That's more like it

Much better day today. Our hotel in Jackson is great - we have a cabin overlooking a small creek with a mountain beyond. After a late start we just pottered down into Jackson for a bit of sight-seeing as it was only 10 minutes. Very busy town, lots of tourist activity. Nice balance of shops as well. The family HPH want leather goods and knives, both of which seem well catered for, the girls want jewellery, again lots around, and we liked the look of the art galleries.

After lunch me and Judith got in the car and went to the Wildlife Art gallery outside town. REALLY good. some of the best paintings and sculptures you'd ever want to see. Photography doesn't really do them justice.

Tomorrow is off into Yellowstone, so really looking forward to that.

Weirdsville

Bit of a nothing day today. Long drive to Salt Lake city to catch a plane to Jackson. We did go into SLC and have a look at the temple or whatever they call it there. Lots of very polite blokes in suits ready to convert you at the droop of a hat.

A river runs through it...

After arriving at our hotel near hotel, we realised we were not quite as well positioned as we could be. We thought we were in Springfield, near the park entrance. However we were at Carmel junction, about 40 minutes from Springfield, itself 40 minutes give or take from the main parts of Zion park.
On the plus side, the Best Western Lodge did have humming-bird feeders on the windows and they were stuffed with hummers - we finally got black-chinned, broad-tailed, rufous and calliope.

 

Anyway, we drove in Springfield, had another quick light breakfast (no Owen, a breakfast burrito is not a healthy option!) and then got on the shuttle. For any visitors, during summer you cannot drive into Zion. You take a bus to the park entrance, and then another shuttle takes you along the road dropping you off at stages - all free but does involve a time-overhead.
We agreed that the all-day walk Owen and Jake wanted to do wasn't feasible so we went all the way to the top, for the river walk. Again looking out for condors and again dipping though. The walk was interesting. Starts off as a stroll along the river bank, and ends with you having to wade along the river itself  - either with ore without shoes!! Boys loved it and disappeared off for what seemed like hours. We baled early and went back. All met up again though and had another couple of short walks on the way back down. got a few new birds including lesser goldfinch and warbling vireo. Finished off with a nice meal in Springfield before heading back to our hotel and a few beers on Helen and Yoss's balcony!!

 

A grand day out

Another day during the middle part of our holiday where we combined travel from A to B with some pretty spectacular sight-seeing, in this case the Grand Canyon. Rather than the more touristy south rim, where most people go, we visited the North rim. Took us something over an hour before the road started to climb, eventually topping out at nearly 9,000 feet. bit of ear-popping on the steeper bits. AS most days, the scenery was ever changing - sometimes forest ravaged by fire where you only has bare trunks, other times dense woods, or open clearings. In one was herd of (semi-wild) bison!
Finally we reached the rim. Mercifully it was fairly quiet, not too many people around. First up we had our very British picnic - rolls, crisps, stone-cold coffee, muffins and fruit. Basically the best Walmart could supply.
Then it was off on a walk to get the views - although they were already pretty spectacular. We identified a trail which took us out into the canyon, but wasn't too far as we only had an hour or so. Very civilised though - hard path all the way, but with a few rocks for the boys to climb. Very steep drop-offs each side and views to die for - at least if it wasn't for the slight haze. I kept a weather eye out for Californian Condor which are around, but no sightings. Did get white-throated swift and black-throated gray warbler though.

 

Then back out of the park down the way we came, stopping for a few scenic shots, on our way to the next phase of our trip - focusing on the national parks of Zion and Yellowstone - bears here we come!!!

Cruising on the river...

Today was a big highlight - we saw a road-runner!!! This was one of the big target birds for the holiday, purely to get bragging rights with Ken when we came back. Saw it in bizarre circumstances though, whilst sitting by the pool in the hotel. Tow of them, pottering around outside ground-floor bedrooms. I have a horrible feeling I used a rude word!!
After this excitement our afternoon excursion was a cruise on Lake Powell, a newly formed lake created as part of a hydro-electric project. The cruise was horribly touristy. firstly, we almost missed it, as we went to the wrong part of the lake.. A really nice bloke gave us a lift in the back of his pick-up truck though (kids well pleased with that). Then we stood in a queue for about 20 minutes before running for the boat, as only about 1/2 the people would fit on the top deck!! We squeezed on, but in the blazing sun. However, after 20 minutes or so everyone else realised this and so it thinned out and we flitted between sun and shade.
Cruise was not that exciting. The lake is VERY new and so pretty sterile - no birds whatsoever. Mainly cruising along rock walls and at almost 3 hours probably 1 hour too long. Most excitement came from people watching especially some Dutch people and Italians having a major row about seats in and out of the shade and whose children were hogging them at the expense of their elders and betters!!!
WE finished the day with a family trip to Walmart, as we were planning a picnic day after at the Grand Canyon.
Wow - what a place Walmart is! Enormous, sells everything REALLY cheap (including a 5 piece luggage set for $50) but what stuff. Pre-processed food, fatty cakes, horrible cheese, all in vast portions and cheap prices. Hardly any fruit/ veg/ meat. Quite depressing really. Still be stocked up for the picnic and even doubled their daily spend on fruit I suspect.

There's injuns in them thar hills

Today was pretty much one item on the agenda, visiting Monument Valley itself. The day started very early, well at dawn, to see the sun rise. All the rooms in the hotel looked out onto the valley so we were all well positioned. The sun was a bit slow coming up, there was some cloud around, and we were looking straight out to where it was coming up. Even so, it was pretty spectacular. Watching the light slowly come up and change the colours from muted to bright was inspirational. Photography was hard as we looking at the sun and the light was changing by the minute so we had to keep a careful eye on the exposures. A small selection of the best are shown below.

 

After a light breakfast (in America, as if!!) we were off again, this time travelling to Lake Powell but on the way stopping to explore Monument Valley. First stop was the visitor centre, which had some pretty spectacular views on its own (as well as Prairie falcon and great-tailed grackle) and a well-visited souvenir shop. Then we got back into the cars to drive off down the 15 mile scenic route. Basically this is a circular route round most of the best viewpoints, one-way after about 2 or 3 miles. It took us an hour or so for the first section, mainly because of photo opportunities and local Navajo traders selling their wares. They also supplied us with a weather forecast of "coming storm will wash away the road" so we turned around. This was where Yoss and I had some fun as the road was now uphill and soft sand, so keep the power on and don't worry about the wheel spin (and scream if you want to go faster). Basically we were all for turning around and going again but got voted down. So, off to our next stop - Lake Powell.

 

   

A monumental drive

Today we had another of our long drives, this time to monument valley. This was going to be one of the highlights of our trip - hopefully. As ever across the trip the drive itself was interesting, albeit sow. Why do Americans have empty roads, large cars and speed limits which vary every 5 miles so you only average about 40 mph!!!
Anyway, after a few hours we started to arrive on the spectacular scenery of monument Valley. It was everything we thought it would be - just like a John Wayne film,

 

Our hotel was run by the local Navajo tribe. Great location overlooking the valley but one big downside - they didn't serve any alcohol. So, after a 6 hour hot drive there was NO beer available, causing Yoss especially to be quite cross!!!!