Vacation Day 6 – Arches to Bryce National Park

Today we woke, packed the car and got ready for our second long driving day from Arches to Bryce National Park.  As it turned out, Linda and I were ready a little early, so we walked over to the grocery store to get a cup of coffee.  There was a picnic table and some trees next to the store and a couple having a breakfast picnic meal from the groceries they had purchased.  Since this is the way that we like to travel, we had to stop to talk with them.  They were from Austria living in a town not far from where Arnold was born.  It was interesting to talk with them about traveling in the US and Europe.  It is kind of fun to exchange perceptions of places from a visitor’s perspective.  They felt it was kind of boring that we only get to drive 65 miles per hour on long straight roads where you could obviously go 120!

After we said goodbye, we gathered up Lieza and Kamar and started heading toward Bryce.  Linda had sandwiches for us, but Lieza and Kamar felt like stopping at a restaurant.  Around lunch time we got to a town called Salina.  The road signs announced the usual chains like Subway, etc. but Lieza spotted a sign for a place called Mom’s Café and suggested going there.  Way to go Sis!  It was a real cool place that has been around longer than me (at least in the 1940’s) and half the town seemed to go there for lunch.  It was intriguing enough that I decided to have coffee and ice cream (Yum).

Mom's - Salina Utah (Not a chain)

We got to Bryce in the mid afternoon, shortly after finishing the audio book “A Walk in the Woods”.  We checked into the hotel and went for our initial exploration of the park.  Once again it was spectacular and completely different from the places that we have been.  We stopped at several of the overlooks, took pictures and contemplated where we would start our hike for tomorrow.

Kamar and Lieza in front of the gift shop

Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon

Small Hoodoo up close

Tomorrow is our last day of real hiking so we are hoping for a great day and great weather.  It should be sunny and cool, so it looks promising.  We think we have a good route picked out.  Wish us luck!


Here is a link to the Picasa Album for Bryce.  Or this link.