Wednesday travel HOME!!

 Tuesday was a short night in Phoenix. Boarded the bus at 7:30 am and headed to the airport. Check-in, security, wait, board, fly, etc. We lost those two hours we had gained so it was after 3:30 when we landed. So nice to walk out of the terminal and have a bus waiting for us. After we took our bags home, we went to Wendy’s for lunch/supper, then the grocery store, and then a glass on wine on the porch while listening to the soccer game in the stadium. Fun to travel. Great to be home. 

Random thoughts: 1. The pastures in the West were much greener than usual for August. The cattle were laying down and resting not chasing a blade of grass. 2. The tiny house phenomena must have revived the tourist cabins of yore. We saw many and they looked new. 3. Every ranch/farmstead has a camper of some kind (from small pull ones to large RVs). Are they used to attend Rodeos? Vacation? Guest? 4. We traveled 2,374 bus miles. I heard more than one person say, “I could drive this, but I’m glad I’m not.” There was a lot to see. 5. We were reminded about the disparity of services between rural and city when one of our passengers needed medical help. We had to drive two hours to a small hospital to get her arm set. In Rockford, we  live 2 miles from a large hospital with two other hospitals within city limits. 

I would appreciate hearing from each of you: text, email, comment, etc. Writing a blog is a monologue. A dialogue would be nice.  Thanks for traveling with us. Chuck, Stella, and N. 

Tuesday at the Grand Canyon

 Starting with last night and Page, Utah—we stopped by the hospital and picked up our fellow traveler who had a splint on her arm and headed down the road.  It was after 10:00 pm MT when we pulled into the hotel at Grand Canyon Village, Arizona.  Crazy day of gaining an hour because of time change but losing an hour because of schedule change.  Everyone slept very well last night.  Gene took pity on us and let us sleep later.  Left the hotel at 9:00 am and checked into Grand Canyon National Park. Parked the bus and from then on used the shuttle which was a ‘hop on, hop off’ bus- very handy. We immediately went out to Mather’s Point on the South Rim of the Canyon and took a good look.  Even if you have seen pictures of Grand Canyon all your life, it is still a sight to behold.  Next we visited the Geology Museum which Chuck particularly enjoyed. Visited other points of interest, saw a film in the Visitor’s Center and had a light lunch. Met the bus at 2:15 and started for Phoenix.  Ate our farewell meal at Bobby Q’s—delicious barbecue, of course. Now we are packing for the trip home.

Strange observations: 1. Last night the bathroom door would not open all the way because the stool was in the way.  Open the door as far as it would go, step in and stand beside the toilet, close the door and proceed. 2. It is fun to hear all the different languages being spoken. 3.  Everyone comments that this week has fewer people because kids are starting back to school.  4. OK here is my favorite outfit.  N. Spotted this one. A young woman was dressed in black shorts, black tee, fishnet stockings, and then had her very small dog in a dog carrier strapped to her chest.  

Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 7:30 am and fly back to OHare.  It has been a great trip, but I think we are all ready to go home.  I will probably post one more time after we get home. Signing off until then. SLS

Monday in Zion National Park

 Left the hotel at 8:00 am and headed to Zion Park. As we got closer to Zion, the rock formations were amazing.  One side was soaring peaks and the other side was a deep canyon. We also went through a mile long tunnel.  Our bus is 12.6 feet high.  The tunnel was. 13.4 feet high in the middle.  The bus had to wait until the tunnel was clear from the other end before we could start. Then the bus had to drive right down the middle.  The tunnel was very dark but had occasional windows showing the landscape.  There were switchbacks, etc.  The views were astounding. The rock was not rust colored like yesterday, but more sand colored.  When we got to the park, the bus took us to the Visitors’ Center.  From there we took a Zion Shuttle to the furtherest point and hopped off.  Then we could hike or snap pictures and then hop a shuttle to the next stop on the way back to the Visitors Center.  Ate an early lunch. Just as we were ready to leave, we learned that one of our group had slipped on the trail and broken her wrist.  A doctor from Michigan happened by and administered First Aid.  Then we headed to Page, Arizona and the hospital.  We are in Page now at the Dam Bar and Grill. Others are eating lunch, but we are opting for dessert. Hope to pick up our person from the hospital and then head to Grand Canyon Village tonight. 

