At the risk of boring everyone with countless ooohs and aaarhs over what we have seen in each individual National Park I am going to summarise the 6 glorious days first. For the less-than-dedicated blog readers it will save you from abridged but tedious accounts of each day.
Sonoma was beautiful and a great place to start. Only an hour from San Francisco and an easy drive to get to know each other again. There was a Bear Raising Flag festival on and the place was alive. The
El Dorado Hotel was fabulous and in the best location and the restaurant we dined at
The Girl and the Fig was first class and just across the street.
Monday we headed to west of the entrance to Yosemite National Park - dull peripheral city scapes until we got into the mountains. We spent the first night at a B & B called
The Blackberry Inn in Bucks Meadows California right in the middle of beautiful mountains and forest full of hummingbirds.
Tuesday we drove into Yosemite National Park through Big Oak Flat Park entrance. It was everything and more I had expected - a huge larger than life vista of monoliths, waterfalls and green green forest. We visited all the major features and took hundreds of photos and were speechless in awe of a very special place.
From Yosemite Village in the valley floor we headed over the Tioga Pass to around 9,000ft - more amazing monoliths, mountain lakes and huge alpine meadows with lots of people climbing and walking and taking advantage of a beautiful Spring day . We stayed the night in a weird little town called Lee Vining - comfortable and basic but necessary to continue out route east.
Wednesday was a long drive on long straight roads - what I didn't expect was the continual display of mountain ranges and we stayed basically at an altitude around 8,000ft.
Zion National Park was our destination and the
Desert Pearl Inn was fantastic, right in the middle of the canyons. Zion was totally unexpected and planned purely a stopping place on route to the Grand Canyon, but it was another amazing red red canyon. All the National Parks are very organised with continual shuttles to the vista points encouraging visitors to abandon their cars and relax and be shuttled around.
The Mount Carmel Highway that runs from Zion towards Grand Canyon North Rim is one of those engineering feats you must experience. 1.8 miles through the mountain along a road winding through the spectacular red cliffs. Amazing and thankfully my camera takes great moving shots through the car window because it was all around us.
We spent the next afternoon enjoying the Grand Canyon from the North Rim - recommended because it is higher, forested on approach and fewer visitors. It did not disappoint and once again I was moved by the emotion of the sheer size of the place. Photos can only attempt to show the grandeur - words will fail.
We stayed the night at the
Kaibab Lodge 18 miles from the North Rim and the closest lodging other than the amazing Grand Canyon Lodge which literally hangs over the edge. What I liked about all these parks is the lack of fences unless it was a sheer drop and sometimes these were missing too. It really made you feel part of the landscape and each place was so quiet except for the wind in the trees and the birds. It is hard to imagine how it was all created, but it is fairly clear to see from the North Rim, because of the height, the part water played in making this amazing sight.
Friday we headed north to Bryce Canyon. We had to drive through Red Canyon 8 miles short of Bryce and it too was spectacular and the road cut right through it. We stayed the night at at Bryce View Lodge which was less than ordinary. The Syrett family has owned this land and the ensuing facilities since the early 1900's until today. It is all part of the
Ruby's Inn complex and the new Best Western opened in May 2009 would be the best place to stay other than camping in a tent under the stars.
Bryce Canyon was incredible and once again am at a loss to describe it - all the parts were different from each other and individually breathtaking. Bryce was like nothing we had prepared for. Kate and Chris even did a 2 hour hike right through the middle of this incredible landscape.
We are back in Steamboat now and it is as green here as it is usually white. I will update as the days go by.
When you come to a place winter after winter and see everything pure white - mounds of snow and heavily laden stark trees, it takes your breath away to see wild flowers and green, green meadows.
