Day 65 - Bryce Canyon / Drive To Salt Lake City / 11,000 Miles

My relatively short drive over to Bryce Canyon National Park was yesterday afternoon as j stayed in Bryce Canyon Campground last night.

This is Red Canyon on the west entrance to the park.

Here is a short tunnel on the road in.

I arrive at Bryce Csnyon.  I had to wait for two groups to take pictures befor I could get this one.

I find my camping spot for the night.  Half off for my senior card cost me $7.50.

These group of deer came to visit the campground near my site.

You can see the snow on the ground and at 8000+ foot elevation it got down to 19 degrees before sunrise.  I tried wiping the moisture off the windshield and it was frozen on the inside.  Not my kind of weather, but my sleeping bag was warm, but I just didn't want to get out if it this morning.

At least I was ins car that was a few degrees warmer.  There are a large number of tenters that must be cold this morning.

I drive down the scenic road before sunrise to save time by doing my site seeing on way back ascot is a 19 mile dead end road.

Look who else is cold waiting for the sun.  He did talk to me but had no idea what he said.

I like the lighting of this picture and the silhouette I get of the bird and tree branches from the backlight of the sun coming up.  You never know when a photo will be more than you expect.

I am guessing he is asking what the heck I was doing out here so early,  there were no others on the road yet.

The following pictures are only a sample of what I took and you can see.

Natural Bridge.

I like the morning light for these colors.

Some red stone and some off white.

There are a number of hiked you can take down into the valley to walk between the spires.

Here is one such trail.

The snow adds an additional color dimension to the picture.

Well,  it's time for me to start heading to Salt Lake City to meet up with family so I plan to take the less traveled roads to see scenery and small towns.

I drove out of the park and headed north on some numbered road but it wasn't a beehive on the sign so I knew it wasn't a state road.  I drove 45 minutes mid day befor I saw another car.  I did see one guy tilling the field.  This was what I would call a Mesa as it was high in elevation before heading into valleys and staying there.

On this photo I picked up a crisscrossing of contrails and a couple of clouds.  I didn't see this until I posted it here.

I went past Otter Creek Reservoir

After a long time of driving I approached I70.  

(Web photo)

I stopped at Mom's Cafe for some lunch.  My stomich was asking for something different.  This is a very typical small town dinner type restaurant in the center of Salina, UT,

(Web photo)

I took a seat at the bar and ordered their speciality burger and fries and you also get s salad.  This is the first burger I have had in I don't remember.  It was a treat.

The service was good as was the food.  Yelp was right on.

I continued on back roads but now on US89 headed north towards Provo, UT wher I will pick up I75 for just a few miles to Salt Lake City.  I saw this temple along the way after a brief stop at McDonalds for drink and downloads.

Here I get gas just south of Provo on I75.

Even though there is snow in the mountains it is 72 degrees at the time I take this picture.

Tonight and the next few nights I plan to stay at a motel.  I booked the reservation some time ago not knowing what the weather will be.  It was nice and warm this afternoon for tee shirts but az soon ss the sun goes down the temperature drops off.

Each day I plan to do some touring and then hook up with family each day.  Then it's back to staying in the car, unless I hook up on another deal at the Colorado Belle.

When I got gas today I checked and I have now gone over 11,000 miles on my 2015 Travels to get here and have only spent $523.00.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com