Eastern Europe Trip

It’s only been 5 days since my last post, but we’ve done so much that it seems like a very long time ago…So in future, I’ll be back-dating the blog entries to the days to which they relate…

My last post concluded with me sat on the balcony at the aptly-named Majestic View lodge enjoying a cool beer. In reality, I started the post that way, but finished it after dinner when we returned to our room stuffed full of large burgers…






Since then, the end of each day has seen me more than a little exhausted as my senses have been bombarded with one great experience after another. I’ll try and recall a few as I bring you up to date with our latest adventure…

Tuesday

Once again we woke relatively early before grabbing breakfast in the lodge restaurant, and hitting the road. The drive through Springdale in the early morning with the roof of the Mustang down (as we’ve had it most of the time) reminded us that it can get quite chilly at these altitudes when hidden from the intense rays of the sun, and after stopping at the bank to get some more cash (good job Tracy has her card with her, as mine blocked itself when I tried to take out a large number of dollars), we had to put the roof up in order to prevent icicles forming on our noses.






The drive back into Zion and onto the scenic route 9 through the tunnel and on towards Highway 89 was punctuated by frequent photo stops (I’ll post a large gallery when I get home, as there’s too many to include in the blog). The landscape constantly changing as we made our way towards Bryce Canyon…






Here we are entering Red Canyon… wonder why it’s called that…











When we arrived at Bryce Canyon, we took a leisurely drive along the canyon road, stopping at the various view points to take yet more photos. Here the scenery is very different to Zion, with fantastic long-range views and the most remarkable rock formations – “Hoodoos” – which are the unique feature of Bryce Canyon. Again, photos speak a thousand words…


















When it was time to leave the canyon and head for our hotel, we took the canyon road back out of the national park, only to have our journey interrupted by a small group of Longhorn deer crossing the road…






When we finally arrived at the Stone Canyon Inn in Tropic (found eventually after Tracy had asked for directions as it was down a dirt road out of town), we were met with yet more great views – this time from our bedroom!










Having checked in, we went into town for a meal, before heading up to Bryce to try and catch the sunset. Only we arrived a bit too late, and whilst the sun was still up, the canyon was in shadow. Not too disappointed, we made our way back to the inn and watched a DVD in our room whilst drinking a couple of beers we’d bought from the shop in town. Before turning in, we headed out of the inn to look at the mass of stars – with the air so clear and so little light pollution the sky was simply full of them… Quite a sight before bed!