Busy day today, starting with getting up to watch the sunrise at Bryce Point in Bryce Canyon. That was an adventure in and of itself, especially for a late-night guy like me. But we got there, about 10 minutes before the sun came up. The place was crowded, to say the least:

But it turned out to be more than worth it. The sunrise was great, and the lighting on the canyon was amazing:

So we stuck around for a while, taking pictures there and at the other points that we had not yet seen (Sunrise Point and Sunset Point). Again, great lighting which helped my picture taking:

But we had to head out eventually, so by 8:30am we were on the road to Arizona and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I already know that the US seems to kick our butt as far as highways go, but US-89A (alternate) was a great drive, right alongside many amazing views of mountains and canyons. Made the 250+ miles pass by quite quickly, and we got to the Hotel in Tusayan, AZ at 1:00 local time (1 hour behind Bryce Canyon time).

Prior to reaching the hotel, however, we had to drive through the Grand Canyon National Park. This was because we entered through the Desert View entrance and the hotel was actually at the Southern entrance. So as we were driving through the park we “forced ourselves” to stop at a viewpoint and at least take a look at what we’d be seeing after we checked into the hotel. All I can say is wow:

The picture doesn’t do justice to the sheer mangnitude of the canyon. For those of you that haven’t been, it’s HUGE. The Grand Canyon National Park is approx. 1.2 million acres in size. Bryce Canyon, by comparison, is approximately 35000 acres in size. The span across the Bryce Canyon Ampitheatre is about 3 miles, while the span across the Grand Canyon is as much as 18 miles across. Big difference, and it shows.

We spent a little bit of time at the viewpoint, then headed to the hotel to rest a bit (we got up way too early after all ;)). We did, however, head back to the canyon for sunset. We chose Mather Point, which is apparently one of the best. It was great, and the lighting really set off the canyon floor:

We’re hoping to visit once more tomorrow, checking out some of the other popular viewpoints before we head out to Vegas.

If you’re wondering “hey, are you going to check out that new Skywalk?”. The answer is an emphatic NO. There are many reasons for this. First off, it is not in the Grand Canyon National Park. It is in Grand Canyon West. This is quite a distance from the Grand Canyon everyone knows, which makes things a bit more complicated. Add to this the fact that the last 14 miles of the only road into Grand Canyon West is a bumpy 1 1/2 lane dirt road and it’s getting less attractive. Add even more reasons? OK, it costs $50 just to enter the reservation that has built the Skywalk. It then costs $25 just for the pleasure of walking out onto the Skywalk – a walk that requires you store all of your personal possessions (camera, etc.) in a locker before going out. No pictures, no video, nothing. Their reason: you might drop your camera and damage the glass. Right.

Now you could opt for a “package” from the reservation, which includes a bunch of activities (horse-drawn wagon ride, traditional native dances and presentations, etc.). The beauty of this package is that it includes access to the reservation. But wait, there’s more. It does NOT include the cost of the Skywalk, which is that same $25 again. And the “basic” (i.e. cheapest) package is approximately $85 per person.

Anyhow, wow, and no chance of even getting anywhere near that Skywalk. I hear Vegas has a bunch of stuff like that and most are cheap if not free ;).

Spent 4-5 hours this morning heading to Bryce Canyon from Provo. Just before Bryce, however, we came across Red Canyon – amazing to see as well, more to follow on that.

In order to check into our room for the night, we had to drive past the exit to Bryce Canyon and head into a town called Tropic. This turned out to be about 30 minutes outside the park, which wasn’t too bad all things considered. So we checked into our room at “Bryce Canyon Country Cabins”, but our room wasn’t a cabin. It was in the “Nostalgic Building” i.e. old house on the property that was split up into 3 suites. Still, clean and cozy, and we didn’t have to share a bathroom – it was all good.

Went across the street for some food (the local and from what it looks like the only restaurant in Tropic) and then drove to Bryce Canyon. The park is about 18 miles top to bottom, so nowhere near Yellowstone sized. This was good, since we really only had about 3/4 of a day to see it (plus maybe something at sunrise tomorrow). We followed the brochure’s suggestion of starting at the bottom of the park (southernmost point) and then heading back. We took in every major point along the way with the exception of Bryce Point, Sunset Point and Sunrise Point which we decided to hit at sunrise tomorrow – that’ll be interesting.

The park/canyon is, in a word, spectacular. It’s everything we hoped it would be sights-wise, and more. For example, here is a shot from Inspiration Point:

And here’s another showing the Natural Bridge:

Many pictures taken, hopefully a lot of them will end up on Flickr.

After stopping at all the points we had planned to, we drove back to Red Canyon (remember above?) and had a small picnic at the Visitor Centre (peanut butter sandwiches, we spared no expense). We had heard that Red Canyon was great at sunset, so we hung out and waited for the magic light:

All in all an amazing experience for the day. Next we get up at 5:30am to be at Bryce Point for sunrise – hope that goes well. Afterwards, we drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and check in sometime in the afternoon to head to the Canyon for some pics.

Greetings from the Beehive State (I kid you not). Mare and I saw the symbols on the highway signs and thought to ourselves “that can’t be a beehive, can it?”. Um, yup, it can be and it is. Learn something new every day.

Day was all about driving, about 450 miles (OK fine 725km). Went well, other than a small chip in the windshield (traumatic for someone in particular, but we got it mended so we’re all good). I will say this, Utah folks drive FAST. I mean we were on the highway doing 65-70mph, limit was 65mph and getting passed like I was the old guy from Alberta with his turn signal on. But on the bright side we got to Provo quicker ;).

Not a lot of picture taking in an all-driving day, other than a few “welcome to Utah”s and the like (will post when we return). But for those that expect a picture, here’s a mountain in Provo:

And here’s what is right across the street from where we are staying:

… can you feel the love?

I do know they were having some kind of rally and I took a pic just to test the camera and before you could say Brigham Young a way-too-energetic teenager ran over and asked me not to take pictures. I don’t even think the pic had written to the card yet ;). No worries, hadn’t planned on keeping it anyway…

Anyhow, off to Bryce Canyon in the a.m., we’re really looking forward to seeing that.