It'sThe Weekend--- Labour Weekend

In the USA , this weekend including Monday is a big deal as for them it is the final holiday before Xmas and so in most places there are a multitude of sports, carnivals, and fairs going on and these are very well represented and attended.

So Lynda and I are very pleased to have pre-booked into a hotel in Sedona--a beautiful town in Arizona. Well we had to didn't we , after the time that we both had the experience of driving around 300 miles , stopping at dozens of hotels, and not finding one room for the night--- at least Mary and Joseph got a bunch of straw to lay on--I think I got the handbrake and Lynda the centre console, the most uncomfortable nights sleep ever.

 

Hopefully we will find this kind of -- sunrise I think.

So we are at least ready this time and hopefully , after a really hectic week in the parks of South Utah, good weather, a warm pool and decent loungers are hoped to be part of the weekend for us.

Thought about going out last night but ended up with a 6 piece KFC and an overdose of Law and Order , SVU. We do like this new team.

Really disappointed for Chelsea yesterday as they definitely cold have nicked it but good to see David Luis playing and playing well--hold the heads up lads, at least you were there-and as I said , you had to be in it , to stand a chance to win it.

 Not quite the team from last night but still the Mighty Blues. Also the definite hero for me in Frank Lampard , an absolute legend, all time goal scorer for CFC and a genuine nice bloke, who at 35 years still gives so much class to the Chelsea team.

I am including below some snaps taken by Lynda from Antelope just because it is so magical and well , just because I can --

 

As I said yesterday, we are disappointed that our Zion photos were not up to scratch --including the fact that both Lyndas and my camera's batteries ran out -- you would thing by now that with the amount we are taking that we might remember that you aint gonna have no record for the future if the camera is dead. So a couple of professional shots of places which in all seriousness would have been a little tough for us to get to--

 

 

So here we go again -- suite cases getting packed , SUV getting loaded and off to the next destination which looks like this---

 

No plans for while we are there just gonna play by ear but for sure there is plenty to see there and the surrounding areas.

 

Have a great weekend to all

Our Final Parks trip-- Prepare to be amazed.

Well after the disappointment of the photos from Zion Park, where they failed to show any kind of scale or magnificence of the place I was a little nervous of what yesterday would bring when we visited Antelope Canyon in Page , just into Arizona.

Bearing in mind that this had been a definite Philip want to visit and one that Lynda didn't know too much about, and when viewed as being the most expensive of all costs at $35 per person I was a little apprehensive ---- I shouldn't have been-----

Ok so I am teasing --- this is the Dam at Lake Powell --it is not the Hoover Dam but still pretty impressive and there are all sorts of major Marinas with an awful lot of boats on the lake.

So then we get to Page --cant book into the hotel , so we have a wander around , little bit of shopping , visitors centre and then go to the staging point for the Antelope Canyon Tours office, and when I paid the money and asked if we could wait for the half hour or so , we find out that we have gone back in time zones and it was over an hour and a half still to go.

But was it worth waiting for -- well you decide-----

  Aliens following us from Roswell

Only Lynda could wear sun glasses in a cave--she is cool or what

 

So what do you think---cool or what.

 

This place is wholly and solely run by the Navajo people and you don't get in without an Indian Guide and ours Debora was great and even better with the sorting out peoples IPads or camera's.

 

So what do we think about all the parks and things we have seen -- well firstly, clearly they are all different.

However , this one was so close and interactive ---you were allowed to touch the walls which we were not in the Colossal Caves and the fact that last Tuesday there was water through these canyons that went up about 12 feet is amazing-- and it tells that no-one could live in there.

 

Good to see the Navajo getting good income as well--- I reckon there would be around $500+ per vehicle, per trip --and ours there were 7 vehicles and they do this 5 times a day and this is only one tour company---lots of money but subject to climate change impacting.

 

So there you go--we head off today to Flagstaff before we arrive at Sedona for labour day weekend, and back to the Irish bar for lunchtime and the Super Cup match between Bayan Munich and Chelsea---come on you Blues

 

There are many photos of this trip on our Full Profile

Zion Park photos

 Ok so I seem to be getting somewhere with sorting things out with the photos download.

Not too much in the way of narrative except to say that while the photos on the Zion Park trip look nothing like as spectacular as others such as Bryce , I suspect it is due in the main to where we are in relationship to the canyon---we were at the bottom.

