Grand Canyon, north rim

When we arrived yesterday Ron & Roberta and Mel & Dee were already there.  They had been to Zion and Bryce Canyon national Parks while we were in Moab and Monument Valley.  Good to with our RV friends again.  None of us have been to the north rim so we are looking forward to the experience.

               The trip to the park was through forest and meadows as the aspen trees were turning yellow.

                                    Here's Mel and Dee at the north rim near the visitors center.

This view is from the visitor center & lodge area.  We got lunch at the deli and took it to the porch of the lodge to eat as we looked at the canton.

In addition to the visitor center/lodge area there are two other key viewing areas you can drive to. The pictures above and one below with Judy are from the furthest one out, about a 20 miles ride.  If you click on the picture below to enlarge it you can see people on the top of the cliff jutting out into the canyon.

This is a view as we drove on the narrow road to the second viewing area about 8 miles off the main park road.  The trucks mirror and rear fender hit more than one bush.

On the way back we ran across this heard of bison casually having their dinner.

Monument Valley, UT to Jacob Lake, AZ

Being an early bird Judy was up at daybreak and took a walk around the campground and took some good pictures as the sun rose over Monument Valley.  

                      Then we were off to Jacob Lake to see the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

 

As we traveled through the desert the temperature got up to 90 degrees at about 3900 feet.  as we climbed up to 8000 feet and Jacob Lake the terrain turned from desert to pine forest.  It was raining as we climbed and arrived at the campground.  When we arrived the temperature was 59 degrees and the pine forest smelled great.

Monument Valley, UT

One more arch as we left Moab.......................

OK, on the way to Monument Valley...............

The landscape begins to change................

Mexican Hat Rock................

The tall red "monuments" now appear.......

The "monuments" seem to be clustered for the most part in a relatively small area.  They are miles apart but this area covers  hundreds of miles.

This is our site for the night in Monument Valley.  The campground is in a box canyon.

Judy and I have never seen so many small class C rental RV's.  We see hundreds of them now.  This campground and the roads are full of them.   There are many many large buses with tourists too.

Movie museum

There are many many movies made in this area starting in the late 1940s.  We watched Rio Grande two nights ago with John Wayne which was made in this area.  A lodge about a half hour from Moab on the Colorado River has a museum so Judy and I rode along the river to check out the museum.  After that we stopped and did our laundry and filled up with diesel as we are off to Monument Valley tomorrow.  Moab is quite touristy with ATVs, river rafting, the two national parks, off road jeeps, hiking and the like.  This is a pretty area but we are starting to miss green trees & grass and blue water. The water out here is brown.

                                                          Here's Judy with the Duke.

Remember Thelma & Louise?  It wasn't the Grand Canyon they drove off, it was here.  Here's Thelma, the dummy, that was recovered from the river along with the Thunderbird.  Louise was never found.

Here's a couple pics from a winery patio.  Surprise, Judy tasted but didn't buy any wine!

And here's a couple pictures taken along the river road.

  

Colorado River evening cruise

Last night we had a BBQ dinner followed by a 2 hour evening and night cruise on a very large flat bottom boat on the Colorado River.  After the sunset there was a truck with a generator and large spot light driving on the road adjacent to the river lighting up the rock walls.  It was interesting and perhaps a little spooky.  No pictures after dark. 

Arches National Park

Today we toured Arches, we spent about 3 hours driving through the park and going for 2 or 3 short hikes to view some on the arches.  Following are a few of the pictures we took......................

                                                                      Three Sisters

                                                                    Balanced Rock

                                                              OK, time for some  arches

Here's Judy in the entrance to the below arch.