Our National Parks Vacation

Day 1

Friday, June 25

We left Seattle on Friday evening, after work and drove to the Grand Coulee Dam, where we saw the laser light show about the "Mighty Columbia River". We spent that night in Spokane.

Day 2

Saturday, June 26

We spent this day mostly driving, getting from Spokane to Butte, Montana. On the way, we passed through Missoula and Helena, the capitol of Montana. That night we stayed at the Finlen Motel. Apparently, this used to be an important landmark, since their guest list was impressive (albeit they've all been dead for the past 50 years, or so) and included some ex-presidents such as FDR. Today the place also serves as an Army recruiting site, so it was filled with sign like "To all personnel and guests..."

Pictures:

- Iris and Michal on a ridge overlooking a valley in Montana.

Day 3

Sunday, June 27

This is the day we reached Yellowstone National Park, the first of the national parks we were to see on this trip. The park is extremely beautiful, and combines great landscape, with exciting geothermal activity and fun wildlife viewing. The weather was a bit nasty today, but we tried to make the best of it.

Pictures:

Day 4

Monday, June 28

We spent this day in Yellowstone as well. The weather was much nicer and we got to see old faithful doing its thing.

Day 5

Tuesday, June 29

We left Yellowstone, and headed towards Salt Lake City. But the park still had one surprise left for us, we got to see a bear on the way out. We drove through Grand Teton National Park, and reached the outskirts of SLC by nightfall.

Day 6

Wednesday, June 30

We saw one of the most impressive sites of our trip - Arches National Park in Utah. As parks go, this one is not very large, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in amazing sites. This entire area of Utah boasts impressive rock formations, but Arches packs some of the most interesting into a small space.

Pictures:

Day 7

Thursday, July 1st

We spent most of this day in Salt Lake City. You might wonder why we went back North to SLC after spending the previous night near Arches, especially since the next destination was Canyonlands. the reason is that we had to put the car in for service, so on Wednesday, we left it in Bountiful, Utah, took a rental car to Arches, and Thursday, we drove all the back to SLC (a four hour drive) to pick up our now fixed car. So this was our Trip to Bountiful.

Day 8

Friday, July 2nd

Again we made our way from SLC South, this time to Canyonlands National Park. This park is huge! Unlike Arches which packed its wonders into a relatively small area which was easily driveable, in Canyonlands we had to drive many miles from one point of interest to the next. Canyonlands turned out to be mostly a park for either camping or backcountry 4x4-ing. Since we did neither, I guess we missed the most interesting parts. After Canyonlands, we decided to make use of the remaining daylight hours to see Natural Bridges National Monument. Strangely enough, this park was almost deserted, we saw only one or two other cars there. It's a shame since it's a very enjoyable park, and only takes about 90 minutes to see all the bridges, and this includes hiking down to the largest (and most accesible) one.

Pictures:

Day 9

Saturday, July 3rd

This was the most surprising day of our trip. We went to visit Mesa Verde. Originally, we hadn't planned to visit this park, since it is in Colorado, and we didn't think we'd get that far. However, a collegue at work recommended it, so we moved some things around and made room. Boy, was it worth it! Unlike the other parks we saw on this trip, here we came to see man-made relics, as opposed to natural formations. This was a welcome change, and made a good diversion. The ruins themselves were gorgeous and we even got to take a ranger guided tour around one of them. On the way back from Mesa Verde we went through Four Corners, and did the "tourist thing".

Day 10

Sunday, July 4th

We spent July 4th in Page Arizona and went to see the Rainbow Bridge. Since you can only get to the bridge via either a 14 mile hike or a two hour boat trip, and we aren't such great hikers, we opted for the boat trip. The trip itself was great, since you are basically travelling on a man-made lake - Lake Powell - created by the Glen Canyon Dam. The lake fills the areas canyons with water. So, on the one hand, you are on a boat floating on a lake, on the other hand, you are surrounded by the red, yellow and white rock formations that are present in Canyonlands - and that till now I associated only with desert surroundings. The contrast makes for a very enjoyable trip.

Days 11

Monday, July 5th

Grand Canyon! True, its big, and yes, its impressive, but somehow, it didn't live up to our expectations. Perhaps it was the heat, or the fact that we didn't take any trips into the canyon itself, and had to admire everything from the rim.

Days 12 - 13

Tuesday - Wednesday, July 6th - 7th

these were the days we were in Vegas. We stayed at the Luxor but also went around to see the other casinos. The heat was oppresive, so much so that even at night we didn't feel like going anywhere there wasn't a air conditioned passage. We also didn't feel much like driving along the strip. These two limitations meant we only got to see the Southern part of the strip, maybe next time we'll see the North.

Day 14

Thursday, July 8th

We left Vegas just as the rains started. first we went to Hoover Dam, but the intense heat, coupled with the fact that we had already been to the Grand Coulee Dam, and to Glen Canyon Dam, convinced us not to spend the $8 for the dam tour. Lucky thing, since too, since by the time we got back to Vegas on our way to our next destination - Zion National Park, the skies really opened up. It was the worst rain they'd seen in Vegas in 15 years, and they closed the highway soon after we passed. By the time we got to Zion it was already late, so we didn't have as much time there as we hoped, still what we saw of the park was very beautiful.

Day 15

Friday, July 9th

I don't think I'd be exegerating if I say that our next park - Bryce Canyon - was the high point of the trip. We arrived early and had time both for a some nice trails and to drive around to the various scenic points. Our pictures clearly don't do the place justice, but I can say that the pay-off for even the shortest trails was well worth the effort.

Day 16

Saturday, July 10th

We drove all the way from Salt Lake City back to Seattle, it took about 14 hours.All in all we drove around 5000 miles this trip, that's quite a lot of time to spend in the car. On the way back to Seattle, we drove past the Teapot Dome Gas Station, it took a few wrong turns to actually find it, and it was closed when we got there, but we still got a nice picture.