American West Bus Tour Day 9/20 - Who do hoodoos? We do!
Last night was another one-nighter in a hotel. We were out and on the road early as today was a big bus day. We departed our hotel at 7:45.
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| Our hotel was in a beautiful location |
We almost immediately ran into a long line of traffic that needed to go through the entry gate for Zion. It moved with all the efficiency you would expect from a finely-tuned government-run process. We sat there for 20 minutes but had smooth sailing once we got through.
We enjoyed the scenery through the switchbacks, climbing up and out of the Zion Canyon, and eventually passing back through the tunnel and leaving Zion behind.
We started our roughly two-hour drive to Bryce Canyon.
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| We saw buffalo but these were on a farm, not wild |
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| Our first stop was at the visitor's center for a brief comfort stop |
Then it was on to our first actual viewing stop at Inspiration Point.
Bryce Canyon is known for the hundreds of hoodoos that exist here. Hoodoos are natural spires of rock that formed through erosion over millions of years. Bryce is geologically an amphitheater not a canyon since it was carved by weather and not flowing water, but everyone called it Bryce Canyon.
After taking in the incredible views, we moved on to our next viewing location, Sunset Point.
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| The hoodoo known as Thor's Hammer |
Sunset Point had a trail down among the hoodoos. It was steeper than my knee allowed, but Arlona was up for the challenge. I took more photos up top while she documented from eye level.
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| If you look at the far right point on the trail... |
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| There she is |
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| Thor's Hammer |
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| Arlona, standing in front of Thor's Hammer |
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| The top of Thor's Hammer |
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| Down among the hoodoos |
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| Arlona, snapping photos |
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| She made it back up to the top - that's Thor's Hammer between us |
After taking in all the awesome views, we headed to the historic Ruby's Inn and General Store for lunch.
We enjoyed a nice lunch and then headed to the bus for the four-hour marathon to Salt Lake City. Of course, we had a comfort stop about halfway, in Filmore, Utah.
Then, it was the final push to the Hampton Inn in Salt Lake City, our overnight stop. Utah and Salt Lake City are known for the Morman settlers who came here in the late 1800s. Today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) carries on that mission.
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| We passed a couple LDS temples along the way |
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| Arriving in Salt Lake City - you can see the capitol building to the right of the left-hand building |
We settled in at the Hampton Inn. Tomorrow, we will make a brief bus tour around Salt Lake City before making the next long bus ride to Jackson, Wyoming, with a lunch stop scheduled in Afton, Wyoming.
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