Get your kicks on Route 66

Cedar City: Breakfast at the Abbey Inn — waffles again. Then we headed down through Zion National Park. Temperature was cool but not too cool. It was CRAZY BEAUTIFUL. Some day I’ll show you the 300 photos that Sue and I took of it. Leaves were turning orange and yellow. Pine trees were still dark green. Rocks were red. Sky was blue. Camera batteries were almost dead.

We stopped in Kanab, Utah for lunch at McDonalds. Then we took the 89A down into Arizona, skirting around the Vermillioin Cliffs. We’d already realized that the striking stripes of color that we’d seen in so many brochures were actually from a place called “The Wave”, a place in the Vermillion Cliffs that is restricted to 20 visitors a day, with permits required, and that we wouldn’t actually see that. So we drove through the big valley south of the Vermillion Cliffs, and then turned south to the Grand Canyon.

We entered that national park from the east entrance, just as we’d done in the fall of 2008, After paying our second $25 national park entrance fee of the day (first one was at Zion), we drove along the southern rim of the canyon, stopping at several lookout points for photos.

Then we exited the park and headed south to Williams, a quaint little tourist town along the old Route 66. Old cars, old motorcycles, old museums, old hippies just like us, staying in the many old-style motels and eating in the old-style diners. Checked into the Lodge on Route 66, then headed down the street to a diner for burgers, beers, and Monday Night Football. Settled into our room for the second half — we hadn’t realized that we’re in a new timezone here and it’s actually an hour EARLIER than what we thought it was. Oh well, early to bed. What else is new? Tomorrow we’ll reach ‘home’ in Gold Canyon.