us the very best deal he could. The guy was dressed rather preppy hip; a bit stunning for a town this size. He luckily took pity on me and after quite a bit of internal moral debate with himself, he decided to throw caution to the wind and give us a Friend and Family discount. Now I clearly wasn’t his family – but I was fast becoming his friend! He looked at me and said, “What the hell, I’m leaving soon anyway. I don’t care if my boss catches it.” I asked him why he was leaving and he said that he went to school/university in Denver and was going back there shortly because he couldn’t stand it here any longer; this is where he grew up. As I listened to him, I looked out the window and noticed the stunning mountains and countryside that surrounded us. I thought, how could anyone hate this? Although, I completely understand where he’s coming from – it is a rather small town. Why is it that we take for granted the things that we grew up around? We always seem to be on some quest for something ‘better’ or bigger. However, every year I get older, I realize that I am slowly trying to get back to where I started in some way…a more simple, quiet life. I find that I appreciate the ‘old’ way of doing things more and more. Aging is really a weird process sometimes. I do hope the kid didn’t get in trouble though!
Photo: Photographer at Bryce Canyon
We received the discount and the key and we sped off to the only restaurant in town that was still open. After all, it was 8PM on a Sunday night in a small town…it was lucky that we found anything open. We went to the pizza place and sat down. When our waiter came by, we asked him for a couple of beers. That’s when we received the oh-so-familiar hesitation and look of pity followed by “I’m so sorry ladies, but we don’t serve beer or alcohol here.” Damn Utah!!!!! How can a place so beautiful be so cruel?! However, our waiter did offer us a solution to our addiction problem…no, not crystal meth…instead he said that we could go to the package store and buy beer and bring it back in to have with our pizza if we drank it in a glass. His theory was that it looked like apple juice. You gotta love the ingenuity. This whole town was about breaking the rules…I love it! Kathleen hopped back in the car to run to the package store and I ordered a pizza. Unfortunately, the package store was closed too…we were doomed in this state. We were left with real apple juice.
The next morning we got an early start as we had to cover both Bryce, Zion, and make our way to Las Vegas for a drink! We drove into Bryce Canyon and I wondered to myself…”how can this park be any different than the other Utah parks we’ve already seen? I mean really…a rock is a rock.” We stopped at the first viewing point inside the park and were surprised when we looked down in a orange, rock canyon filled with pinnacles of rock jutting up from the valley below. Ok – I guess I was wrong…this was yet another different kind of rock formation. What made Bryce even more beautiful was the fact that it was covered with snow and evergreen trees. This provided a palette of dark green, stark white, orange canyon, and blue sky – crisp and breathtaking. With the snow came some of the coldest temperatures we had experienced so far on our Road Trip. We’d get out of the car and run to the overlook, take pictures and run back in to the warm car!
Click to Englarge Photos of Bryce:
We had to keep our visit to Bryce short so that we could move on to Zion National Park. Many say that Zion is their favorite park in Utah, and once again I found myself thinking “What in the world could be so different about this Utah park?” We entered Zion through the ‘back door’ (from the East) and was once again amazed by what we saw; huge rock formation/mountains with evergreens dotting the bare rock. The formations were massive and often carved out in intricate designs by the wind. We stopped and took some time in Zion doing the little free shuttle tour in order to see more of the park. There seems to be some amazing hiking in Zion, yet we did have to forgo that as Vegas was beckoning us.
Click to enlarge photos of Zion:
We drove into Vegas around 7PM. I find that one of the great things to do in your lifetime is to drive into Vegas. Most people fly in and out of Vegas, but there is something nostalgic about driving out of the barren dessert (and barren, non-alcoholic Utah) into the sinful inferno of Vegas. Enticing you to get closer and be naughty. After 4 days in Utah, I fell in love with the landscape, but the lack of booze had taken its toll! We stayed at the far end of the strip utilizing Kathleen’s Hilton points, handed the keys to the valet and went straight to the pool bar for a beer…let he sinning begin!
