OK, so we didn’t drop off the face of the earth – just off the Net. So now that I have the chance (on glorious dial-up) I thought I’d put in a quick post to update everyone on our trip. Sorry, no pics on this one but I’m going to edit everything hopefully tomorrow night and fill in the last 3 days.

We are now in Yosemite, after travelling from Grand Canyon to Vegas for 2 days. Vegas was Vegas, and apparently everything stays in Vegas, so sorry can’t fill you in ;). Actually we put in a pretty full day of casino hopping, checking out a lot of the new ones that we hadn’t yet seen (it’s been 10 years since we’ve been). Tough to do when it’s 110+ F. on the strip. Insane, but you sure welcome the A/C in the casinos. Took the elevator up the Eiffel Tower at Paris in the evening and got some pictures of the strip, that was a highlight.

After about 2 days in Vegas we hit the road for Mariposa, which is just outside of Yosemite. Another long day of driving, about 460 miles or 8 hours by the end of it. Turns out the B&B that we are staying at is quite a bit off the main road (12 miles) and quite a bit outside of Yosemite National Park (at least an hour’s drive). We’ll know to book way earlier next time ;).

We were up at 4:30 this morning to hit Yosemite and El Capitan for the sunrise. That’s early. Sick early, but who’s counting. Well worth it, though – can’t wait to post the pics.

Anyway that’s about it. Consider this a temporary posting, real ones to follow tomorrow night sometime….

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.