Keep your eyes on the road, hands upon the wheel–A South West RT-The End!Bonus Tracks

[disney ny]

Ok I am now all caught up on this report and your Disney house thread again! Every time I read one of your reports I get bit by the travel bug. A road trip sounds like so much fun. Probably if I loaded my 5 year old and 2 year old in the car I wouldn't get quite the same experience. You and I think alike on the stocked pantry too. Nothing makes me quite as happy as food. Snow in late May does not sound like fun- I have had enough snow this year to last me for a awhile!

 

[franandaj]

I am all caught up.

I wish you a very belated Happy Birthday. I was a little pre-occupied with my own travels.

What a shame about the car drama. I hope everything is sorted now.
The burgers look yummy. I don't think In and Out Burgers have made it to the UK yet, but while we were in the USA, Five Guys opened in our hometown so I have to sample this before too long.

The sunset was beautiful. I had to smile when I read that Fran spend $200 to get $242 back. At least she came out ahead of the game.
The breakfast buffet looks great. What a shame that you did not get it for free. It is great that you can use the free buffet at another time though. I would have been in heaven with Chicken Fried Steak, Hush Puppies and Biscuits with Gravy.

I love the photos that you took on the way to Flagstaff. The scenery in amazing. Good job that you got to see some cars after all. I would have loved to try that hot dog.

I am with Fran on that some things you have to do a few times over. We have had trips of a lifetime at the rate of twice a year since 2010 and will carry on doing so as long as health and money allows.

Lunch at Tuba City looked nice and I love all the turquoise jewellery. Your room at the View Hotel is huge and I love the view. That sunset is stunning even if it was in the wrong spot.

I love your sunrise pictures from the tour and those colours are just stunning. Lunch looked amazing again and I love that jewellery set. What a shame that you did not get to do the starlight tour Or the sunset tour, but at least you have an incentive to go back.

I love your sunrise photos from the last morning at Monument valley. That jewellery is quite a find.

Corinna

I'm sure In and Out hasn't made it abroad, they haven't even made it to the East Coast. We'll go back before the end of the year and get our free breakfast! Definitely things need to be "do agains" because they don't always go right on the bucket list! That's especially why we need to plan another trip for 2016. However, that spring is becoming very busy as there is now another event she wants to add as a recurring trip!

I can't believe that it snowed in May. We had a similar experience on our road trip in 2006, but that was in the first half of April. All our research indicated that it would be hot everywhere we were going and we arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and there was snow. All be had was t shirts and a couple of sweatshirts.

The main lodge building so reminds me of the Grand Californian.

Corinna

It makes me feel better that you had unseasonable snow, but I was truly flabbergasted by the fact that it snowed in May!

The snow on the rocks looks cool and you're probably right it was payback for mentioning being sleeveless in the winter.

But actually with the next update it almost become pixie dust!

LOL. The way you went to get salt.
That is a nice view from the room.
Too bad you couldn’t do the tour.
Dobby.
Nice sunrise pics.
Nice jewelry you all got.
Pretty pics along the way.
Uh-oh! Snow? In May that is not allowed.
Scary accident.
Love seeing the snow on the trees.
Love the arch over the road.
That is wimpy snow. LOL.
NO TV? I would move. LOL
All caught up again.

Too many things to comment on, but I laugh at your comment about wimpy snow. ANY snow to us is a big deal, it means that it is COLD enough to even make snow!!!!!!!

Snow in May???


Wait....you're in Utah! Right, Jenny??



WOW! You really drove through rain, snow and a bad/sad crash. That accident looks terrible.

That red rock country really is stunning, isn't it?

Looking forward to Bryce.

Yes, I can't believe there was snow, a crash and all that!!!!!!

Snow!


The Frito pie looks delicious! Nice room too even without the tv.


Rocks with snow *yawn*. Is that how you feel when I post beach pics? LOL!

Thanks on the Frito Pie. Ha ha ha!!!!! No I don't get tired of your beach pics. I laugh that you find rocks with snow something to be over with. The beach is always beautiful. Bellflower Blvd. not so much.

I'm about the snow. Remember when I started posting my trip report a couple of weeks ago because of a 2 day snow storm here in Denver. I was up in the mountains yesterday and Trail Ridge Road was closed again due to 6 inches of snow....It hailed and snowed on me quite a bit yesterday.

That frito pie looks delicious!