I want to state for the record that Zion is an incredibly awe inspiring place but in a way much more peaceful place but with the most staggering mountain formation around and alongside it.

It seams that the views of those early folk who found and labelled this park a place of solitude and sanctuary where definitely on the money.

 



These two pictures are of the mile long tunnel including a great shot from Lynda of the air-vent out the side of the mountain.

The tunnel was constructed in around 1927 and did provide an east to west "short cut"---still difficult terrain.

It is fair to say that there are all sorts of adventures for all types of expertise and fitness levels. Lynda and I did the river walk which was easy and this led into the narrows where some amazing tough climbs were.

We also walked to the Emerald Pool and waterfalls which were very beautiful and despite lots of people were perfect for us. Now that is not to say that there were not times when we had to stop for a breath now and again--- remember we were at around 6000 ft elevation and this day I forgot my inhaler but we were ok and very much enjoyed the beauty of Zion

Say quite a few Deer in the park

 The river was flowing muddy and hard

Not quite so much water from the falls but very natural and peaceful.

It is a shame that our pictures don't do this justice and I will look for more to show at some point as it is certainly a great one for any similar trip.

Next up is the visit to the split canyons of Page-- Be prepared to be amazed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Closing with a Nap hand

For those who have never played it , a "Nap hand" was a hand of five cards that would win the game--don't ask me to explain it-- my dad and his mates used to play this on a Saturday and sunday lunchtime for money in the local pub.

What is the relevance I hear you ask then, well, when we have done Page today, that will be our nap of parks and the like---

• Grand Canyon
• Monument Valley
• Bryce Canyon
• Zion Park
• And later today it will be the Antelope Split Canyons of Page, AZ in particular -- but more on that tomorrow--

As for yesterday we went to Zion National Park just near Mt., Carmel Junction in South west Utah and this was on the way in ---

 

The big difference for us was yesterday was about looking upwards from the canyon floor where-as the others were looking down from the top rims of the Canyons. I reckon if you got the sequence right it would be like doing stretch and flex exercises--one day stretch upwards the next day stretching downwards---might catch on.

 

As with the previous days we were in for a real treat on the sights that we were to see---I will put a bundle of pictures up on the Full Profile for everyone to see in their own time but the following are definitely some of the highlights-----

 

So the Wifi crashed at the Best western this morning and now I have issues with this one in not letting me upload photos to go with the Blogg, so I may post this and try again when I get better reception but I am really worried about the number of photos I have yet to post.

 

And even more worried about my memory managing to keep up also-----and when you've got old timers disease like me then you would be worried also. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wonderous Places -- so much to see so little time

After our collapsing asleep the previous night in Hurricane, Lynda and I were not sure how good or bad the day would be with our visit to Bryce Canyon, as we were very disappointed at the Grand Canyon with the bad light , the rain and low cloud--well you come all this way and then after getting charged $25 and not getting a shot---the £25 is for 7 days, but we are on a cram every damn thing in we possibly can type trip so don't have that kind of flexibility.

Well we went to Bryce Knowing that there would be another charge of £25  --- no-one told us that we could get an $80 ticket that gets access to all the Parks and lasts a year--could have past it on---anyway when you get on the SR12 you immediately get a taste of what is to come with passing through "Red Canyon"---

 

Definitely defying gravity

Almost like an entrance to what comes next a few miles up the road.

We make no apologise for the waxing kind of lyrically about what is a most stunning place and I for one feel privileged to have been able to have got to see it in the flesh.--

 

This is the best shot we could get of the raging river after the rain--man that was hammering down very brown and murky and plenty of mud on the roads.

 

Not much commentary from me--let the pictures say it all--well almost--

 

Someone tell me how this rock stays sitting up there, it really defies laws of engineering.

Unfortunately there was no way that I was going to both get down there and get back

Here is a little critter--it is a chip monk--they are very small

 

Lynda all pictured out

 

So at the end of this we went to our next Hotel which while a Best Western, it is with a difference--

 

 

This is a hotel, restaurant , gas station and 9 hole golf course and is owned by a really amazing family called the Morrisons-- 3 generations still working there.

Nice meal last night and served by a really interesting guy called Kyle--good looking bloke that Lynda fancied.

So all breakfasted up and today we are going to Zion park--hoping for more wonders to see--happy days.