These are a few pictures missing from Millie’s last blog.

The first are the School Teachers rules that got Andy a clip and the second is the Indian Museum we visited that was closed because it was Sunday, but important because the UTE Indian Tribe is where the state name of UTAH came from;

.

Ok – back to the next version of the blog;

From the Mountains of Colorado we were going next into the Canyons of Utah, first traveling west and then turning south towards Zion National Park.

We got off to an early start and set off towards Utah, traveling over the last of the mountains of Colorado to the border of Utah and the country turned more arid, with the wooded hills of Colorado turning into the sandy bluffs of Utah.

.

Our destination was the Sandy Acres RV Park in Green River Utah, where we were only staying one night.

When we arrived the site was almost deserted, which surprised us as it had good reviews on the internet, anyway, we were not going anywhere so we didn’t even unhook the car, aiming for a quick getaway the next morning.

The last few days since driving into Texas have all been at quite a high elevation and you could tell.

As the road rose and fell up and down the mountain passes, our ears were popping all the time, it was almost like being on a bumpy airplane ride and no amount of yawning or sucking sweets seemed to ease it.

For instance, as we crossed the border between Colorado and Utah the elevation was 4760 feet, which is higher than any point in the whole of the British Isles and this was one of the low points!

.

Having a break;

 

Next morning we were up bright and early, at 7:30 (it still felt as though we were asleep – just joking!) for a 4 hour drive to Bauers Ranch RV Park at the small town of Glendale in south Utah, about half way between Zion Canyon National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.

Imagine our surprise when we got there to find Bob, Cathy and their little dog Trouper, our old friends from Florida already parked up.

Just joking, we had arranged to meet them there on the 1^st July for 6 days over the 4^th July celebrations.

They have been on a similar trip to us, but further south in Arizona, where they visited the Grand Canyon, amongst other places.

Anyway, we set up the RV, had lunch and set off for our first trip together to go and have a look at Zion Canyon, which is about 30 minutes’ drive away or around 30 miles.

Neither words nor pictures can do justice to the majesty and splendor of this place, it is breath-taking!

Cars are restricted access to the outer parts of the canyon, so we hopped onto one of the Trolley Busses that run into the inner depths of the Zion Canyon and admired the breathtaking views around every bend.

We had intended to do some walking around the canyon, but it was just too hot, so we stayed on the shuttle bus and did the whole round trip.

We will go back another day and walk some sections.

 

 

 

We got back to the RV and proceeded to cool off with a few cold beers (not too cold as they were English Ales), Bob is quite partial to fine English Ale and was happy to help deplete our stocks, whilst Cathy and Wendy did justice to the Red and White wine – no not at the same time, one had one and one the other!

That night we decided to go to a restaurant, that the RV site had recommended, but when we got there it was closed and the outside looked a bit off-putting as well – maybe we will come back another day;

   

So we went back to the RV’s made our evening meals and decided to have a game of Mexican Train over a glass or two instead.

Both us and Cathy are sure Bob makes the rules up as he goes along, but he confesses complete innocence!

The next morning we were surprised to be asked, along with Bob and Cathy, to judge the Independence Day Parade in the town, which actually goes down the Main Street, which is right outside our RV site – what an honour, as this was the first 4^th July celebration we had ever seen.

Well we pretended that we would have to get clearance from Her Majesty the Queen, but did not anticipate any problems.

After that surprise, we set off for Bryce Canyon, which is a bit further than Zion, about 60 miles or an hour or so away.

Like Zion, it should have been $25 entry fee, but Bob and Cathy have some sort of Federal Pass (we think they may work for Homeland Security) that got us in for free!

Again the splendor of this place just cannot be captured by words or pictures although we will try.

 

Unlike Zion, where you are in the bottom of the canyon looking up, in Bryce, you are on the Canyon rim looking down

 

 

 

This height is typical of the vantage points along the canyon ridge

.

The weather was very windy and wet so we decided to leave the walking to another visit on another day and we drove back to the RV watching the weather clouds building as we went.

Another night in playing ‘UNO’ this time, a game we had never played before and again we think that Bob was making the rules up as he went along, fortunately we had Cathy and Trouper (who said he would bite his ankles if he didn’t behave – at least that is what Millie said he said) to try and keep him under control.

The next morning it was a shopping trip to Kanab, just down the road (about 30 miles) for a bit of shopping and to get some parts that Bob had ordered for his RV and we both wanted some cable to wire an automatic Generator start switch in case the Air Con failed whilst Millie (and Trouper) were in the RV on their own.

Just before we left Kanab, we pasted a small sign that advertised a museum to the Hollywood Cowboy movies that were shot in this part of Utah, so we went in and were pleasantly surprised.

 

On the way back we stopped to look at the Moqui Cave which has a variety of Dinosaur bones and tracks in, as well as interesting rocks and early Indian markings on the cave wall.

 

Then after leaving there we took a slight 12 mile detour to see the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.

.

Then back to the RV at last and our little dogs.

That evening we decided to risk the restaurant just up the road again and despite the signs all over the front, went in to try the food.

.

All the meals were excellent and to top it off we were entertained by some humming birds feeding just where we were sitting and whose wings were beating so fast they were just a blur!

.

Back to the RV to try out our new National Parks ‘Scrabble’ game – sure Bob was cheating again because he won and wouldn’t even accept my ‘UTE’ entry, grrr, we’ll get him next time.

More in the next section!