Jill in CO

I don't know how you people deal with this snow stuff. It would drive me batty! I'm glad everyone likes the Frito Pie! I thought it was kinds of an *ahem* trailer trash dish when Fran mentioned it, but we have been having it for dinner about once a month and it's REALLY good! My mom raised me as a snob and I'm still trying to shake that off!

That accident looked terrible!

How far did you drive that day? The temperature difference is extreme to say the least.

Your frito pie is remnisant of what us Adventists call a 'haystack'. Chips on the bottom, beans and onions (if you're so inclined), cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and sourcream on top. Of course you can leave off the olives. YUMMY!

Your room looks nice and comfortable.

I think our drive was about 258 miles according to Google Maps, but a lot was through slow territory, it was one of our longest driving days. So we should have gotten an earlier start and not stopped so much, but you know Fran and shiny objects!

The room was very comfortable, hence why we slept good and didn't miss the TV.

Wow! That accident looked pretty scary. I'm glad you were able to arrive at Bryce safely.

I don't know if snow in May is karma or not, but it did look nice on all of those red rock formations. Your pictures are getting me excited about this summer!

I've got some more that you should really enjoy, just imagine them without snow and maybe more flowers. I hope to have an update soon, but I've been a little busy.

Once again, stunning pictures! Sorry you had to drive thru the snow and deal with super cold temps but.....a sprinkling of white snow on red rocks is soooo beautiful (at least to those of us that don't live in Utah ). The one and only time I have had the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon was during the month of January. Just stunning with snow!

That Frito Pie is absolutely one of the yummiest looking food pics I have ever seen!!. Btw, I am enjoying reading and seeing the pictures of the meals you prepare while travelling. You have a lot of great ideas and a nice variety too!

I do have to agree, once I got over the fact that it was so cold from the snow, I was enjoying it's effect in my pictures. I'm amazed at how popular the Frito Pie is with everyone. It's kind of just nachos with Fritos, but everyone seems to like that. It did work out as a tasty dinner after all that snow and stuff!

Thanks for the call out and remembering me and my trip!

Sorry about the accident and prayers for all involved.

The snow, the weather has been crazy around the US this year.

Glad you made it safely, and arrived to a nice warm room. Who needs TV?

We usually do need TV, it's our nighttime babysitter. I'm glad we haven't had too much crazy weather other than no rain and lots of heat. I hope the RV stops help you plan your trip.

Ok I am now all caught up on this report and your Disney house thread again! Every time I read one of your reports I get bit by the travel bug. A road trip sounds like so much fun. Probably if I loaded my 5 year old and 2 year old in the car I wouldn't get quite the same experience. You and I think alike on the stocked pantry too. Nothing makes me quite as happy as food. Snow in late May does not sound like fun- I have had enough snow this year to last me for a awhile!

Check out Captain Oblivious's TR that he will be doing, he's doing a road trip with three kids and an infant, if they can do it, you can! It was a lot of fun, the only thing was that Fran can't help load in the luggage, so I am the one loading in and out. That makes it tough, if you can utilize child labor, that makes it easier on the parents!

 

[dgbg100106]

We usually do need TV, it's our nighttime babysitter. I'm glad we haven't had too much crazy weather other than no rain and lots of heat. I hope the RV stops help you plan your trip.

The RV stops will help... Thanks again for thinking of me!

 

[franandaj]

The RV stops will help... Thanks again for thinking of me!

I hope you have good luck planning your road trip!

 

[dgbg100106]

I hope you have good luck planning your road trip!

For me it is finding the time to do it now!...

Life is just so full of life right now.

 

[franandaj]

The next morning I awoke to find snow on the ground!



This was the first time all trip that we had an actual coffee maker in our room, so I took advantage of it! And made some of this.



It was early and I could have seen the sunrise, but there was no way in heck that I was going out in the temperature that was outside. One peek out my balcony door could tell me that it was still butt-cold out there! So I had one of these.



I worked on writing up parts of my TR while Fran slept. I think I even had internet through our little hot spot for almost an hour, because I think I read about Jenny getting her VGC rooms for next Christmas that morning. As it got closer to warming up time, I started to wake her because I wanted to get this show on the road. I think I had a yogurt while she ate a muffin, but I don’t remember.

By 8AM we were on our way. Bryce Canyon National Park consists of one “not a through road” that leads to a spectacular overlook. Visitors are encouraged to go all the way to the farthest overlook and then head back toward the visitor’s center. This was the temperature when we set out at 8AM.



