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Blogging on the road when you have access to limited internet and not great cell reception, is hard!

Leaving Vegas was a relief. The city is awesome, don't get me wrong, but it is also very taxing on the senses. I felt over-stimulated on Sunday and was very relieved to see the steering wheel of my car again. Before my Vegas vacation concluded, I'm happy to say that my quartet, Drive, did very well in our first international appearance and Vocal Revolution continues to make strides as a repeat international competitor.

The view of the contest venue, Planet Hollywood, from my hotel (Marriott Grand Chateau)

The southwestern corner of the US has a characteristic that was unbeknownst to me – beautiful landscapes. I've taken a myriad of photos while traveling through interstates and scenic byways, somehow finding ways to catch my breath before the next mountain ridge takes it away again. If only there weren't so many 'scenic view points,' I might actually have made it to my campsite when I planned to!

The colors are a bit untrue, but the storm in the distance made some sweet landscape love to the sun rays

First stop out of Vegas was the Grand Canyon. I learned that there's a South Rim and a North Rim, and the latter is only open during the summer months. Paired with a strong recommendation from a former BHS society president, naturally I made my way to the North Rim. I stayed 45 miles north of the park, in a little piece of civilization known to locals (and Google maps) as Jacob's Lake. Arriving on a Sunday, I had a pick of the available sites that had been deserted by the weekend warriors before me. In my infinite wisdom, I chose the site that had 3 spotlights from the adjacent gas station in clear view. I built a fire, but I didn't need it.

From the North Rim

The bridge inside the Grand Canyon, in between Supai Tunnel and Roaring Springs

The Grand Canyon, in a few words? A big, fancy hole in the ground. The view points were pretty cool, but I figured the real story was waiting in the hike down into the canyon. I chose a route that targeted 2 spots – Supai Tunnel and Roaring Springs. If I felt good by the time I got to Supai Tunnel, I was going to press on. Because the route to Supai was downhill, I felt great; I pressed on.

The funny thing about canyon hiking is that there's nothing funny about it – turns out, I don't prefer it at all, because the hard part is getting out of the canyon (uphill) and I had already finished 3 out of my 4 sandwiches by the time I made it to Roaring Springs (I think I missed something, because Roaring Springs was incredibly disappointing) I was in the canyon a total of 11 hours, about 4 hours down and just over 7 hours back out. The views were incredible, but I found that the real treat of the day was being able to complete a very difficult hike. I'm weird like that. I also slept incredibly well that night.

The original thought/plan was to visit the south rim after the north, to get a full scope of the oversized pot hole. However, there were too many people (including a previously mentioned society president) that recommended Bryce Canyon as a 'must-see.' From the north rim, it was something like 3 hours away on wheels. New plan: Bryce Canyon.

Which, (spoiler alert) was absolutely the right decision. I'm sure the south rim is nice, and I'm sure I'll see it at some point, but Bryce is just too cool for school.

Approaching Bryce from the south, I got to revisit highway 89 through Utah once more, but instead of going west on 9 to Zion like before, I kept traveling north to route 12 and banged a right.What I like about the roads down here is that if you have even a small sense of direction, the road signs make the GPS obsolete. I followed every highway marker to the front gate of Bryce, and was able to snipe a campsite within the park for 2 nights. After setting up my tent, it was mid-afternoon. I knew I wasn't going to make any real progress on foot, so I saved the hiking for the next day and instead took to the roads within the park. There are plenty of places to stop, hop out, and snap a few candids. After about an hour of that, I headed back to my site, thinking it would be absolutely terrific to set up a fire and cook some hot dogs. The weather pattern had other plans in mind. It rained until about 10pm, leaving me with little energy to try and whip up some heat for a pair of franks. Better luck next time.

Illness has slowed my spirits a bit – I had a bit of chest congestion paired with a sore throat since leaving the Grand Canyon. I slept in a bit, out of necessity, and I think that helped. After breakfast, my daily puttering, and a cup of coffee from the general store, it was about 10am and I finally started to tour Bryce Canyon.

It's not even fair how cool this looks in person

One thing I've been thinking about, when comparing the 2 canyon national parks: Bryce is far more glamorous and (I think) easier to tackle with limited time. If I had a week in the Grand Canyon, I would most certainly have hiked all the way to the Colorado River, a place that I'm sure has its own secrets and grandeur. Only having one day there was tough, but I got the point.

Bryce opens itself up as soon as you walk to the edge. I felt like I could see the entire attraction in one panoramic shot! I started at the Sunset viewpoint, as the sun was nearing the high point in the sky. I wanted to wait for the sun to start angling in the afternoon to catch some shade during my hike, so to get started, I decided to trek an approachable 1.3 mile loop known as the Navaho Trail. The immediate switchbacks were reminiscent of the last canyon excursion, but were far more populated.

Halfway through, the Navaho Trail meets up with 2 other trails. I told myself I would take it easy in the middle of the day, but I'm also quite good at not taking good advice, even when its my own. The Peek-a-boo Trail was an additional 3-mile loop that ended back where it started, so I decided to tack it on. I was nervous about the sun, but turns out there were plenty of spots to stop and enjoy the shade before moving on. Tackling this in the middle of the day, was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Clouds incoming

Thor's Hammer

And then a hail storm wildly appeared.
It was CRAY-ZEE.

The brilliance of Bryce can be seen from the rim, but being up close to the rocks inside the canyon is absolutely where the magic is.

After 4.5 miles of canyon spelunking, I found myself out of the depths with impeccable timing. The clouds started to threaten the day, and thunder began to sound off the incoming storm. Within minutes, I found myself running for cover in a hail storm! Ice pellets larger than the average pea came storming down with limited warning, and I swear the temperature dropped 30 degrees in less than 20 minutes. I found myself outside one of the park lodges, underneath a roof awning. The storm eventually tapered off and I made my way back to my car, to check my belongings and get my mind wrapped around what just happened.

Which brings me to about now! I'm showered and ready for a second attempt at an open-flame hot dog.

Coming up – ML comes to town and then it's Red Rock, Lake Tahoe, and San Francisco.