Celebration Road Trip - Final Two Stops

So far, our two week road trip to celebrate our upcoming 25th anniversary was filled with surprises, incredible scenery and lots of fun.  From the beautiful and magical North Rim of Grand Canyon and the awesome time we had in Capitol Reef / Goblin Valley / Cassidy Arch to the spectacular adventure we had exploring slot canyons in Escalante.  But, we still had a few more days and two more destinations to enjoy.  Next stop...the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

We headed out early from Captitol Reef National Park and the scenery along the way was beautiful.  Part of the drive went up from the east side of Bryce Canyon National Park.  I snapped a picture through the windshield of some of the amazing roadside scenery.  I like how this photo even caught the reflection of it on the hood of our truck...

We had made reservations at one of the many campgrounds in Grand Canyon National Park.  That's a must because it's very popular and spaces fill up fast.  We got there around mid afternoon and set up.  Shortly after that, we headed over to the rim for the sunset.  The Elk were out for some late day munching.  Hubby got a picture of this guy with huge antlers.  He was bending young trees over to eat their tender tops.  The Elk made very weird sounds to communicate with one another...something we'd never heard before.

It was very cloudy but the sunset was still beautiful.

Here's a photo I took...

As the sun disappeared, we turned to walk back along the rim and hubby got this gorgeous picture looking east.  We could see rain storms over the canyon and they moved so fast that in no time at all it was pouring right over us.  Good thing I'd brought a jacket to protect my camera!  We got drenched pretty quickly but the rain didn't last long and we dried quickly too.  Another magical night at Grand Canyon!  I love that place so much!

The next morning, we had a good breakfast, loaded our packs, and headed out on our bikes to ride from view point to view point.  Our first stop was the visitor center to check things out.  There was a Raven in a tree there that had an audience of people watching him as he talked and talked.  I wonder what he was saying?

After a few stops, we arrived at the El Tovar Lodge.  It was built in 1905 and is one more of those amazing National Park lodges that are so much fun to see.  Since it was already mid-day, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch in their elegant restaurant.  It was beautiful and so fancy with staff that were extremely professional and treated everyone like royalty. We got there early enough to be seated near the window for an view of the canyon while we dined.  There was some old and interesting artwork on the walls that they're happy to provide a printout that tells about them.  Oh....and, the food was really good too! 

I love the dishes they use there and they have some on display just outside the dining room...

There are a lot of stops you can make along the rim.  Some are simply a place to take in the view.  Others have a museum, an art gallery or something else too.  I fell in love with the amazing view from this stop.  I think it was the Yavapai Museum of Geology.  The building sat right on the rim with windows all across the canyon side.  What a great living room that would make!!!  I snapped a picture but everyone else was enjoying it too so it was impossible to get a picture with no one in it.  But, I like the silhouette of this lady in her cute hat enjoying the view...

I don't remember how many miles we rode that day but it was quite a few.  There were a lot more stops and miles to the end stop at Hermit's Rest than I thought.  It was a lot of fun though and nice to take our time and enjoy the park without using the park shuttle bus.  Although, it's a great option and I did take advantage of it and rode back from Hermit's rest to the El Tovar Lodge.  Hubby rode back to meet me there.  I locked up my bike and headed into the bar to order a drink and before they'd finished making it, hubby called me to let me know he was there.  That was fast!  He got a drink too and we sat on the front porch of the lodge to relax and take in our amazing time there.

I had a prickly pear margarita.  It sure was pink!

When my daughter and I stopped at Grand Canyon in July, we found a cafe in the Market Plaza (inside the park) with that was very affordable and had lots of food options.  I was pretty tired from our long bike ride and didn't really feel like cooking.  Besides, this place was so good that we couldn't miss it.  So, hubby and I headed over there for dinner.

We got up early the next morning and got one more look at that amazing canyon before we left.  Salsa got to go this time and we took her picture.  I think she likes it there!

Then, we headed back to camp to pack up, hitch up, and hit the road for our next stop.  One last picture before we left....the view from our campsite.  Beautiful!  And, now this place has so many awesome memories....from the wonderful time I spent there with my daughter in July and, now, the great time I had there with my hubby.  I was a bit teary eyed about leaving.  But, I'm sure we'll be back!  And, we were heading off to see and experience more places.

Our next and last stop of this trip was going to be Sedona, Arizona.  We enjoyed more beautiful landscapes and blue skies filled with puffy clouds along the way.

And, many more miles of golden yellow flowers...

