Exploring Southern Utah!

On Saturday Inez and I flew from Fort Myers, FL to Las Vegas (via Charlotte).

When we arrived at the car rental place we were terrified to see 100 people in line ahead of us!

Inez tried to scramble to another line-less agency but they wanted $2,400 to rent a car for the week. Well, our car at home isn’t even worth that much. Plus the line looked like it was moving, albeit slowly.

An hour later we got through and fortunately landed a cool Jeep (with Hawaii license plates).

We started the 160 mile drive to Zion along I-15 and once we got out of Vegas it started to become very scenic.

We stopped in the town of St. George for a Mexican dinner at Irmita’s Casita (no website) and it was PHENOMENAL. The town of St. George was beautiful – new homes, beautiful parks, golf courses, etc. There’s an airport there and it’s close to Vegas and I guess Salt Lake City (and the National Parks) so it has some appeal to retirees.

The rest of the drive, with the setting sun behind us….was UNFORGETTABLE and a premonition of what was to come all week.

After a long day, and being on EST, we hit the sack. Stayed at the Marriott Springdale which was very new and nice. It was the first time in a year that we could move about without masks.

Sunday we rented eBikes ($100 each) and zipped up and down the park. We hiked up to the Narrows BUT did not do that highly rec’d hike upstream. We did however hike up Angel’s Landing. It’s time to look at the pics:

Zion National Park photos and videos – CLICK HERE.

Unfortunately Inez sprained her ankle on the way up to Angel’s Landing. The descent was pure torture for her. And it sucked to suffer such an injury on the very first day of a hiking trip. 🙁

Sunday night dinner we squeezed in, by a hair, very late at Switchback Grille – which was terrific and contradicted its 3.5 stars.

Monday we took it easy. Hit the visitor center. At “dinner” just before lunchtime to beat the rush. Basically you couldn’t even order takeout (they couldn’t even answer the phones) never mind walk into a restaurant.

Everyone was short on help. And the place was jammed. The eBike rental place said they were booked all summer – all 57 bikes!

If you are going during the peak season….be sure to make a lot of reservations well before you go!

Tuesday we started the 72 mile drive to Bryce Canyon. What a ride! I drove so Inez enjoyed more of the views (so I didn’t drive off a cliff – or into one).

A gentleman at the Marriott told me to “do the horseback riding” when I lamented to him about my wife essentially “loosing her footing”.

Inez called right away but we had to go on a waitlist. Again, all booked up.

When we arrived at Bryce, we drove up to about half of the viewpoints. Time for the pics – you’ll see we did get on the horses, thankfully.

Bryce Canyon photos and videos – CLICK HERE.

One quick story… When our group first started on horseback down the canyon, the girl on the horse in front of Inez just about died. Her horse, aptly named “Porky”, bent over and started munching on grass. Except the grass was over the edge of the cliff! She was scared. We were too. That horse tortured her the whole ride by trying to stop and eat. It didn’t react to her pulling on the reins!

Additionally, they actually gave me a “jack-ass”, not a horse. When I asked about it they claimed they tried to “match rider to animal as best as they could”. #LOL No wonder they gave me that and they gave Inez a “high horse”!!!

We left Bryce around 4:30 pm and began the long 267 mile drive to Moab. It was hard to do research on the phones with coverage in-and-out, and hard to figure out which road to take. There was a faster route and slower more scenic route – via route 12. Someone online said the Route 12 drive was the BEST DRIVE ON EARTH. So we went with that.

IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT !!!!

Seriously, this drive was sooooo incredible that we rightfully should have spent 1.5-2 full days doing it – stopping off and whatnot to hike.

We stopped briefly in Torrey for dinner – again at a new Mexican restaurant that was being overrun by demand! And didn’t make it into Moab until very late at night. We were SPENT at that point and crashed at The Gonzo Inn. The place was personally rec’d to us and despite being a little funky, we’d gladly go back. (The rooms were huge, suites actually.)

Moab is a funkier, hippier, crunchier town in general. At lot more “masks” than at the other places – if you catch my drift. But not at the hotel, thankfully.

On Wednesday we took a “jet boat” up the Colorado River. Time to see the pics:

Moab photos and videos – CLICK HERE.

In the afternoon, I went on a local hike all by myself (Hidden Valley Trail) because Inez was still on the mend with her ankle. I was a little nervous going off into the desert. Mountain lions? Snakes? What if I fell? I was also hiking in Luna Sandals for the very first time this week and was a little leery about that.

On Thursday we got up early and drove to Arches National Park (see the pics). It was still swollen, but Inez was able to walk more by now. The park was nice, but it was jammed, people fighting over parking spots – and I personally wasn’t so into the “arches” because I thought the rocks and vistas in every direction were just as majestic.

In the afternoon, we went for a ride up the La Sal Mountain Loop:

We did not get to Canyonlands National Park with was close to Moab – nor did we get to Dead Horse State Park. Next time…

In Moab, we enjoyed two fabulous lunches at 98 Center Moab

What was funny was how we met another vacationing couple there on Wed….and then we saw them there again on Thursday just like us!

Friday morning we checked out (got donuts – see pic) and started the 233 mile drive to Salt Lake City. It too was nice – not like RTE 12 but coming from FL and the Northeast….I enjoyed it.

We had a great, late lunch at Sol Agave in American Fork (that’s the town’s real name!).

We stayed right across from the Jazz home arena – whatever it’s called now – downtown. And we had a spectacular afternoon biking up to the capital.

To see a few Salt Lake City photos – CLICK HERE.