Julia gets arrested on the way to Kanab........(well, nearly)

Moab was our first real taste of Utah and the land of the Mormons, but we had so much more ahead of us.  It is a state that has a rather large preponderance of incredible national parks and activities.  So in a way, I suppose, they can really claim it as God’s country ;o) Seriously though, Utah had impressed us so far and the bike ride we had just done was certainly a match for almost any other experience we had had to date.  Take a look at the video Julia has put together below:

Click Here to Watch our 

Mountain Biking Video

On the road again

From Moab we were to drive South West to Kanab…..as the crow flies.  However just because the crow would fly South West doesn’t mean the Saroians would drive South West.  Oh no dear reader.  First we had to do a little circuitous route through Bryce Canyon. 

Because of Julia’s foot condition, hiking long distances (or in fact short distances) was a no no at the moment.  So planning in a lot of time to see Bryce Canyon was pointless.  Bryce is the canyon famous for it’s semi-circular amphitheatre style rock formations.  If you have been to the Coliseum in Rome then you’ll see immediately the similarities between the curved shape of the far wall in our photos and the tall pillars that in Rome look like the supports for the terraces.  Hiking along the bottom of that Canyon is a marvel, but one we were not to enjoy.  So we aimed to drive through and look at it from above, then drive on to Kanab.  In this way we’d save ourselves a day of sightseeing whilst in Kanab and be able to just relax and do nothing for a day.  LUXURY!

Before we got to Kanab though, we had a lot of Mormon back country to get through and it was everything you are imagining.  Perhaps even more.  Stopping in a little town called Koosharem for petrol, we realized some of the stereotypes are true.  The lady who owned the place was certainly sweet enough, but listening to her advice to another driver “not to drive through x, because it’s the KKK capital of the county”, well that put a different light on things!  First off, in Europe we kind of forget that the KKK is still alive and kicking, we think it only exists in films with Denzel Washington in them.  Second, the way she said it was the county’s capital (county not country), implied there was a lot of activity in the county ….so much so it had an HQ!  Finally the county is only a small part of the state and the guy she was warning was white….it was all a little bit weird.

Can you tell we take photos from the car?

When she started asking me if I had understood why her daughter was excited, I got nervous!  (her daughter had just gabbled something in American Country Teenage language)….. I politely informed her that as an Englishman, we were separated by a common language and furthermore it wouldn’t behoove me to eavesdrop on a young ladies conversation, certainly one I wasn’t going to understand anyway.  The lady laughed it off, made a polite enquiry about our travels, then nearly exploded with wonder as I told her about our trip…..through Utah.  Yes, apparently just the 8 or so hours of driving in Utah made her eyes bulge.  God (Mormon or otherwise) knows what she would have made of our world travels.

Back on the road and we were happy to have experienced what we had just seen and even happier to have enough fuel in the tank not to get stuck out here J

As we approached Bryce the weather was closing in.  Clouds were scudding overhead and the further ahead we stared the darker it was becoming.  Soon enough we were driving through a slight rain-storm and we noticed a set of flashing lights ahead of us.  Now Julia is adamant that there is no way on God’s green earth she was travelling at 19 miles per hour over the limit.  I personally believe her, but I also know she has a propensity to let her leaden foot get away from her sometimes.  Either way, she had cruise control on and that was set for only a few miles an hour over the limit (65mph).

Benjamin Cox of the Utah Highway Patrol (Section 10) had some hardware in his car that suggested otherwise.  So we pulled over and waited.  Then wound down the window and began the usual litany that goes along the lines of: “What! You’re KIDDING officer….no no no, we were NEVER going that fast.  Impossible.  We’re God fearing, law abiding citizens!  She’s GERMAN!  She would never break the law!”  In the end Officer Cox lets Julia off with a warning because his equipment can get confused by rain and therefore he has a 1% doubt in his mind about her actual speed.  We wished him a Happy Independence Day (I am sure he thought I was being sarcastic) and moved along, with a very contrite looking Julia doing her best to drive below the limit.

In Bryce National Park now and the lightning kicked off.  There are a number of points to stop and take photos of Bryce Canyon and we had thought of starting at the highest point (also the furthest into the park) then make our way back to the entrance, stopping on the way down.  The thunder storm certainly sped this process up!  Standing at around 8000ft elevation on a hill-top in a thunderstorm is not the wisest course of action, so we did our duties and moved on down the hill.

 Thankfully the rain was short lived and we could stop at the other viewpoints and relax a little, taking in the views of what we were to miss.  Hiking is not really my thing, so there was a small glow of happiness that Julia’s foot acted as our “hiking veto” for the trip.  Seeing those canyons made me reconsider.  Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad after all.  They are incredible.  The bands of layered rock were testament to the millions of years of erosion’s effort we were enjoying.  It’s stunning.  Certainly (in my opinion) more interesting than the Grand Canyon.  Sure the GC is big, but Bryce is more interesting to look at.

Happily the roads were not too busy and with me behind the wheel now (we couldn’t afford any more brushes with the law) we pointed Billy Bob, our trusty steed, towards Kanab.  Don and his two small horses he calls dogs were waiting for us to arrive and we didn’t want to be late.  Part of the AirBnB thing is that, as you’re staying with real people (i.e. not hotel chains) and further, you’re staying on their property, you really don’t want to mess them around with arrival times etc.  They have lives to lead and we knew that Don wanted to head to the town’s 4^th July celebrations that evening.

just stunning

By the time we arrived the sun was beginning to set and the scenery was gorgeous.  Off behind Don’s house are the cliffs of the huge mesa that overlooks Kanab and all around was the countryside of Western movie fame.  Kanab itself is a small town of around 3,500, but after the back-country we had just been through it felt quite large.

