So we got up the next morning, packed up camp, rolled up the makeshift awning and headed down the road toward Bryce Canyon National Park. Having camped just down the road from it, we didn't have far to go. We stopped at the guard shack and asked the ranger lady what were the sights to see. She asked if we were hiking and I kind of giggled a bit and said not today. She recommended stopping at all of the view areas along the way. Sounds good and we're off. Bryce Canyon NP is set up as an out and back, so I decided to head all the way down to the end and stop at all the points on the way back.
Misery and disappointment sets in right about now.....
For all of you that have been following along over the years, you may remember my epic trip to Glacier National Park when we waited for good weather and ended up going through the park in the rain and fog and saw almost nothing that we went to see. Why would I bring this up right now?? Well, similarities. Ridiculous similarities. Ugh. Really?!? Yes, really:
Photographing water vapor in the air is very challenging for me. The truck is visible in the picture, but was invisible in person from this distance. This wasn't fog. This was the clouds. FFS, what is it with us and National Parks??
We can't see jack here. Anywhere. Well, let's head back and see if we can see anything on the way back out.
Nope:
We can see a little bit here. Looks kind of creepy, but cool at the same time:
So all of the stops along the way are obscured by water vapor. We get back toward the entrance area and there are a couple different view points that are a mile or so off the main road. We are all pretty bummed at this point, so I ask it we are interested in traveling further to be disappointed. We all agreed that we should at least go through the motions, so off we go for more disappointment, just further off the main road. Well, maybe we are having a change of luck??
The clouds were rolling around through the area so quickly I had to be quick on the shutter to get some good pics. Not saying these are good, but they are better than the "ghost images" I had been getting at every stop prior (notice the gray layer at the top of the pic??).
Gotta be quick:
At the last stop I had the best luck. This place is just visual overload:
Our last stop netted the best views and literally saved the day:
So we went down and checked out the lodge. While roaming through the gift shop my wife accidentally swiped a shirt for me. She had thrown it over her shoulder while we were looking around and when I was paying for the stuff, she forgot to put it on the counter. It wasn't realized until we got in the truck. It was actually a rather funny incident. I took the shirt back in and explained the situation that I needed to pay for this shirt. Traveling often makes for some fun stories LOL. On our way out of the lodge, effectively being a history loving gear head on vacation, I found an old service station that was built in 1947 and last used sometime in the 80's (I think). It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. It had some really cool architecture and a few artifacts still inside.
A different angle:
Through the glass:
So we headed out and stopped at a restaurant outside of the park for a late lunch. We spotted a parking spot and jumped on it. No sooner were we out of the truck and some old boy came up to us telling me there is a sign over there (a tiny, very easily missed sign) saying this is for compact vehicles only and we can't park here. I only drive large vehicles and had the truck parked in a professional manner that obstructed nothing, but this parking monitor's authority was going to be respected. You're really going to make me move?? Oh yeah, I HAD to move. All the way across the lot. So we went in and had lunch. While we were in there the sky absolutely opened up. Deluge. Insane amount of water. We had to wait it out because we were parked on the other side of the lot now. It finally let up and we headed down the road to Tropic where we got a room and had to do some laundry. We found out that the only public laundry facilities were all the way back across town. So we gathered up our stuff and walked all the way back across town (couple hundred yards maybe??). Met a cool guy who normally travels the area on a dual sport bike, but was traveling with his wife and dog, so they were in their Jeep. Had a nice visit with the while our clothes were cleaning. He had all kinds of information on neat trails and roads in southern Utah. Unfortunately everything just got rained on.... This is going to be an issue in the near future....