North by Northeast: The Beginning

Keith hikes along a well-worn trail in Bryce.



View from Nora as we drive into Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

At last...I can start writing again after a summertime hiatus.  As soon as I returned from Hawaii, Keith and I were on the road again astride "Nora," our motor home, and Abyssinian pals Acadia and Baxter.  We've been making a trip north to Fargo, North Dakota, for the past few years now, enjoying an annual visit with Keith's mom and brother Kent and his family.  Along the way, we like to stop and explore or re-explore parks, monuments, and special attractions, like train museums.

The first day of our journey took us up along my favorite highway in Arizona, Arizona 83, past the Grand Canyon, the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, across the Colorado and into what is called the Arizona Strip.  The strip is the long, narrow portion of extreme northern Arizona bounded to the south by the Grand Canyon and to the north by Utah. 

Escalante-Grand Staircase greeted us with its familiar grandeur as we crossed into the Beehive State.  We traveled for hours simply absorbing the astonishing scenery which abounds this route.  Many people choose to head west to Zion National Park, while others head east to Bryce Canyon.  This year, we repeated a visit to Bryce, which offers wild wind- and water-sculpted rock rising like giant thumbs amidst huge cliffs and boulders.  We spent several days exploring portions of Bryce we'd forgotten while also blazing new trails (at least to us) to points we'd unknown.


The wildflowers were at their peak when we visited in early June.
  This penstemon was especially vibrant.

Along one such trail, we descended into the canyon itself, soon surrounded by pines and wildflowers and huge, towering monoliths of stone.  The air was laced with the tangy scent of evergreen and warming earth.  At one point, we walked into a wonderland of wildflowers--a burned out area of the forest rising back to life.  It was carpeted with white and blush evening primrose.  Hummingbirds darted about, eagerly feeding on abundant nectar.  It was simply magical.