Because we couldn't take a road trip this New Years weekend, and thus blog it, we decided to share the story of our last New Years weekend.
We spent the first night {Friday} in the quaint town of Cedar City, Utah. Our plan was to see Bryce Canyon Nation Park, The Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park {along with any other place that struck our fancy}.
Early Saturday morning, each with a cup of hotel coffee in hand, we took the road headed for Bryce. Winding our way up the mountain road, through Dixie National Forest, we passed cascades of ice, frozen in their flow down cliff sides, deep blue and pale in color. At a viewpoint on the summit, we stopped to look out over the land to the south. In the distance you could see the north buttes of Zion. Grand and primeval, cloaked in their own shadows and outlined in burgundy by the rising sun, I {Will} felt them capture my imagination.
As we drove the remaining hours to Bryce, the growing tint of red in the hills and rocks we saw, mirrored our growing excitement. Neither one of us had been to Bryce before. The road to the park entrance followed a line of sandstone cliffs. The crags and shadowed crevices seemed to hold a watchfulness, like eyes of an unknown people marking our travels.
Finally at Bryce, we stopped at the Sunrise Point, near the Queen's Garden. From the rim of the canyon, the earth sloped down hundreds of feet to the floor below, and was filled with pillars of stone all colored in gradients of orange. {Fun fact: the pillars are called hoodoos.} The shadows among the hoodoos and the caves in the cliff walls held prehistoric mystery. While there, I {Will} wondered what kind of ancient doings the worn stone had witnessed. Finishing our tour of Bryce, we turned south toward Arizona. Our destination was the small town of Page, where a hotel would be our base for the weekend.
Reaching Page, we checked in at our hotel, got coffee, and headed for the nearby Colorado River, where I {Maria} wanted to capture the sunset at Horseshoe Bend. { It had been a bucket list item for years.} If we had known that a horde of tourists had descended upon the spot, we might have avoided it. As it was, we walked into a maelstrom of people bustling around the cliff tops {with no railings, might I add! }. Children and dogs ran free, and adults jostled each other for the "perfect" picture. We got a few pictures, but left fairly quickly.
The next day we rose early and headed to the Grand Canyon. The drive to the South Rim was several hours through the barren red and gold rock of Northern Arizona. Once we reached the canyon, we found crowds of tourists to again be a factor in our experience. I {Maria} had seen the canyon before, but I {Will} had not. To be sure, it was a grand sight, but with all the people, the chaos wasn't worth it. We ended up leaving earlier than we'd expected and made the decision to drive down to Flagstaff.
Arriving in Flagstaff, we found the nearest coffee shop and proceeded to sit and write for a time, sipping their amazing cold brew. After that, we walked the around the shops in the old downtown district. Everyone was getting ready for the New Years Eve party that would encompass multiple businesses and establishments. Though we would have loved to stay and partake in the merriment, we were not able to because of the long drive back to Page.
When we arrived back in Page, it was almost midnight and we were tired. But guests at the hotel were shooting off fireworks in the parking lot, scaring away sleep. So, that's how we rang in the New Year.
On the road again, very early the next morning, we stopped to watch the sunrise over Lake Powell before continuing on to Zion. After a two hour drive, we entered the park from the East entrance. By then, it was only midmorning and the sun was just beginning the warm the air. The miniature canyons and creek beds along the road, and the alternately gently curved or sharp angles of the sandstone monoliths, made the landscape seem a giant's playground. Several times we stopped the car to poke around and explore the red and golden rock. Then, we passed through a tunnel, leaving behind the giant's playground and entering a landscape for the gods. Towers of red rock striated with gold and black stone rose above us, literally causing us to catch our breath. The pull I {Will} had felt from afar to the majestic cliffs was mysteriously real.We drove the corridors and delightedly took in each new vista of pebbled river bed or copse of trees. In a place called the temple of Sinwava, we left our car and wandered for a while, gazing at the water carved cliff walls and the Hanging Gardens clinging to the stone, a thousand feet above our heads.
With work and normal life waiting for us the next day, we regretfully left Zion in the afternoon, feeling it far too early to go. But we will go back again, to Bryce, to Zion, to walk among the hoodoos and the temples of trickster gods. Or to hike in a Queen's Garden and maybe, just maybe, climb Angels Landing.