We had a reservation on this stop too as the only place we know of in town is the Ranch Sedona RV park and we didn't want to chance not getting a spot.  It was pretty hot when we got there and we were pretty hungry.  So, we got all set up, turned on the AC for Salsa and Penelope (our dog and kitty) and headed out for lunch!  We went to the Oak Creek Brewery and Grill at the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village.  It was a good choice.  It was nice and cool inside, we had a window seat with a nice view of the village below, the waitress was really nice, and the beer and food was great!

We ordered a sampler of some of the beer they brew...

The little mugs were so cute!...

We tried something we'd never had...deep fried pickles.  But, not just any deep fried pickles.  These were "Wicked Pickles" that had been infused with jalapeno.  YUM!!!  The rest of our food was great too!

The main thing we'd planned to do on this visit to Sedona was to go for a mountain bike ride.  So, the next day, we headed out for a late afternoon/sunset ride near Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte.  Trail parking areas now have kiosks to purchase a parking permit for $5.  We had no trouble at all finding spaces to park.  And, as always, the scenery there was spectacular!

That's Courthouse Butte that I'm pointing at.  We were riding to the base of it.

Fun!

But, watch out for some of the obstacles sticking out from the edge of the trail!...

We capped off the final night of our trip with an amazing meal at the Taos Cantina (funny name for a place in Sedona!).  Hubby had a "Dirty Sedona Margarita" with pineapple, orange juice and cinnamon in it.  It had a very unique flavor.  He loved it!  I had a Blackberry Lime Margarita.  Cheers!

I'm not sure if we were just hungry after our bike ride and because it was late or if the food really was really amazing but that meal was SOOO good!  Hubby had tamales and I had shrimp street tacos.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it all.  Incredibly delicious!

A perfect end to a perfect trip!

P.S.  If you haven't had a chance to see photos and posts from the rest of our trip, I've provided links at the top.  Just click on one of the places and it will take you to that post.  Once there, if you just want to see the photos, click on any photo and it will bring up just the photos and they'll be larger.  We had an amazing time and saw so many spectacular things!

Thanks for stopping by!  :-D

Celebration Road Trip - Adventure in Escalante, Utah / Slot Canyons

So much of our anniversary, celebration trip was filled with surprises and the next stop was no exception.  After Capitol Reef, we headed south to Escalante, Utah via Utah's Highway 12/Scenic Byway.  The scenery and roads were filled with surprises...from gorgeous, tall, wooded mountain summits to winding roads that ran along ridges with drop offs on either side...

(Click on any photo to see them larger)

...to steep grades...sometimes 14% (this isn't one of those sections but it does show the rolling road)...

...vast and incredible landscapes...

Amazing!

I could see this from the passenger seat...dropping far below the road...

I snapped a photo of a vulture soaring above us when we stopped to take in the view...

After a couple hours of driving, we pulled into the Shooting Star RV Resort in the tiny town of Escalante.  We'd made reservations because there aren't many options in the area and we wanted to be sure we had a place to stay.  It turned out that there were very few people staying in this park.  They gave us a choice of sites and we chose one that was all by itself and nestled in oak trees.  Nice!

The park is interesting.  Their main attraction is Airstream trailers that can be rented like hotel rooms.

They're far apart and each one has a deck, a barbeque and chairs for taking in the gorgeous views.

Another feature is their mini drive-in movie theatre complete with vintage cars that can be rented to watch the show.  A fun idea!  We never watched any of the movies though because they weren't showing any we wanted to see.

The park has brand new owners.  When they bought it, it came complete with the vintage cars.  There's even one that runs and they use it for errands.  I think it's super cute!  The owners have a lot of great ideas and vision for the park and they have a lot of work ahead of them.  Sounds like fun!

Some of the yellow daisies I'd been seeing along roadsides were in the park.

Yay...I finally got a picture!

These plants were growing in the park too.  Pretty!

Our main reason for going to Escalante was to hike and explore some of the many slot canyons in the area.  So, early one morning, we loaded up our packs, hopped in the SUV and headed out "Hole in the Rock Road".  It was a 28 mile long trip (one way) on a rough dirt road to the trailhead of the canyons we'd picked out but the scenery was gorgeous!

Hubby got such a kick out of this sign that he had to stop and take a picture.  We can't figure out why they would call it "Cat Pasture" but it conjured up some silly ideas.

We eventually turned off onto another dirt road and drove a couple more miles.

Then, it was time to hike down into the main canyon and wash...

Luckily, there was a little bit of shade along the way as it was already hot.

There was a wash/riverbed at the bottom that several the slot canyons feed into.

There had been some substantial storms a few days earlier that had washed clay into the canyon.  The gray clay seemed like something new and different to that canyon as the sand below it was red.  It must have been quite a storm and washed that clay from somewhere quite far away that normally doesn't reach this area.  Wow!

