Kanab, Utah!!

November 5, 2021 / Ed Armstrong

I had a wonderful visit with my Aunt Kathy!

After a wonderful visit to Monument Valley, I had the honor of visiting my Aunt Kathy and her friend Bob in Kanab, Utah! This is where Kathy and my Mother grew up, so Kanab is a very special place to me.

It was fantastic to visit and visit with Kathy and Bob! It has been several years since we have seen each other, so we had many things to catch up on. From relatives, to dogs, to future motorhome trip locations in Utah. It was a truly fantastic visit!

After leaving Kathy’s house, I headed east and found a wonderful isolated camping spot near Hurricane, Utah. It is near Zion National Park, one of my favorite national parks! I did not bring my mountain bike on this trip, but there are mountain bike trails all over the area. It is beautiful and the weather is ideal.

A beautiful area to enjoy! Quiet and very scenic!

Monument Valley!!

November 5, 2021 / Ed Armstrong

The morning sun on the rock formations was majestic!

I have had an absolutely fantastic motorhome trip to visit Monument Valley. Although I grew up in Flagstaff, I am embarrassed to say that I never have visited Monument Valley. It is spectacular!

This Mexican Hat is quite famous in southeastern Utah!

I started off spending the night in a dispersed camping area in Mexican Hat, Utah. I had a fantastic spot to camp with a perfect view of the famous Mexican Hat! No one was around me, so it was quiet and had a great view of the stars at night.

I loved this early morning photo that silhouetted Mexican Hat rock!

As the sun became closer, I noticed a sliver of the moon up above!

From Mexican Hat to Monument Valley, I drove through the road that was made famous by running Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. It was fun to recognize the location.

Forrest Gump running and running made this section of Utah road extremely famous!

The morning sun was wonderful as it highlighted the rock structures on my way to Monument Valley.

I loved the clouds in this early morning photo!

Below are some fun photos from my 3 hour “sunset tour.” I need to return here. I was breathtaking and difficult to take in all the scenes. This was a wonderful bucket list item!

I thought the left mitten was beautiful! The correct name is West Mitten Butte.

God is quite creative and awesome! This is East Mitten Butte.

God has a sense of humor. Do you see Snoopy laying down on his back?

This is Chief! I think he is awesome and fierce!

Monument Valley has some amazing rock formations! Everywhere you look there is something amazing to see!

My guide showed me a number of different petroglyphs. I think she said this was estimated to be 900 years old!

This photo was taken through a hole in Submarine rock looking north in Monument Valley.

The amazing rock formations in Monument Valley never end!

I think this was my favorite rock formation. It is called Totem Pole. She timed our trip so we could see Totem Pole highlighted by the setting sun.

This is the eagle eye! I had to use my cell phone to take the photo because my 18 mm wide angle lens was not wide enough to capture the whole eagle.

The setting sun created some nice “U” highlights of Monument Valley!

The setting sun created a fun photo of the Three Sisters!

As we arrived back at our tour starting point, the sunset created a warm glow on West Mitten Butte.

I absolutely loved visiting Monument Valley! It was well worth the trip!

Easter

April 6, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

One of the nice things about traveling is you are able to visit a number of churches. We found a Bible church near our RV park. We drove by the day before to see when their services were held and went there Easter morning.

The Easter service was very nice. The worship songs were beautiful and the message emphasized the importance of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. It was refreshing to join them for Easter morning. We said hello to several people and afterwards headed to a restaurant for lunch.

After eating, we saw a movie theater and went to an afternoon movie that Charlene heard was good. When we got back to the motorhome, we started looking at our campground books to plan where we should go next. We still need to finalize our plans as we head back through Nevada and into California.

4X4 Day!

April 5, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We are having so much fun! Our week pass to Zion National Park expired yesterday, so today we decided to let our Jeep enjoy what a Jeep is made to do! We asked for some recommendations for 4-wheel drive roads and had fun driving all over enjoying the Jeep. It was a blast! Southern Utah is beautiful and it was wonderful to drive around in the middle of nowhere enjoying the sites. Charlene put on a classical channel on Sirius radio and we had a wonderful time. Several times the roads were crisscrossed by mountain bike paths and bike riders were going everywhere. We also found several RVs on a couple of the smooth back-roads enjoying some boon docking locations. This is a very nice area to visit. We must come back and spend more time here.

After the 4-wheel driving, we headed back to the coach to watch the Final Four basketball games. We love March Madness (even though it is now April). We are rooting for the underdogs!

Kolob Canyons

April 4, 2015April 4, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Today we drove back to Interstate 15 and north to Kolob Canyons. This is a second section of Zion National Park that is only 19 miles from Cedar City, Utah. Neither of us had been to this section of Zion. It is noted for its high red-orange cliffs. It is not as large as the main section of Zion, but the red rocks are especially beautiful. There were significantly fewer people here, so it was very peaceful and majestic.

