Places We've Been

Scenic Sunday

Autumn colors on Hwy 67 at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. The colors came on fast and disappeared just as fast, but for the short time they were here, they were fabulous! Yellow aspens among the firs and ponderosa pines.

For more Scenic Sunday photos, click here.

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What A Great Day!

Karen · 8 Comments

As if this:

Or this:

Or even this:

Were not enough reason to call it a good day, someone came by my work station today and brought this:

She said she had had a visitor who left them behind, and she would not ever eat them, so she gave them to me.

And then, another co-worker came by a few minutes later, and brought this:

A half dozen home made chocolate chip gluten free cookies. Okay, I ate three of them, and they were yummy! He said a friend of his is starting a gluten free company in Tucson, and when she came to visit she brought these for me. Well, by then, I was feeling really extra special and very loved. And then, another person came by and brought this:

She had been down to Flagstaff, and was shopping at Frontier Foods, and when she saw their gluten free aisle, she thought of me. And that Cranberry Pomegranate juice? Because she knew I had that kidney stone last week, and just wanted me to have it.

People, I am so high on this spontaneous show of love from these people! I can’t tell you how good this made me feel today. I can hardly wait for tomorrow…

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Becky and the Parents, Day Four: The Grand Canyon

Karen · 2 Comments

After our whirlwind trip around southern Utah and northern Arizona, we were back home at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We took Becky on a tour of Cape Royal and Point Imperial. We stopped on the way up to Cape Royal and took a short hike over to Greenland Lake. The lake was dried up this late in the season, but the hike was still gorgeous!

Becky on the trail to Greenland Lake

That’s the lake, all dried up this late.

The next stop was Cape Royal, at Wedding Point. There are Becky and FabGrandpa near the edge. The day was very windy but sunny and nice.

The view from Wedding Point.

Looking over the edge–it’s a long way down there!

Gorgeous, as usual!

Walhalla Overlook–that light brown crescent near the center of this photo is the Colorado River.

This is Mount Hayden, at Point Imperial.

Another view from Point Imperial

That night we had reservations for dinner at the restaurant at the lodge. The view from there at sunset is awesome!

This view is from the veranda at the rear of the lodge, at sunset. Oooooooo, Ahhhhhhh, awesome!

That was our last night with Becky. She left the next day around noon, headed for Las Vegas to spend the night before returning to Atlanta. We all shed tears as we said our good byes. We really enjoyed our visit, and all the sights we saw.

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Becky and The Parents Day Three: Bryce Canyon National Park

Karen · 6 Comments

We spent the night in Kanab, then got up early the next day and drove up to Bryce Canyon National Park. Again, the drive was just as beautiful as on the previous days. The photo above is one view along the way of a river in southern Utah, in Long Valley.

To get to Bryce Canyon from Kanab, you take Hwy 89 north until you get to Hwy 12, then turn right. You go through an area of red rock formations in the Dixie National Forest that is spectacular all by itself. If you didn’t get to Bryce, you would still be in awe just from the drive on Hwy 12.

Once you get into Bryce Canyon National Park, there are several different areas and viewpoints. We went to the Bryce Ampitheater, which included Sunrise Point, and to Fairyland Point. FabGrandpa and I went to Bryce last year, but we were there in mid-afternoon and the sun was too bright–all my photos looked washed out and did not truly show the gorgeous colors. This time, we got there early in the morning. The light was better and I got some fantastic pictures.

The pictures below were taken at Sunrise Point:

Becky and FabGrandpa at Sunrise Point

And the pictures below were taken at Fairyland Point:

So, so far, we have been to Antelope Canyon, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park. Three canyons, all different, and all very beautiful and awesome in their own ways. Then we went home to the North Rim and took Becky on a tour of the Grand Canyon.

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Becky and the Parents, Day Two continued: Zion National Park

Karen · 9 Comments

On Saturday, after our tour of Antelope Canyon, we drove from Page, Arizona, to Kanab, Utah where we ate lunch at Houston’s Trail’s End Restaurant. After lunch, we went to Zion National Park. I’m telling you, if you are easily overwhelmed by spectacular views, don’t come to this area! We found ourselves wondering how “they” decided one place should be a national park and another place was just ordinary. I don’t know how “they” decide this, but I wouldn’t want that job. If I were the one having to make that decision, I think half of northern Arizona and southern Utah would be one huge, continuous national park.

