Since we have to be in Qualicum Beach for the 15-18, we have to start heading north today. You can't do everything, so we skipped Capitol Reef National Park. Maybe if we're back this way sometime..... We are spending the night on the north end of Salt Lake City. We learned on the way down that rush hour starts early here, and it was already heavy traffic at 2:45. The highway is 5 lanes wide and it helps to use the HOV lane. Went to MacCool's Irish Pub for dinner....

Today's excursion is to Canyonlands National Park. There are a couple of hikes that we are interested in doing here. The first is easy and the must see in Canyonlands and that's to Mesa Arch. It's quite a large arch and because it's easily accessible, there were a lot of people there. It was difficult to get a photo without people in it. There was a beautiful, expansive view of the canyon through the arch. It looks like this canyon is as large as the Grand Canyon...

We got off to a late start today The itinerary is to explore Arches National Park. There is a benefit here to having purchased the yearly national park pass. The lineup to enter the park is loonng, but when you reach a certain point on the roadway, there's a ranger stationed there to allow all pass holders to take a different road that bypasses the entry kiosk and leads to the visitor center. In an effort to conserve time, we decide to do the viewpoint drive and ...

Today we are driving to Moab. It's one of the closest towns to a few of the other National Parks. As we are leaving town, Dave is telling me about seeing another tour company listed online that he just read about this morning that does a slot canyon tour. I was saying that I wished I had taken some of the photos differently. Then I see the sign on the highway for X Canyon Tours! It's fate! We ended up taking their tour. They have 2 canyons there that you go throu...

The drive from Bryce Canyon to Zion National Park was not too long. The scenery starts before you get into the park. The scenery is right in your face! You literally drive right up to it. Colourful "mountains" with strange striations in the rock. Some mesas were whitish grey, some red, with stripes. It's similar to Bryce in that a lot of the colours are shared, yet they are a very different look. In Bryce Canyon, to viewpoints are above the formations and in Zion...