Our new friends Dani and Don

Don came out to great us and immediately we felt welcomed – he’s a man of many parts and it wasn’t long before we were chatting away and getting to know each other.  Not much longer after that we were driving with him and his friend Dani to the town’s 4^th July celebrations.  I just told you how this was a small town (in Europe it would just about be a village), but the fireworks display they put on was amazing.  Sat in the main park of the town, amongst all the other locals, it was a fantastic atmosphere and one we will always remember; real Americans celebrating 4^th July in a classic kind of way.  It was also Utah, so there was a hell of a lot less alcohol, which is probably a good thing! (I know, I know, I DID just say that).

Julia just loves the rafting video (on iphone)

Back at the ranch and we went straight to bed.  We were staying in Don’s lovely house and we had a whole 6 days in a row here.  You cannot imagine how grateful we were for the comfort and peace we had in this place.  Especially as tomorrow was a day of rest.  We lounged about, Julia made her excellent rafting video (Below) and in general …..did nothing.  Wonderful.  That evening we had Don and Dani over for burgers and life was almost normal again.

You show me yours....I'll show you mine

Over dinner Don offered to take us out the next day to some ranches around the mesa and to see some special sights on the cliffs.  There were some impressive dinosaur footprints and Native American pictographs (or petroglyphs) to be seen.  So next day we all piled into his off road jeep and up he drove us, to the foot of the cliffs. 








As we were on private ground it was ok to look around and see if there were any relics of the past lying around.  You aren’t allowed to dig anything out of the ground, but as it had been raining for the first time in 10 months over the last few days, there was a small chance something would have washed up.  I immediately found something to make me smile – Russian Thistle aka Tumbleweed. 

Tadaah

A little further on and Julia proved again she really could find gold in a pile of manure.  She lets out a little cry of joy and there she is, standing alone in the heat of the sun, arms aloft and a grin splitting her face from ear to ear.  She had found an absolutely beautiful example of craftsmanship that could be anywhere between 800 – 1500 years old.  It was an arrowhead, probably from the Anasazi Tribe.

With that find the day seemed perfect.  I’ve never been treasure hunting before and doubt I’ll do much of it in the future, but for those moments there was a real thrill between us all.  Thanks for that experience Don.

Then he took us on, really off-road now, rattling the Jeep and our bones over boulders and stream-beds, up steep cattle tracks and finally on to the top of the mesa.  Half an hour later we were staring down over the massive valley that Kanab sits in. 

 Wow.

Wonder what I'm up to?

What a sight.  I was so busy looking out that I didn’t look down.  So it took a while for me to realize I was standing next to dinosaur footsteps!  Yup, millions of years ago a small herd of raptors had been walking along these rocks (probably mud back then) and left these footprints.  There was mama’s footprints and babies footprints right alongside.  Amazing! 

Then it was a short but steep walk down to the point where the natives had drawn against the walls hundreds of years ago and then back down to town. 

 The excursion was another example of how lucky we have been with Airbnb.  There is no way we would have done that if we had been staying in a hotel.  It’s also an example of how great a system it is for meeting interesting people and making new friends.

Though we were both a little tired, we had the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to see.  After the relative disappointment of the South Rim, we were both intent to give it a chance.  So back in Billy Bob and off to the famous Grand Canyon.  This time we weren’t hung over!

Last little look on the map where to go

Our hippy piper

We arrived near sunset (our plan) and immediately realized why people say it is just more impressive.  For a start there are fewer people – though it would seem that however remote the place is, we always come across Germans!  We even came across a family of Armenians!  Honestly, you just can’t get away from your roots.  There was French being spoken elsewhere and frankly it was all a bit weird, but we put our sightseeing hats on and focused on the canyon.  As we walked out to Angel’s Point two lovely ladies were sat, one drawing the canyon below and the other playing a plaintive, sorrowful tune on her wooden recorder.

Wow.

Chubby Armenian Kid?  You betcha!

Surrounded by Germans, Armenians and French, Asians snapping away and now we had a couple of lesbians playing hippy in the final rays of sun over the Grand Canyon.  Special.  You could not make this stuff up!

I shouldn’t point fingers at trigger happy Asians, we certainly took our fair share of photos.  By the time we were done we were going to have a good few hours ahead of us on the computer to whittle out all the bad shots.  



The colours and formations at sunset were intense and once our musical hippy friend had left, the peace of the place was surprising.  As we walked back to the parking lot that was broken somewhat by a large group of elderly Americans getting drunk loudly on the balcony of the hotel on the rim.

close enough to the edge

Alex showing off a crazy smile

the ugly and the beautiful tree

one for Rudi

Billy Bob Junior or William Robert III, our beloved carriage

Another spider wasp, this thing was huge

Our drive home should have been uneventful, but this is the USA and a nighttime drive is actually a desperate attempt to get home without ruining the front of your car and receiving a set of deer horns in your chest as a souvenir.  Quite a few times I had to slam on the brakes as I either spotted a large deer by the side of the road or one ran out in front of us.

We were both more than happy to stretch out in bed that evening.  Tomorrow was a busy day – we had planned some kayaking and a trip to a beautiful slot canyon.  Of course, this meant getting up early.  Great.

Another one for the collection of road signs