Animals: Someone saw 3 mule deer in Zion. There was a bison herd at a ranch along with road.  There were several desert sheep on the other side of the road (I did not personally see them.) With the bus going fast and animals hiding well, it is not easy to spot them!

Yesterday when the bus made a U-turn, it made contact with a pine branch and got sap all over the windshield.  Sap is hard/impossible to get off. Gene is a tease and would not let the bus driver forget about the sap.  This morning, there was a smiley face (out of bright red lipstick ) on the windshield right at Gene’s eye level.  Don’t mess with the bus driver!

Sunday in Bryce Canyon National Park

 Last night N joined us and we ate at the Sweet Wild Thyme restaurant across the street from the motel.  It was a beautiful evening and we ate on the porch.  Delicious food and a zany waiter!

Our bus didn’t pull out until 9 am so it was a real treat to not be so hurried.  From Kanab, Utah to Bryce Canyon was an hour and twenty minutes. It was a drive up a valley with small farms on one side and cliffs on the other, or trees, or rocks.  When we arrived, the 10 hikers who wanted to hike the 3.5+ miles (with a 500 foot ascent at the end), disembarked and started at Sun Rise Point.  The other 15 (C, N, and myself) stayed on the bus and visited 5 different overlooks. We got out at each stop, enjoyed the very thin air (9115 alt.), snapped pictures and hopped back on the bus. Bryce Canyon is filled with red rock formations, many layers visible, many strange shapes (hoodoos - rock formations that look similar to totem poles), arches, etc. The bus then went to Sun Set Point and picked up the weary hikers.  One look at them and the non-hikers knew they made the right decision! We drove to Ruby’s: a large complex of hotel rooms, camp grounds, restaurants, shops, etc.  Chuck and I shared a small pizza and then had ice cream cones.  Back to the bus and back to Kanab.  

Strange facts: 1. The Federal government owns 28% of the land in the U. S. Mostly in the West.                    2. After the downpour the other night, our cells sounded warning signals about flash floods. Makes sense: pouring rain on rocks equal flash floods.  3.  Restrooms.  In the parks, the Visitor Centers have nice bathrooms. Away from the VC, there are only permanent port-a-potties: a stool, a wastebasket for THE PAPER, and hand sanitizer. Some are good and some are not. At any rate, they are a welcome site in time of need! Yesterday the bus stopped at a gas station for a potty break. Nice bathroom, but no toilet  paper. If you know me, you know that I always have Kleenex.  Sure came in handy—especially for the woman I rescued by handing her a Kleenex under the door.  Hope she passes the kindness on.  

Saturday at Horseshoe Bend

 We were packed and on the bus at 8:00 am.  Spent the morning driving through the high desert and enjoying the varied scenery.  Watched a couple videos.  Lunch was at Oljato-Monument Valley, Arizona. Monument Valley is not a National Park but a Park owned by the Navajo. Reservation.  Lunch was absolutely delightful AFTER we climbed  a hill that went straight up. The specialty was Navajo Tacos - also Fry Bread.  The waitress took our order and then said, “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather share a Taco?” Sure It was huge and she cut it in half and served it on two plates. Also had fry bread (which comes cut into 4 pieces and served with powdered sugar and honey. All the staff were tribe members.  Great experience of good food and service! Drove the short distance to Monument Valley which is flat desert with huge sandstone rocks of various shapes standing alone.  All the other rocks have been part of a whole hillside where these stood by themselves. Visited the Museum (featured the Code Talker of WWII) and then hit the road again. Two hours later we are at Horseshoe Bend and on Pacific Time.  We have been bouncing back and forth between Utah and Arizona.   Anyway, the walk down to Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River is (round trip) is 1.5 miles. It is 89 degrees, bright sun, and high altitude. N. And I opted Out.  Chuck accepted the challenge and is on the path.  He promised that he would stop if it was too much. Tonight and tomorrow night we stay at the same hotel.  That will be nice.

