On the Way to Bryce

 

Red Canyon, UT Highway 12 

After we had explored Cathedral Gorge in Nevada, we were on the road again for the last leg of our trip that day. We wanted to arrive at Bryce Canyon before dark. We still had to drive about 175 miles to our destination. We took Highway 319 to Cedar City in Utah where we could have taken I-15 North, but it was such a lovely day that we decided to take the backroads and turned onto Highway 14 East instead. I'm so glad we did since we passed through some spectacular scenery.

All the photos in this post except the first and last one were taken out of the driving car.

We were driving up and up until we turned North on Highway 89 at the high plateau. The shadows became longer.

And finally we arrived at the Highway 12 junction. This is one of my most favorite highways. It starts on a high note by passing through Red Canyon.

The canyon indeed is very red, but since the sun was low in the sky and nearing the horizon, the colors were even more intense. We had stopped here several times before, so we decided to keep on driving.

It's only a mile or two through Red Canyon, but these short miles are heart stopping. 

We got further up until we reached the next high plateau. This view always tells us that we're close to our destination. What you see here is the Table Cliff Plateau which is on the North side of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It is a sight that would accompany us for the following few days.

We turned towards Bryce Canyon at the roundabout. It's just a short way from here to Ruby's Inn where we had booked a room for three nights. We always stay at Ruby's when we're in Bryce Canyon. 

And now a drink for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Last Saturday we had our good friends Bim and Patti over for dinner and we celebrated the Geek's birthday. For that reason we had some very delicious bubbly that Bim had brought. Spending an evening with them is always wonderful.

Cheers to all of you!

Red Rock Country Fences

If you drive up Utah Highway 163 from Monument Valley to Mexican Hat and Bluff you see fences go along the highway on both sides. Just what are they fencing in? This is vast land where nothing much grows - desert. However, perhaps the fence shall keep the sheep away from the road; we didn't see any sheep, though, but I do think they are here (like those Navajo-Churro sheep). In the winter there aren't many cars here, but during the summer months it must be quite crowded with tourists.

This was Christmas Day morning, and we were practically alone on the road. In the distance you can see the mesas, buttes and spires that are so typical for Monument Valley. We had been there the day before, but now we wanted to visit the Valley of the Gods and drive up Cedar Mesa afterwards.

It is not the most welcoming landscape; however, it holds a certain fascination and the red color is just amazing.

It was an overcast day when the sun cast accents in the landscape, illuminating the mesas in the distance.

To the other side it looked quite different - this is the view of Valley of the Gods from the highway. A rough desert landscape where the sun and clouds were chasing each other - but that's a story for another post.

I'm linking up with Theresa's "Good Fences".

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Check out my Valentine's cards in my Etsy store!

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Snow Fence

It's winter, so time for a snow fence. This particular one I saw in Arches National Park this past December.

This is the parking lot for the trail head to Sand Dune Arch (only a few minutes to walk) and Broken Arch which you can see in the top right corner in the photo above. It had snowed the night before and was still snowing in the morning, but then the sun made its way through the clouds and there was even some blue sky. It was very cold, though, especially in the shade.

Sand Dune Arch is hidden among these tall rocks and almost completely in the shade. The ground among those rocks is sandy, beautiful soft red sand - hence the name. I thought that the color of the wooden fence matches its surroundings perfectly.

This is the view to the right, away from those rocks, and as you can see, the next storm was already forming. Quite the dramatic sky, don't you think?

I'm linking this beautiful fence in one of my most favorite national parks to Theresa's "Good Fences".

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New in my store: 

classroom Valentines for pre-school and elementary school kids

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