2009 summer vacation: do you hoodoo?
by HML
Peaceful, scenic photos in the Gimlet Gallery.
The final hotel on our Southwest odyssey was Ruby’s Inn, which has been welcoming guests to Bryce Canyon since 1916. Team Gimlet had mostly good experiences with their lodging along the way, and Ruby’s Inn was a highlight; with plenty of shops, entertainment, and activities, it was a fun place to stay. As with Moab at the beginning of our journey, we’d like to return to Ruby’s Inn and stay a little longer.
Unfortunately that evening a few of us experienced a touch of altitude sickness (Bryce Canyon is at 8000 feet, and most of the viewpoints are well above that) but a good night’s sleep and our faithful water bottles helped prepare us for the next day’s tour of the canyon.
Our timing in visiting Bryce Canyon was fortunate: a fire had kept most of the park closed until two days before our arrival, and as it was, we could see wisps of smoke along the road and from some areas. As all the viewpoints are on one side of the road through the park, we took our guidebook’s advice and drove to Rainbow Point at the end of the park, then worked our way back to the park entrance, making easy right turns to each scenic overlook.
What a difference from the Grand Canyon! We had the road to ourselves, and there were only a few cars at each viewpoint. It was still early enough in the morning that we saw deer and antelope under a cloudless sky.
Unfortunately there were plenty of discouraging words heard within the Gimletmobile, to the point that The Gimlet and Your Humble Narrator took to leaving the Things in the Gimletmobile at the overlooks (sometimes with the AC left on, sometimes with the windows rolled down, depending on how charitable we felt) so the adults, at least, could enjoy the scenery and have a little peace.
Did we attempt too much in one trip? Maybe so. However, we’re glad that we got at least a little time at all the parks and places we visited, and can use that experience to plan more in-depth trips with fewer destinations in the future, especially when Thing Two is older. Food and/or water (not necessarily in that order) was usually the antidote to grouchiness on the trip, and lunch restored everybody’s good spirits. We then drove back through Red Canyon, headed north to the GrandGimlets on the other end of the state, in Cache Valley.
We made a few quick photo stops as per Bopa’s request to see old childhood towns Panguitch and Junction, but after that we didn’t stop until we pulled into the Maddox parking lot for an (almost) end-of-the-road feast. We arrived in Logan just after 7:00 pm, greeted by the cousins eager to play with the Things. We weren’t quite home yet, but it was good to be in familiar surroundings and with our family.
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Tags: national parks, utah
