Last updated on May 1st, 2024
A work conference brought me to Utah in during the summer 2006. Not wanting to miss a great travel opportunity, I added two weeks of vacation before the conference. We used that time to see a lot of Utah and bits of Colorado and northern Arizona.
Utah
Along the Way to Capitol Reef (Wednesday, August 2)
Rather than following the Interstate south as far as we can, at Nephi we pick up Highway 89. From here we can slip over to Mount Pleasant and Spring City before heading down through Manti and Salina and then on to Capitol Reef National Park.
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This is a generally rural area, with small towns and scattered ranches surrounded by green irrigated fields.
A guidebook billed this as a bucolic route through lovely old Mormon farm towns with stone buildings and quaint Main Streets. While not what I am expecting (I must have missed the quaint Main Streets), there are some lovely stone buildings scattered about – amid a variety of other historic structures.
The stone used here is mostly white, probably local limestone or Navajo sandstone. Unlike marble ,the rough texture of the stone gives these structures a solid, practical feel.
In Spring City – along with a wealth of lovely historic buildings – we come across a group of children selling lemonade and cookies outside the Mormon church.
The children have large, handmade signs advertising their wares that they hold above their heads as they run after passing cars shouting out. The lemonade and fruit drinks are provided by one of the children’s grandmothers and, at 25 cents a glass, it makes for a nice break. They say they are having a good day, sales-wise, and it does appear that their adult neighbors and friends are giving them a good amount of business…
The land becomes drier and rockier as we head south, making this small reservoir (probably along Highway 24) seems incongruous.
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Ending the Day at Capitol Reef (Wednesday, August 2)
Leaving via the Scenic Backway (Thursday, August 3)
The Burr Trail and Highway 12 to Bryce (Thursday, August 3)
Evening at Bryce (Thursday, August 3)
Fairyland (Friday, August 4)
Kodachrome Basin (Friday, August 4)
Touring Bryce (Friday, August 4)
Sunrise at Bryce (Saturday, August 5)
Red Canyon (Saturday, August 5)
Along the Way to Zion (Saturday, August 5)
Evening Along the River (Saturday, August 5)
Morning at Zion (Sunday, August 6)
East of Zion (Sunday, August 6)
Arizona – August 2006
Searching for Sunset at the Grand Canyon (Sunday, August 6)
Sunrise at Point Imperial (Monday, August 7)
Along the Cape Royal Road (Monday, August 7)
A Mule Trip (Monday, August 7)
Sunset Again (Monday, August 7)
Morning at Bright Angel (Tuesday, August 8)
On the Road in Northern Arizona (Tuesday, August 8)
Antelope Canyon (Tuesday, August 8)
Sunset at Monument Valley (Tuesday, August 8)
The Goosenecks (Wednesday, August 9)
Natural Bridges in the Rain (Wednesday, August 9)
Hovenweep (Wednesday, August 9)
Colorado – August 2006
Morning at Mesa Verde (Thursday, August 10)
Afternoon at Mesa Verde (Thursday, August 10)
A Morning Tour at Mesa Verde (Friday, August 11)
???? (Friday, August 11)
Evening at Cliff Palace (Friday, August 11)
Utah
Newspaper Rock (Saturday, August 12)
Dead Horse Point (Saturday, August 12)
An Evening at Arches (Saturday, August 12)
Almost Sunrise at Arches (Sunday, August 13)
Floating Down the Colorado (Sunday, August 13)
On the Way to Park City (Sunday, August 13)
A Taste of the Olympics (Tuesday, August 15)