Vacation Week Four - Part Two

 The last part of my vacation took me to the fifteenth US state on my adventure - Utah! I drove from Holbrook, AZ to Panguitch, UT. Panguitch is a few miles from the Bryce Canyon National Park. Very exciting!

A bonus attraction that I was not aware of was Glenn Canyon Dam. It feeds into Lake Powell.

Up to this point, I liked most of the hotels I stayed in along the way. The hotel in Panguitch -- not so much. Oh well. 

I drove the short distance to the park first thing in the morning. It is recommended to get to these parks early during the busy season. I am glad I did! While you can drive to most of the popular spots in BCNP, parking is not always available. While walking around two of the parking lots, they looked like mall parking lots at Christmas time! I rode the shuttles to the various sites to take pictures and hike a little. 

Here are some of the many beautiful sites at BCNP:

After resting that night, I decided to get up very early so I could visit the Zion National Park on my way to Flagstaff, Arizona, the last leg of my vacation. Like Bryce Canyon, Zion is also on some lists of the 25 most amazing US national parks. While you are mostly looking down from the canyon rim at BCNP, you mostly look up at the rock formations at Zion. Here are some of the pics.

Please understand that there are SOOO many beautiful spots, it is hard to stop taking pictures!

I took pictures of the highlights of the park, then drove to Flagstaff for the night. I wanted to break up the drive home, plus I wanted to have one more adventure. Despite all the rain and flooding in the Arizona "high country" I was able to ride the Arizona SnowBowl gondola ride! The top of the ride is over 11,000 feet high! Here is a pic of the ride:

If you are interested in hearing me narrate my trip up and down on the gondola ride, please see these YouTube videos:

Going up.

Coming down.

I made one last stop on the way home - the Rock Springs Cafe! It is a well known cafe and pie shop north of Phoenix. On a Monday afternoon, I had a 25 minute wait for a table. The place has great food and pies. It also has some interesting decorations. 

The general store has many hard to find homemade jams, jellies and sauces. Here is the link.

I hope you enjoyed my vacation blog entries. I know i enjoyed writing them to share my big adventure!