Back when this trip was discussed with Matt and Jon, we decided to meet near Monument Valley in Arizona. It was equidistant for all involved and I, being the riding, not driving, member of this excursion went along with it. I’ve wanted to see the Canyon for many years, but remembering full well, the years I traveled with multiple children in the back seat, didn’t say anything about it. When Matt and Miriah both began to check for accomidations in the Four Corners Region of the Southwest, they discovered that lodging wasn’t what they’d hoped for, and there really wasn’t any place to get out and see. Not to say there isn’t a shitload of stuff to look at, it’s just that there isn’t many places where Grandpa could get out with his grandchildren. When the kids told me of the problem, they also suggested going to the Grand Canyon. “Holy Crap” thought I, as I was about to do something I’ve wanted for a long time. Then they decided to go to the North Rim but when Miriah checked for lodging, most of them were closed because the park wasn’t opening until May 16th. During this same period, as Matt would track out the route we were going to take, he’d email it to me and it’d show up on Google Earth. Google Earth is a wonderful tool when planning a trip like this. Not only does it show a continous picture of the planet, it includes the elevations and also includes photo’s taken from various points through out. (more on this later) As we began checking points of interest, Matt noticed that the North Rim is 8200′ and the South, 7200′. It made it easier going to the South Rim where the altitude was somewhat lower, giving me a better chance of moving around when I’d get there.
Some years back, I’d flown with my parents and my wife to South Lake Tahoe where my younger brother was to marry his now wife, Deborah. The air in Denver was sparce, but in Tahoe, it was nonexsistant. Denver is a mile high, 5,280′ and the house we stayed at in Tahoe was at 7700′. I was there for a three day period and I had one hellava headache the entire time. Dad was suffering from undiagnosed COPD at the time and I from an undiagnosed blocked artery in my heart. The thing is, both were undiagnosed and I assumed (yeah, I know) that life was a bitch in both places. It turns out that I’m in much better health than I was at the time. I noticed when I got to Denver, that the air didn’t get used up by the people who got off before me. I could breathe and move around just fine, which I was very greatful for. Salt Lake City is a thousand feet lower than Denver and I had an easier time breathing in Salt Lake, than I do here in Northern Michigan. The place we would meet on Friday night, and stay until Sunday, was the Marble Canyon Lodge, situated on the extreme Northeast end of the National Park.
Leaving at 6:15am we drove down I-15 South to State Rd 17, to La Verkin on Hwy 9. Through the Zion National Park to US-89 to Kanab and then to Marble Canyon, Arizona, arriving exactly 10 hours later.
Mark and I started taking pictures right away. My wife had an Aunt who took a cruise to Alaska, and then to New Zealand and never took one picture. When asked if she had any, she replied there were two reasons: One was that it wasn’t her responsibility to show others what she had seen and the other was it cost too much for development of the film. I thought at the time I’d never heard such lame excuses for not taking photos, and when given the opportunity that wouldn’t happen to me, or you. She could afford the plane and boat tickets but not to develop the film? WTF??? She doesn’t feel the need to help the rest of the planet learn, or spark the interest of it’s youth? Again, WTF!?!? Something else I noticed when using Google Earth, was that there were many photos of the destination, but very few of the journey to get there. Isn’t the journey the reason for the trip, or just it’s destination?
With the sun breaking over the Wasatch Mountains, we traveled down I-15. Just over the Piano Gallery’s sign you can see where there’s some excavating going on in a major way. From the looks of it, an entire mountain is being hollowed out and spread into the Basin.
This line of refriderator cars sits alongside the expressway for over two miles. The grafitti on these cars were remarkable but at 75 miles per hour, hard to photograph.
This is my artsy attempt to prove we stopped in Nephi, Utah, with our first stop of the day. Henry’s on a two hour feeding schedule and there’s a Burger King for the rest of us.
Now here’s something you’ll never see in Michigan. Most of the road is a mere 75mph, but in some of the more open areas, it gets to 80. And unlike Michigan, truckers do the same speed as passenger vehicles.
This mountain range ran beside us the entire length of I-15, but the land between it and us changed the further South we traveled. At times it would be much further West,
and sometimes it got up close.
From time to time I’d look behind and besides me to see if everyone was still awake and on the job. Matt always was, so were Mark and Mia, but Hoa, not so much.
As we traveled further south the terrain became hillier and the vegitation became mostly cedar with a lot of sagebrush added.
Then we came to a town which exemplifies what all guys are looking for.
This is me lookin’ fer sum beavers.
This was the first example of what we were heading into.
For all you homesick Toquerville residents, these are for you.
Between Toquerville and La Verkin, the landscape really started to brighten up.
It was getting to be about feeding time for Henry, so we stopped in La Verkin and I stood next to something I hadn’t seen since Rota, Spain, in 1970.
La Verkin is just outside Zion National Park and the geological formations amazed us at every corner.
It was about here when we entered Zion National Park. There is a $25.00 entrance fee that’s good for one weeks use, but there are a couple ways to waive the fee. If the driver or any passenger is over 62, or if the driver or any passenger is drawing a disability from the Government, it’s free. We didn’t find this out until later ($50.00 later) but not because they didn’t publish it. It’s posted at the entryway and if it wasn’t for Hoa’s eagle eyes, we would never have known. I carry a card now that’ll let me into any National Park anywhere in the country for free, for the rest of my life. So, if ya’ll go, either take an old geezer or a crip, like myself, along. Just show’s to go ya, that us crippled old geezers are worth having along.
After entering the park all the conversations either started with “Holy crap” or “Good God, look at that!” and it remained that way for the entire ride through.
This is two examples of Gods glorious accomplishments. I’m the accomplishment on the left. The one in the back is called the Sentenal.
Below is the Cathederal
Matthew and Hoa
This is the last photo I took before we entered the first of two tunnels. As you’ll see the topography chances considerably but yet remains very similar to the preceeding side.
The second tunnel is considerably shorter than the first and doesn’t have the clearance problems the first one did. The first one by the way, has three or four “windows” carved into it giving you some panoramic views of the park. On the way back, we stopped because there wasn’t any traffic and took a couple pictures which I’ll show on the return ride. This was the view going in.
This one I took while inside. Please notice how I captured the clarity and ambiance of the ride through.
And this on the other side.
As we came out the other side, the country side once again opened up and continued until we arrived in Kanab, Utah, where we took a break.
Just before Kanab, I flipped the camera around to see how things were going in the back seat and this is what I saw.
Her sentiments were being felt by all of us so we stopped in Kanab to feed Henry and give us a stretch. As with all towns, each has it’s own suburbs, this was Kanab’s.
Another shot of the glorious accomplishment in downtown Kanab.
After Kanab, things really started to open up.
We’re on the home stretch now, everybody’s about had enough but to help, we had this running along side us until we reached Marble Canyon, Arizona.
And finally, after 10 hours of the most beautiful country I’d ever seen, we arrived in Marble Canyon, Arizona.
Over my left shoulder is the back of Olivia, and her mom Mariah. Over my right is Mia and her cousing Ava which I’ll introduce in the next installment. It’s late and the Red Wings are playing and I’ve had enough for one day. There are many more pictures involved with this that are posted on myspace picture section. There will be many more before this is over as I’ve yet to get to the Grand Canyon, and a few other sites.
