US Reunion - part 2
Day 2 was initially to head out to Zion National park as soon as we got up. Since billi was going to join us late it was decided that we would leave as soon as he gets to Vegas. Billi initially had planned to wake up as early as 4:00 in the morning and start driving from Phoenix, AZ to Vegas, so that he would make it to Vegas around the time we got up and would be ready to leave. We got up as early as we could and decided that we should probably go around the strip while we waited for billi. As expected billi never left Phoenix till it was probably 8:00 so we had a lot of time to kill. We decided that we should go and check out Death Valley, since we had some time in hand. After having breakfast at IHOP we headed out towards Death Valley. On the way we managed to get hold of billi on the phone and figured out that he would be reaching Vegas in and hour or so. We scrapped the idea of Death Valley just check some place near by called Lee canyon. We don't know if we made it to Lee Canyon or not we stopped en route for some photo sessions. We took some interesting photos there and then headed back to Vegas to pick up billi from the airport and head to Zion National park, we met up with billi at the Avis rental.
Now that all the people had arrived it was time to start the pre-planned trip of the reunion, we started our drive towards Zion National park. We headed out on I-15 N drove probably like a 120 miles or so and then took UT-9 via exit 16 and headed on that towards the park following the signs. UT-9 goes through the park. The drive through Zion National park is a toast to the eye. Its just amazing how nature could have carved up all those sights. As we were driving through we were contemplating on if we should go and check out Bryce Canyon or not. We wanted to catch the sunset at Bryce Canyon. Luckily we got to decide if we wanted to head to Bryce Canyon before we reached junction US-89. At the junction with US-89 we turned left on to US-89 N at the stop sign. We kept following the signs for the park and turned right on to UT-12. We drove UT-12 for probably less than 10 minutes and turned right onto UT-63 and followed the signs into the park. We kept driving along till we saw sign which pointed us towards the sunset point. We turned left and drove to the parking lot and what we saw there is beyond describable. There are no words to describe what we saw up there at Bryce canyon. Probably the photos would just give you brief idea of what to expect.
After spending sometime taking photos it was decided to head back as it was a long drive to Grand Canyon from Bryce Canyon, nearly 6 hours. We took UT-63 to UT-12 and then UT-12 to US-89. Its a long drive on US-89 S all the way to Cameron. But if you look at an atlas you will find that if you take US-89 Alt you could shorten the drive by like 50 miles which would mean an hour of drive. Saving an hours drive in such a long drive is something you would love. At Kanab city you need to take US-89 Alt S instead of following US-89 S. We were really hungry by then and well were really lucky to find a Pizza Hut open that late and we all dug into our food. After eating we were all really feeling better and decided to hit the road again. We took the US-89 Alt all the way to Jacob Lake and from there kept following it till it merged onto US-89 and then we followed US-89 S all the way to Cameron. The drive to US-89 Alt is really awesome its a narrow winding road most of the way. Hats off to boka to drive us through it really quickly. Once we reached Cameron, we followed US-89 S to junction AZ-64. We turned right onto AZ-64 W and kept following the signs towards Grand Canyon. AZ-64 takes you inside the Grand Canyon National park. We followed AZ-64 W onto AZ-64 S and headed to Tusayan which is a small town just outside Grand Canyon National park, we had our hotel reservation there. En route to the hotel through the park we nearly hit a huge deer, it was probably a moose, anyway who cares it was huge and scary. It was really a close call, a near miss, well driven boka!!! We checked in into our hotel for the night, or should I say for the morning. It was decided that we would all crash after seeing the sun rise. It was decided that we would be playing 29. I decided that I would crash for sometime till we were to head out to the park to check the sunrise, as I had to drive the way back to Las Vegas. The others I guess played 29 till it was time to leave to check out the sunrise.
Now that all the people had arrived it was time to start the pre-planned trip of the reunion, we started our drive towards Zion National park. We headed out on I-15 N drove probably like a 120 miles or so and then took UT-9 via exit 16 and headed on that towards the park following the signs. UT-9 goes through the park. The drive through Zion National park is a toast to the eye. Its just amazing how nature could have carved up all those sights. As we were driving through we were contemplating on if we should go and check out Bryce Canyon or not. We wanted to catch the sunset at Bryce Canyon. Luckily we got to decide if we wanted to head to Bryce Canyon before we reached junction US-89. At the junction with US-89 we turned left on to US-89 N at the stop sign. We kept following the signs for the park and turned right on to UT-12. We drove UT-12 for probably less than 10 minutes and turned right onto UT-63 and followed the signs into the park. We kept driving along till we saw sign which pointed us towards the sunset point. We turned left and drove to the parking lot and what we saw there is beyond describable. There are no words to describe what we saw up there at Bryce canyon. Probably the photos would just give you brief idea of what to expect.
After spending sometime taking photos it was decided to head back as it was a long drive to Grand Canyon from Bryce Canyon, nearly 6 hours. We took UT-63 to UT-12 and then UT-12 to US-89. Its a long drive on US-89 S all the way to Cameron. But if you look at an atlas you will find that if you take US-89 Alt you could shorten the drive by like 50 miles which would mean an hour of drive. Saving an hours drive in such a long drive is something you would love. At Kanab city you need to take US-89 Alt S instead of following US-89 S. We were really hungry by then and well were really lucky to find a Pizza Hut open that late and we all dug into our food. After eating we were all really feeling better and decided to hit the road again. We took the US-89 Alt all the way to Jacob Lake and from there kept following it till it merged onto US-89 and then we followed US-89 S all the way to Cameron. The drive to US-89 Alt is really awesome its a narrow winding road most of the way. Hats off to boka to drive us through it really quickly. Once we reached Cameron, we followed US-89 S to junction AZ-64. We turned right onto AZ-64 W and kept following the signs towards Grand Canyon. AZ-64 takes you inside the Grand Canyon National park. We followed AZ-64 W onto AZ-64 S and headed to Tusayan which is a small town just outside Grand Canyon National park, we had our hotel reservation there. En route to the hotel through the park we nearly hit a huge deer, it was probably a moose, anyway who cares it was huge and scary. It was really a close call, a near miss, well driven boka!!! We checked in into our hotel for the night, or should I say for the morning. It was decided that we would all crash after seeing the sun rise. It was decided that we would be playing 29. I decided that I would crash for sometime till we were to head out to the park to check the sunrise, as I had to drive the way back to Las Vegas. The others I guess played 29 till it was time to leave to check out the sunrise.
posted by Bharath at 2:12 PM
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