Friday in Moab, Utah

 Today this is a labor of love at 6:30 am MT. Back to Thursday night, we went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Practice in their Conference Center., which holds 21,000 people. There are 360 choir members and 110 in the orchestra. They were rehearsing for the Sunday service  and their next tour. The acoustics were perfect and the seats comfy.  Our hotel accommodations were at Little America which was very luxurious. Excellent food and wait staff. 

Now to Friday: We drove all morning, through canyons, grassland, etc. When it got too boring, Gene played a CD of the Ireland trip and we played Tori-Bond.  We arrived in Moab around 1:00 pm.  Lunch at Gloria’s which had a wrap-around porch. Along the top of the porch was a constant spray of mist and hanging plants, of course. Good food. After lunch, we were scheduled to go to Canyonland National Park but our long 56 passenger bus was not a good fit for that.  Change of plans. Arches National Park is just outside of Moab so we went there instead. As you can imagine, Arches has lots of red sandstone rock formations with many arches formed through years and years of erosion.  We would ride and then take short trail walks and photos.  The drive has a loop at the end where you turn around and com back the same way. We had just got out of the bus when it suddenly looked very stormy. We quickly got back in and drove away.  You could look back and see the rain pelting down.  It was after 6 when we got to the hotel which was a ways from downtown.  Those who wanted to, got back on the bus to go to dinner. We were suddenly hit by a sandstorm, followed by a powerful rain.  Change of plans. Decided to all go to the local brewery down the road instead of different places. When we arrived, it had let up a little so we dashed across rushing streams of water to get inside. Of course, our feet all got soaked. We felt grateful to find a place to eat and enjoyed the company.  Back at the hotel, I tried to get on the internet and couldn’t finally figured out that the storm had knocked out the internet.  Must dash off to Saturday’s adventures. 

Greetings from Salt Lake City

 Yesterday:  Forgot to mention that we crossed the Continental Divide.                                                                      Today:  It was very cool when we left Alpine, Wyoming.  But it has warmed up and is in the high 80’s now and very dry.  Fortunately, we didn’t leave until 8:30. Saw large grazing lands with cattle and sheep in the flat valleys. It was open range country with signs posted about Cattle on the Road and twice we did have to stop and let them pass.  After two hours, we stopped for a break. There were also huge wheat fields ready for harvest.  Saw an open pit phosphate mine and processing plant (the largest employer in town.) Two more hours and we stopped for lunch.  The restaurant where we had a reservation, had just accepted 20 people and we would have to wait.  Oh well.  Wendy’s and McDonalds were just down the road so we split up and ate lunch. 

In Salt Lake City, the bus dropped us at Temple Square. Most of us took a guided tour of the Conference Center, some visited the Genealogy Center and Chuck and Gene (our fearless leader) headed for a pharmacy to get his Rx filled.  It was hot! The whole Temple Complex is gigantic, extremely clean, and has many people eager to show you around.  By 4:30 we met the bus and headed to our hotel.  The hotel is gorgeous and we will eat dinner here.  Later is are going to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Practice. It will be almost ten when we get back so I will report on that tomorrow. FYI: All are well.  

Geysers and More Geysers

 Had our bags packed and in the lobby before breakfast.  The bus left the parking lot at 7:15 am.  That was early and it was chilly.  We entered the West Gate of Yellowstone and this time we headed south at the junction.  Our first excitement was seeing six elk grazing peacefully in a meadow.  A little further down the road, two large bison bulls were grazing.  (You can always tell when there is wildlife around because all the cars stop—sometimes in the middle of the highway.). Our first stop was at the Paint Pots.  We got out of the bus and walked at a good pace towards the pots.  Pretty soon the effect of the pace and the altitude hit me with shortness of breath.  Wow! Learned my lesson on that - slow down. Back on the bus and headed to Prismatic Springs.  There were lots of board walks (made out of composite ‘wood’ which were in better shape than the wood ones). Most of these geyser pools had that beautiful teal blue color.  By this time, I had over 5,000 steps in.  Back in the bus and we headed to Old Faithful.  When we arrived at OF, the board indicated that the geyser would erupt at 10:38 am. That gave us time to shop a little, bathroom, and stake out seats on the benches.  The funniest sight was all the cell phones pointed to Old Faithful waiting for it to go off —which it finally did.  Looked at some exhibits and headed to lunch.  By this point, Chuck is bored with the fare so we split a salad and Coconut Shrimp Curry.  It was spicy but delicious.  Back in the bus by 12:30 and headed to the South Gate.  After we left Yellowstone, we entered the Grand Teton National Park. We stopped at Jenny Lake (the bus had to make the four mile loop three times: scout it out, drop us off, and pick us up.  Jenny Lake was very picturesque set below the tower Tetons.  Back in the bus. We headed to Jackson Hole and then Alpine Wyoming.  Stopped at the Church of the Transfiguration which was founded by the Episcopalians in 1923.  It was a small rustic chapel beside the road, When we hit a slow spot on the trip, Gene lead a game of TriBond.  I won a $1. Dinner at the hotel was slooooow, but delicious.  Now it is time for bed. Health updates: Chuck is feeling better and the swelling is going down  his hand. N. Is under the weather today.  