Much of the hike through the wash to the slots was covered in dried clay that was curled and crunchy.  It was fun to walk on and hear it crunch beneath my feet.

Some of it looked like a mini moonscape...

Curly...

Really curly and thin...

We followed the directions we'd gotten from the Escalante Visitor Center and easily found the first slot canyon we'd planned to explore, "Spooky"...

Wow!  The wavy walls are so cool!  Beautiful!

The canyon quickly narrowed as we made our way into it...

Sometimes we had to duck under large boulders to get through...

It eventually got so narrow that we had to walk sideways to squeeze through...

It was very skinny, got pretty dark in some places, and the walls were bumpy.

It lived up to it's name...it was a bit "spooky".  And, I did get a bit nervous when it got really skinny and darker.  But, it was so much fun that we followed it all the way to the end...or as far as we could easily go.  Then, there was a section that required a tricky climb.  We passed on that.  Not sure what's beyond that or how much further it went.  Here are a few more shots going through Spooky...

After coming out of Spooky, we sat in a shady spot and enjoyed our lunch.  Then, we were off to explore another canyon.  This one is called "Dry Fork" and it's usually dry but after that storm a few days earlier it was definitely not dry.  The clay had washed through and left a thick, mucky, slippery layer.  Luckily, other hikers had already gone through and left a nice trail that made it much easier to explore.  What a spectacular canyon!

Like Spooky, it was shady and cool...a welcome relief from the heat.

It was a long canyon and we came across lots of interesting changes.  Including some pits of clay that were like thick pudding and impossible to avoid.  It added to the adventure and fun though.

It was interesting to see how high the water had risen in the canyon during the storm.  The clay/water line was sometimes waist high...

 ...and sometimes shoulder high...

Some sections were so narrow at the bottom that only one foot would fit...

The clay was amazing.  It was so pure and creamy...almost like the clay you buy for ceramics.

It sure made for dirty shoes and pants!

We saw quite a few lizards in the canyon.  We think so many were out because the rain seemed to have brought out more insects for them to eat.

I felt bad for this little guy.  It had clods of clay dried on it's feet and couldn't climb.  I wanted to help it but it was so afraid of us and I'm not brave enough to pick them up...yet.  Hubby thought it would be fine and that the clay would probably chip off.  I hope so!

We searched through books of lizards for the area and even asked rangers but had no luck finding out what kind of lizards they are.  No one had heard of pink lizards.  We can't even find them on Google!  We were wondering if they change color and were pink/red to blend in with the sandstone.

We only saw one of these guys.  I think it's a Collared Lizard.  Cute!

This one had rangers stumped and we couldn't find it in local books either.  It was eating a Whiptail lizard.  It was scurrying away from us carrying a lizard almost as big as it was.  We've never seen a lizard eat another lizard but I guess it's not uncommon for some types.  We later found one in a book that looked similar and think it's a "Long Nose Leopard Lizard".  

Here's an enlarged photo to see the interesting pattern of spots and stripes.

Kinda creepy!

The third canyon we explored that day is called, "Peek-a-boo".

It's in that slit in the rock...

It was the first canyon we'd come across that day but it seemed a little busy at the time.  So, we decided to go on to Spooky and come back to this later.  

We tried getting up into it after lunch but it proved to be quite challenging.  I only made it to the first level up and wasn't comfortable going any further.  Hubby made it to the next level but said it looked too tricky to get beyond a section of water to get into the canyon.  But, he got this picture while he was up there.  Amazing!

It's best to be safe and not push the boundaries of our comfort zones on stuff that could be dangerous.  Especially because we were so far out in the middle of nowhere and had absolutely no phone signal if something were to happen.  So, we moved on to Dry Canyon.  After coming out of that, someone told us they'd figured out a way to get into Peek-a-boo from the top and gave us directions.  It was a short little hike and voila...there it was...the opening...

Yes...it is very skinny!

This canyon was worth the wait.  It's short but spectacular!

It was so much fun maneuvering through various sections.

Going down...

Around...

And, through...

The view at the end was spectacular!  I gasped when I slid into that final section and saw this...

I sat for a moment and took in the beauty.  Including a reflection in one of the water pools...

Of course, I took photos of some of the flowers we saw throughout the day...

I've never seen these before.  Interesting!...

Whispy!...

We saw a lot of these tiny, purple daisies on our trip.  In some light situations they're almost neon...

Little...

Like fireworks...

We even came upon a Geocache that day...

It was hot and I was pretty tired from a day of exploring but we still had to hike up and out and back to the truck.  But....WOW!...what an awesome day!  We had SO much fun!

It's amazing to think that what we explored that day was only a tiny sample of all there is to see and explore in the Escalante area.  I think we'll definitely be going back to Escalante again!