Part 3, November 2008 Land Cruise News

Part 3 starts with us leaving Zion National Park and heading for Bryce Canyon.

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The scenery on the day we left Zion was a bit obscured by the overcast weather. Here is a natural amphitheather, one of many we saw in Zion.

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The immenseness of things here is staggering. We found ourselves always looking up.

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The hole in the wall is one of about 6 ventilation galleries for the 1.5 mile long tunnel we went through leaving Zion.

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When we first entered the park, the Park Ranger asked if we would be leaving from the other side. Our answer was yes so he charged us $15.00 to go through the tunnel. $15 to drive through a tunnel? Well, what we were paying for was someone on the back side of the tunnel stopping traffic so we could go through down the middle. The tunnel was built so long ago that it only accommodates two way traffic involving small vehicles. Any vehicle over 11'4" must drive down the middle. Interesting experience.

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The topography changed yet again as we traveled from Zion to Bryce Canyon National Park. The striations on the landscape were very dramatic.

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Not sure what kind of bird this is (woodpecker??) but he sure liked the berries on this tree.

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The fall colors were still very vibrant.

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We climbed high enough to see lots of snow on the mountain tops. The trees on the top of the ridge were covered with snow.

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The first hint of Bryce Canyon-like colors and rock formations came as a total shock. We literally turned a corner and came to these vibrant orange hoodoos.

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We drove in and out of Dixie National Forest for what seemed like forever.

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We kept climbing and climbing to higher elevations and cooler weather.

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The sun was shining but the wind was blowing. It seemed like it was in the 20's and we were out there taking pictures and ooohing and ahhhing. (But it wasn't that cold)

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We were going to stay the night in a campground but after checking it out, decided to move on. The following are pictures we took at Bryce Canyon. It was truly a dream place. These photos do not do the expanse and color justice.

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Chuck felt right at home when these ravens hung around looking for food.

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If you ever get a chance to see Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, DO SO. They are absolutely drop dead gorgeous. We do have a beautiful country.

We hope you aren't getting bored with our multi-part Land Cruise News because there is much, much more to come. We're sorry the files are so large, but the beauty that we have witnessed makes it almost impossible to downsize the files. Forgive us. We are sending this email from Flagstaff, Arizona.

Chris and Chuck