The photo above is of the scenery just opposite the entrance station to Zion National Park. I could look at that every day, yes I could.

FabGrandpa and Becky at Checkerboard Mesa in Zion National Park.

Out the window of the car as we drove through Zion.

It was such a fabulous day here, the sky really was that blue.

As usual, these photos don’t show how really grand this landscape is.

Gorgeous!

We drove all the way through Zion, starting on the east side, then out the west gate into the town of Springdale. At the far end of Sprindale is Springdale Fruit Company. They have the best smoothies, made with apple juice from their apple orchard. MMMMMM. We also got some of that delicious Old Navuoo jam they sell there. Then back in the car, to drive back through Zion, west to east.

This is in Springdale, headed back into Zion National Park.

This place is so amazing!

We stopped to watch and photograph a herd of Mountain Rams. These two just posed and posed for us. I got a video of them, too.

This is the Utah countryside on the way back to Kanab, where we spent the night that night. We went to dinner at Nedra’s, Too, a great Mexican restaurant in Kanab. We stayed at the Best Western in Kanab, on the top floor I might add. We got some good sleep that night, but the wi-fi didn’t work. Oh, well, I guess you can’t have everything.

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A Preview of Becky and The Parents, Day Three: Bryce Canyon

Karen · 4 Comments

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Scenic Sunday

Karen · 7 Comments

The Colorado River at Navajo Bridge on Highway 89A near Lee’s Ferry in Arizona. It was so gorgeous on Saturday when we were there.

For more Scenic Sunday photos, click here.

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Becky and The Parents Day 2, Antelope Canyon Tour

Karen · 5 Comments

We spent the night in Page, at Amerca’s Best Value Inn, which turned out not to be what it’s name claimed. For only $116 per night, we were allowed to listen to the crackheads upstairs from us stomp around their room until well after 3 a.m. I really don’t know what they were doing up there, maybe they had a bad case of Montuzema’s Revenge and had to run to the bathroom repeatedly during the night, who knows? But, I can tell you this: They kept me awake most of the night, and the maids said their room was trashed the next morning. At any rate, I would not recommend staying at that motel even if it is the only one in Page with vacancies. I’m just sayin!

After leaving the motel and eating breakfast, we went on a guided tour of Antelope Canyon. Wow! OMG! I have been wanting to go there forever! I am so glad we got to go on that tour. It is so fabulous. I took over 150 pictures, but I will only be showing a few of those here. I checked them out online, and all the different tour companies websites quoted prices of $32 per person for the one and a half hour tours. But, we walked in and paid for our tour in person, and for three of us it was only $88. It was the best $88 we spent all weekend.

We rode out to the slot canyon site in this big four wheel drive vehicle. It was a very bumpy ride in places, but it was fun.

There are Becky and FabGrandpa on the truck, waiting to take off to the Navajo Reservation.

We bumped down this road, which is actually a wash when the rains come. Notice the power lines–there is a nuclear power plant nearby.

We finally got there, and got out of the truck. The ground is very fine sand, which made walking difficult, but we managed to do it. Becky was wearing flip-flops, and I had on sneakers. My shoes were full of sand at the end of the tour.

This is the entrance to the slot canyon.

It is so hard to describe this canyon to someone who has never been there. It is very deep and narrow. The sun shines through the top of the canyon and makes the inside glow orange and red. At different times of the day beams of light come in and iluminate the walls of the canyons. It is absolutely amazing!

Of the many pictures I took, a lot of them are not very good. These are some of the best ones. You can get a “Photographer’s Tour” for a little more money. You get to stay longer, and the guides give you more time to take pictures at each stop along the way of the tour.

The tour guide took the photo above for me. He was very helpful in letting people know what settings to use on their cameras, and in some places he took photos with each person’s camera for us, to make sure we got some good shots.

There we are, back on the truck after an hour and a half of tour time in the canyon. It was an awesome tour, one of the best tours I have ever been on. The only thing about this tour I was not happy with, was that there are five tour companies that take people on tours of this canyon each day. There were probably close to 300 people in the canyon at one time. Considering that it is a very narrow canyon, it was very crowded. However, that was a very small price to pay for such great tour, and to get to see the place with my own eyes. I want to go tour the same canyon again, at a different time of day.

If you ever get a chance to go to Arizona, Page has to be on your list of places to go, and this tour has to be top of the list!

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