When we turned out onto the main road, it was sunny and cool.



But evidence of last night was everwhere.



There was evidence of a somewhat recent fire.



As we climbed in elevation, the snow became more plentiful.



And the temperature continued to drop.



All you folks from the East Coast are thinking, “Ha! What we would have done to temps around 32 degrees this past winter!” But I don’t think we even saw the temperatures dip into the 30s at all in the LA Basin this year, for us this was FREAKIN’ COLD!

But it was definitely beautiful. (If you didn’t have to get out of the car.)



We reached our first destination, the furthest point.









There were some folks just in front of us that were making little snowmen at every overlook. We caught up with them eventually because I saw them making the snowman at one of the overlooks.



Another look with the zoom lens





[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Our next stop















And then we were on our way to the next overlook.







Looking the other direction.









A Raven came to greet us







Another beautiful scene along the way to the next overlook.

 

[jedijill]

Bryce looks stunning! I have to put it on my travel bucket list. That little snowman looked like Olaf.

Jill in CO

 

[dgbg100106]

Bryce canyon is beautiful and lovely shots you got. All the striations in the rock! Can't wait to see them!

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love the photos. The contrast between the red rock and the snow is simply stunning.

Corinna

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

It was early and I could have seen the sunrise, but there was no way in heck that I was going out in the temperature that was outside. One peek out my balcony door could tell me that it was still butt-cold out there! So I had one of these.

Not just cold, butt-cold!

By 8AM we were on our way. Bryce Canyon National Park consists of one “not a through road” that leads to a spectacular overlook. Visitors are encouraged to go all the way to the farthest overlook and then head back toward the visitor’s center.

That seems to be the way to do it.

All you folks from the East Coast are thinking, “Ha! What we would have done to temps around 32 degrees this past winter!” But I don’t think we even saw the temperatures dip into the 30s at all in the LA Basin this year, for us this was FREAKIN’ COLD!

Now where did I put that violin? I know I had one around here somewhere. Oh, here it is.

Another beautiful scene along the way to the next overlook.

Absolutely gorgeous photos! It may have been cold, but the snow adds something, I think.

 

[rentayenta]

Gorgeous photos! And you've got mittens.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Do you wanna build a snowman?



Butt-cold?????



(My butt is NEVER that cold!!! )




Lovely pictures. You're really getting back in touch with your skills, aren't you. Good for you.

 

[franandaj]

Bryce looks stunning! I have to put it on my travel bucket list. That little snowman looked like Olaf.

Jill in CO

Just wait! There is a reason they tell you to go all the way out to the end and come back....

Of course, he was a little "off".

Bryce canyon is beautiful and lovely shots you got. All the striations in the rock! Can't wait to see them!

They just get better and better.

I love the photos. The contrast between the red rock and the snow is simply stunning.

Corinna

I realized that after I was all PO'd about getting snowed on that my pictures would be really cool with all the snow in there!

Not just cold, butt-cold!

OK, so you folks never had that expression?

That seems to be the way to do it.

Now where did I put that violin? I know I had one around here somewhere. Oh, here it is.

Yeah, and when you are telling me that it is 114 Degrees F in Joshua Tree this Summer, I will tell you that, "It's a dry heat".

Absolutely gorgeous photos! It may have been cold, but the snow adds something, I think.

I can definitely agree with that!

Gorgeous photos! And you've got mittens.

Actually those are Fran's Leather gloves. I brought $.99 Mittens from K-Mart. I ended up wearing her gloves.

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Not me but someone else did!

Butt-cold?????

(My butt is NEVER that cold!!! )?

So is this only a California Reference? It was never meant that one's personal butt got this cold, I just remember as teenagers we said it was "butt cold" and that was a defining temperature.

Lovely pictures. You're really getting back in touch with your skills, aren't you. Good for you.

Right now, I'm just getting back with lighting issues. I like to think that even with my P&S I still had "good framing", but with the DSLR you have options of focus and out of focus in pictures.

Since I've been at WDW, I've been working on Dark Ride Photography and actually Light Ride Photography. I figure I'm back in student mode, which is better than Auto Mode (although I used that on the Safari).

 

[franandaj]

I don’t know why, but the next outlook reminded me of Fiona from Shrek’s home town.



With the regular camera, you can capture the close up structures.





But these shots with the telephoto lens really illustrate why this point is aptly named. I believe that these are the Grand Staircase Escalante. Don’t be fooled by the telephoto lens bringing them closer, they are really far away. I could barely see them with the regular camera.