We had a picnic lunch in the Jeep while we admired the setting. We drove the scenic drive and kept pulling into the pull-offs to enjoy the light changing on the cliffs. After we finished the scenic drive, we drove up to Cedar City. We went into the Ace Hardware to buy some zip-ties. Charlene noted on their sign outside that not only did they have hardware, but they also sold sporting goods. We thought it was especially unique that they sold handguns at the Ace Hardware and that they had a gun of the week special advertised on their sign. Unique.

Emerald Pool Trail

April 3, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Another beautiful day in Zion, another beautiful view of red-orange mountains, green trees, blue skies, and the flowing Virgin River. Today we went on an easy hike to the Emerald Pools. Very spectacular setting with amazing views 360 degrees around us.

We went under two waterfalls and had the water splash as we ran underneath.

Zion is such an amazing place to visit! The only real negative is there are so many people here for spring break that all the shuttles are cram packed and there are long lines waiting for the shuttles at each stop. The weather has been very pleasant.

Angels Landing

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Ed went with Kathryn and her family on a strenuous hike to the very top of Angels Landing. It has been 40 years since he has been on that hike. The last time, they stopped before the very top because of strong gusty winds and the narrow trail. Check this item off the bucket list!

This is Angels Landing – the goal of this hike.

It was beautiful too see so many different rock formations along the trail.

Walter’s wiggles is a series of switchbacks built into the cliff.

Although most of the trail was steep, the last half mile was treacherous as sections were only 2 feet wide with cliff drop offs on both sides. Six people have died since 2004 from falling off the edge of the cliff.

The narrow sections were a bit scary. We were glad it was not windy when we were hiking!

The view was beautiful at the end of the trail! It was well worth the effort!

View from the tip of Angels Landing in Zion National Park

Zion National Park

March 30, 2015April 3, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We had a great time with cousin Kathryn and her family today. We went on an easy hike called The Riverside Walk near the Temple of Sinawava. It was a beautiful Spring day with plenty of sunshine and leaves forming on many trees.

We loved watching the Virgin River flow through the canyon.

Once we got to the end of the trail, Charlene could not help herself; she had to go into the water. Kathryn joined her too.

Kathryn’s daughters, Elle and Katie, and their friend Lisette enjoyed the water too!

Here is our Drive to Zion

Red Hills Parkway

March 28, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We enjoyed a bright sunny day and went for a hike in the Red Hills Parkway in St George. There were kids and adults of all ages walking all over the rocks. We tried to find a trail, but discovered it was more of a mosaic of people walking everywhere and inventing ways to climb up and over the red rocks. We watched a Mom taking photos of a daughter jumping off a moderately-sized rock into the sand below. We also watched a rock-climbing class practicing on some of the hill sides. We’ll be hiking in Zion on Sunday and, hopefully, it won’t be in the 80’s. Tomorrow’s high (Saturday) is supposed to be unseasonably warm with a high near 85. Sunscreen, hats and cool long-sleeved shirts here we come!

Charlene discovered a cave in the midst of the red rocks. It makes you wonder who lived in here in the past? Especially there was a fireplace at the far end with a chimney of sorts above.

We went of a drive through Hurricane, Virgin, and Springdale. Interesting names for towns. We discovered we have quite spotty cell phone service and that we probably will not be able to make and receive telephone calls and texts at our next RV park. That will be a new experience for us!

St George, Utah

March 26, 2015May 14, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We started off closing up camp from our boondocking site at Lake Mead. We loved the quietness, isolation, and views! We are sort of sad to move on. We especially loved having a camp fire each evening! Roasted marshmallows never tasted so good.

We loved the remoteness. A little different from a crowded RV park.

We drove from Lake Mead to St George, Utah today. We did not get too close to Las Vegas, but Charlene took a picture as we went by.

Las Vegas as we drove by

As we were driving, we were surprised that a large truck with THREE trailers passed us. It was huge! We would pass him going up hills and he would pass us on the level areas.

It was beautiful driving through the winding Virgin River Gorge. Sorry, no photos of it, we were focused on keeping the coach in our lane. Charlene was driving and Ed enjoyed taking in the sites! Within 34 minutes, we left Nevada, drove through a brief corner in Arizona as we went through the Virgin River Gorge, and then entered Utah. In no time, we were cruising into St George.

St George is especially beautiful. We have never been here before. It seems to be a combination of Sedona and Kanab. We love the red rocks and the blue sky! We are having so much fun visiting all these new places!!

This is a map of our Drive to St George Utah