Bryce Canyon, Utah - 10.15.2020

We said goodbye to Jeff last night. Jeff and I hugged. Then I watched these two men, two boys bonded like twins through their childhood antics and coming to age adventures, bid farewell. There were no tears but it was a bittersweet moment.

This morning we headed south to Bryce Canyon.

Our friends told us this place would blow our minds and it did! Somehow I imagined Bryce Canyon a tiny want-to-be park in comparison to say, the Grand Canyon. No, actually the two cannot be compared.

We drove in from Boise. It should have been a 4 hour drive to Salt Lake City and then another 4-5 hours on to Bryce Canyon. We left Boise about 10 am and arrived at Bryce near 9 pm due to a detour in Twin Falls, Idaho to visit Shoshone Falls. OOOOOH! Very pretty! In years full of rain, these falls are called Niagara of the West. Huge smooth elephant-type rocks support the falls and at the bottom, the green Snake River flows on westward. I can only say the colors of the rocks, trees and grass were in living technicolor! The sight was invigorating! The pure electric green grass served as the foundation to yellow aspens and black locusts while the gums and maples shot a spray of red to contrast. It was a blessing that we took that easy detour.

As we drove on we went through green valleys with mountains to our left and prairies to our right. This must be prime beef and dairy cattle land. Cows, cows, cows everywhere! View of the mountains was spectacular but I must say, the sun to my right nearly scorched my eyes. Maybe it's due to the altitude and the clear, pureness of the air, I certainly don't know the cause, but the sun literally singed my eyes.

The sky began to grow dark. I saw one star, probably a planet, then another and another. The sky became a theatre of lights. We pulled over to step outside to take a look and suddenly realized the temperature had made a drastic change! The wind was sharp and the temp was about 35 degrees, but those stars were brilliant! Simply brilliant!

Next morning . . . A big bus shuttle will take you from the hotel throughout the park. Simpletons as we are sometimes, we thought it be might wise to stop first at the Visitor Center to learn a bit and get some maps. So at the shuttle's first stop, the Visitor Center, we hopped off. If a magnet or a stuffed toy or books about the region is on your list, the Visitor Center is the place to go. Otherwise, no need to stop. As we walked back to the shuttle stop we realized, we'd be in line for at least an hour before we might reboard. There was a huge crowd waiting. This was not for us! We walked a good mile to Sunrise Point. Finally, approaching the point, the first viewing area, is like walking up to the edge of the Grand Canyon for the first time. What a thrill!!!! Breath-taking! Astounding! Many might have said, wow! I'm so glad we came and then return home. Some would say, let's be adventurous and walk the rim to Sunset Point! And then there are Stan and Janie. Not to miss a single detail we walked the Queen's Garden Trail down from the rim to the floor of the canyon to see the Queen Victoria hoodoo, then took the Navajo trail upwards to see Thor's Hammer and the Twin Bridges. Did I say hoodoos? These magnificent tall and shapely structures are a result of hundreds of thousands of years' accumulation of rushing water and more recently freezing water that soaks into the sandstone and forces layers to pop off after the water turns into ice. If you look closely as one might gaze at clouds, the hoodoos begin to take shapes not identified on the map. A seven-year-old boy tourist pointed out to me King Tut petting a cat. I found Aladdin's lamp just below the Queen Elizabeth hoodoo. But the piece de resistance was mermaid we found below Inspiration Point. If you visit Bryce Canyon; I challenge you to find her. The tremendous red, white and brown canyon with tall hoodoos offset by the pure blue sky is a work of art created exclusivelly at the hand God. Whew! These hoodoos by the way were named by the Paiute Indians. Their pronunciation of the term is oodoo. Short version of Paiute legend is that hoodoos are actually people charmed and frozen in stone as punishment by the Coyote for bad deeds they committed in life.

After a hearty sandwich, we decided to do just a little more. It literally did us in!!! We determined that today should be our only full day here. . . once you've seen it, you've seen it. But there was one more spot that called us, Inspiration Point. Only 1.3 miles. We thought, let's do it. After all, we may never pass this way again.

My God!! It was straight up and the straight down! Both of us found it necessary to stop fairly often to catch our breath - altitude about 7000 feet. It was a tough climb, indeed but we did it!!! So just put this on YOUR list: Sunrise Point, Queen Elizabeth, Thor's Hammer, Twin Bridges, Wall Street and finally Inspiration Point!

We are exhausted.