I don’t think this was an actual “point”, but it had a turn out and it was pretty. This is a shot of the whole valley.



And then zooming in on the features.









There was a Pronghorn on the side of the road. Fran has this saying, “if you see people stopped, maybe you might want to find out what they are looking at.” Sorry about all the pictures. We don’t get many Pronghorn in Long Beach.









There were several more outlooks, but if you look at this map, you can see that we hit a lot of them. This isn’t the map that we were looking at, we had the one provided by the park service. What that map indicates that this one doesn’t is which overlooks require a (short or not so short) hike to get from the parking area to the view point.



Sunset, Sunrise and Inspiration Point all required longer hikes. Bryce Point didn’t look like a very long hike so I thought I would attempt that one. This is what happens when you are shooting on manual and forget to check the settings and the picture.



From the edge of the parking lot this is the view of the canyon.





Zooming in on the photo above.



This is a little farther off to the right from the same viewpoint. Notice the Grand Staircase in the background (the one from Farview Point). This is the view with the regular camera and not the Zoom Lens.



Just a short walk up the trail and you have even more of a view. Notice the trail off the right side of the picture. It may not look like much, but at 8000ft, it’s steeper than you think.



And walking a little further along that trail you can see deeper into the canyon. Now you folks may not realize this, but I have mild Vertigo combined with a slight fear of heights. There were no railings up here. I noticed there was a “rim trail” from Bryce Point to Inspiration point. Um….No thanks! It was all I could do to stand up here (safely far enough from the ridge) and take these pictures.



Here is a zoom photo from this view.



Back the other direction down the trail was another lookout. I’m on my way. I took this one in case I didn’t have the guts to go all the way.



[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

I did make it to the edge and took this photo.



And looking off to the left.



And then I used the zoom lens to take these pictures from the same view point. Notice the beautiful coloring of the rocks and evidently there are some awesome slot canyons down there. We are hoping to get in shape enough to do short hikes there someday.





























By the time that we finished Bryce Point, it was well after noon. Both of us were definitely hungry and the Chicken Salad Sandwiches that we meant to bring for snacks didn’t materialize this morning. I came down from the outlook winded and rather tired. We drove over to Inspiration point and the angle of the trail made me say, “forget it”.

I was too tired and too hungry to consider climbing anything at this point, so we headed on out for some food. Right outside the park is a “town” called Bryce Canyon City. Basically it is a couple hotels, and RV park and a bunch of restaurants, gas station and shops owned by “Ruby’s”. Since they own everything, they have a monopoly on the area. Anyone who takes a shuttle to town and relies on the summer shuttle busses to get around Bryce is at the mercy of Ruby’s. If you have a car, you have many more options. We took those options. Along the highway in to the National Park, we saw a place that advertised “Fried Chicken”. When we got there, I realized it was a grocery store, we wanted a restaurant. So when we found “Foster’s Family Steakhouse” in the same parking lot, we decided to go for it. Why not? We were starved and didn’t want to drive any farther to get food.

It turned out to be a good move. While it was a pretty average kind of menu, the food was way above average. My entrée came with a soup or salad and they had an onion soup on the salad bar which sounded pretty good to me. So I helped myself to a bowl. While it didn’t have cheese and bread on top, the broth was definitely homemade and very tasty. Not at all salty and really hit the spot.



I went for the Fried Chicken. It definitely tasted fresh and homemade, not Banquet, the French Fries were awesome.





We split the chicken and also split this Reuben Sandwich, that was also really good!



After this we went back to the Visitor’s Center. Next update!

 

[jedijill]

Anytime you see a bunch of cars pulled you will see wildlife....it's a rule in the West!

Those pics are amazing....your skills are coming back! Gorgeous scenery.

That chicken looks good!

Jill in CO

 

[PrincessInOz]

I also subscribe to the rule of where cars are slowing down or pulled over.....wildlife in sight!


Great pics of Bryce. Looks like you and Fran did get out to see a few of the vistas, vertigo or not. Good for you.


Food looks great!

 

[dgbg100106]

The pictures are beautiful, and I bad want to go see some of those "slot" canyons.

we always look around when cars are pulled over, from Texas as a kid it was a rule!

Lunch looks good too....

 

[EJ4Disney]

Alison, your pictures are just beautiful. I am so enjoying following along with your trip.