Daily Archives: February 11, 2009

Vacation – Part 4

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It was easy to see that we were in for another great day when we woke up on the morning of day 4 in Page, Arizona. Just look at that sunrise!

These next four pictures show the countryside that lies between Page and Flagstaff, Arizona.

Our morning coffee break was at The Cameron Trading Post in Cameron, Arizona.

This was a large shop and many souvenirs were purchased here.

As we headed out of Cameron, the terrain began to change again and it was clear that we were getting closer to the Grand Canyon. http://www.nps.gov/grca/

And then we arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

This is the Watchtower at Desert View on the Grand Canyon’s south rim.

The Watchtower was built in 1932. Primarily an observation station and convenient rest stop for Grand Canyon visitors, it was also intended to bring about a better understanding of the American Indian and his life in past and present.

The Watchtower is a re-creation of the strange prehistoric towers found scattered over large areas of the Southwest. The ancient towers were used for the storage of food and for protection in times of war. By way of an inside ladder, the tribe could climb up to the several landings and, by removing the ladder, foil attempts to storm the citadel. Attackers were forced to replace the ladder and to climb single-file through the small floor openings–while the defenders waited, tomahawk in hand. This is a view outside one of the windows on the top floor of the Watchtower.

This is a picture of my parents standing on the edge of the south rim of the Grand Canyon. My parents started this same tour last year. Because of health issues, my parents’ trip was cut short last year and they had to return home. This was one of the reasons for taking the tour this year. Last year, there was so much snow on the road leading up to the Grand Canyon that no one was able to see the Grand Canyon. My Dad was disappointed that he missed seeing the Grand Canyon last year. Seeing the Grand Canyon this year was at the top of both my Dad’s and my list. We were all so thrilled to be standing in this spot admiring the magnificent view!

This is my Dad in front of one of the many Pinyon-Junipers that are plentiful in the area surrounding the canyon.

And of course these pictures are what we all came for……the magnificent view! Pictures and words will never come close to capturing how we felt when we saw this.

The brochure I picked up at one of my stops says that, the “Grand Canyon–one of Earth’s most powerful inspiring landscapes–overwhelms our senses.” Truer words were never written.
The Grand Canyon is 277 river miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and a mile deep.

Vacation – Part 3

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On day 3, we headed out from Salt Lake City through Filmore and Cedar City, Utah to Zion National Park. http://www.zion.national-park.com/

I took many, many pictures in the park.

The scenery started to change the closer we got to the park.

Pictures definitely do not do the scenery in this park justice!

Once through the park we stopped at the trading post at Mount Carmel Junction.

This is a picture of my mother….reluctantly posing in front of the trading post. 🙂
This was the gorgeous view that greeted us as we drove towards Page, Arizona where we spent the night.

Vacation – Part 2

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Our holiday started January 15 with a flight to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. When we arrived in Saskatoon in the afternoon the temperature was -22 degrees Celsius (-7.6 degrees F) with the windchill.We spent our first night at the Saskatoon Inn. This is the view from our room on the fourth floor. These structures are actually the skylights on a lower roof than our room. I didn’t venture outside to take more pictures because of the cold. I only took pictures that I could take from the hotel window. As you can see, the snow blew up against the skylights. This is exactly the sort of weather that we are wanting to leave behind as we head south in search of sun and warmth!

This is the inside of the Saskatoon Inn. This atmosphere is tropical in decor and is a stark contrast to the cold winter day outside.

We boarded the motor coach and travelled the first day through the southwest corner of Saskatchewan crossing the Canadian/US border at Climax, SK and Turner, Montana. We spent the first night in the US in Helena, Montana. When we arrived in Helena just after 8:00 pm the temperature was 36 degrees F outside. Although the weather was cold when we left Saskatchewan on the morning of January 16, the sky remained clear and the sun shone as we travelled. You can see by this picture of the sunrise in Helena that we were in for another gorgeous sunny day on day 2 of our travels.

After crossing the Continental Divide at Elk Park Pass we emerged at Butte, Montana.

As we passed through Butte, we could look back over our shoulders to the top of the mountain where we could see Our Lady of the Rockies. Our Lady of the Rockies is a likeness of Mary, Mother of Jesus that stands 90 feet tall and sits atop the Continental Divide 8510 ft. above sea level overlooking Butte, Montana. Our Lady of the Rockies is the United State’s largest Madonna and the second largest statue–second only to the Statue of Liberty: http://www.ourladyoftherockies.com/

You can see by this picture that we have not yet left the snow. However, the sun continued to shine as we travelled along the highway headed towards Idaho.

We crossed the Monida Pass — named after the states it separates: Montana and Idaho. This is a very high mountain pass on the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains at 6,870 ft. The Monida Pass can be a very formidable place in bad weather, experiencing high winds and blowing snow. This is a picture of the fence created to assist the traffic by slowing the wind gusts a bit. The day we travelled the Monida Pass the weather was perfect.

Our lunch stop was Idaho Falls, Idaho.

This is a picture of the angel Moroni statue atop the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. This temple is visible across the Snake River in the Idaho Falls Park.

After lunch we drove through the Idaho Falls Park downtown to get a closer look at the rapids that form the Idaho Falls. The falls were still frozen in some spots, but the weather had warmed enough to allow some of the water to flow freely.

We stopped for afternoon coffee in Ogden, Utah before arriving at our evening destination of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Vacation – Part 1

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I have been MIA from the blogging world for most of January and the first week of February.

I have been on vacation! I was doing what many Canadians have been doing for years–escaping the cold winter and visiting the sun.

These thimbles represent some of the places I visited on this holiday. Montana, Idaho and Utah.

Arizona, Route 66, The Living Desert (California), and Palm Desert.

This was the coach that took me to all these places. This coach belongs to Terry of Ryjo Tours who not only chauffeurs the coach, but owns the coach and the tour company as well. If you are interested in the Royal treatment while travelling almost anywhere in North America that a motor coach can travel, check out Ryjo’s website at: http://www.localcanada.com/Index.asp?storeid=536

This was a holiday that I shared with my parents. I took hundreds and hundreds of pictures so sit back, relax, and enjoy a coffee as I share some of those memories with you.