Through the West Gate of Yellowstone

 After a hearty breakfast, we boarded the Big Red Bus at 8:00 am. It was 41 degrees.  We entered Yellowstone through the West Gate.  We were merrily driving along when suddenly traffic came to a complete halt (hardly 8:30 am). We couldn’t see any reason. Eventually a big old bison came ambling down the other side of the highway.  Photo Op #1.  Note: we saw that same bison two more times. We continued on our northern loop.  Our first stop was Norris Geyser Basin.  Looking back that stop was just to break us in —it was relatively flat.  The temp was mild.  Our next stop was Geyser Basin which involved many steps on uneven group.  The temp was dramatically cooler than the first stop and it was spitting rain.  Our final morning stop was Mammoth Hot Springs with two large tiers of colorful rock formations that had been formed by geysers.  By this point we had seen (and smelled) every size, shape, and form of geyser.  We had a fast food lunch and finished with ice cream.  The focus of our afternoon (four stops)  was Yellowstone Canyon from both the north and south rim. We also heard and saw the sparkling waterfalls.  On the way back to our motel, we spotted five different elk. By this point, I had 9,000 steps in and was totaled.  But wait, there’s more.  

Early in the summer Chuck developed cellulitis in his left hand.  The Dr. thought that its origin was an insect bite.  He took 10 days of meds and recovered nicely.  Just before we came, he was recoiling some hose in the yard and disturbed some yellow jackets.  They were not happy and stung him in multiple places including his left hand.  It was itchy but noting more.  Yesterday it started swelling. So today we went to a Walk-In Clinic in town.  It is cellulitis.  He got meds and a Rx. Note: Chuck was the only patient in the clinic. Both the doctor and nurse were chatty (bored?) and shared their life story.  

A Full Day of Travel

 The alarm woke us early and we picked up N. At 6:00 a.m. Drove to the bus terminal and met the rest of our group —25 in all.  The bus left Rockford at 6:45 am and we left OHare at 10:15 am.  Arrived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming 3 hours later.  Jackson’s airport is very small but has about 25 private jets parked near the terminal. Outside the terminal, we met our bus driver for the week, Donna.  She is young, blond, a good driver and strong.  She is driving a new, very large red bus.  In Jackson we were on our own for a couple hours so grabbed lunch.  Jackson reeks of money and opportunities to spend it on cheap souvenir items or expensive artwork.  Met the bus at 3:15 and headed to Yellowstone. We climbed the Tetons and went over the Teton Pass.  As we came down the other side, we saw large fields of yellow wheat and green alfalfa hay.  They were getting ready for wheat harvest.  We left Wyoming, passed through Idaho, entered Montana, had dinner, and checked into our hotel at the West Gate of Yellowstone.  Have met some great people and are looking forward to a fun week.  

Read to Go to the Parks

 This past week has been a whirlwind of Highs (sold almost 1,000 uniform pieces when sales of all four schools were added up!) and LOWS - Chuck tested positive for COVID on Tuesday night.  Fortunately, he  did not feel ill - only very congested. We forged ahead and started packing anyway.  The Fairy GodMother waved her magic wand and today, we both tested negative.  We leave tomorrow morning!