This week we’ve been in Salt Lake City, UT visiting siblings John and Jen. There are many hiking and running trails close to the city so we’ve enjoyed those, visited a number of local breweries (Hopkins Brewing Co, Scion Cider, and T.F. Brewing), and spent as much time as possible grilling and eating outdoors to enjoy the perfect 70 degree weather.
Friday evening we drove from Salt Lake City, through Big Cottonwood Canyon, to Park City. It was a beautiful drive along a creek, the aspen trees were changing color, and we had a fantastic dinner (local trout!) in a fire lit courtyard.
The view of Salt Lake City on our hike to the “Living Room.”Fall colors Night view out the door of our Airbnb. We’re staying in The Avenues, which are in the foothills on the Northern edge of the city.The state capitol is just a little ways to the Southwest. Meg took this photo of the dome on a morning jog down the City Creek Canyon trail to Memorial Park.City CreekHiking on the Meadow Trail in the Foothills just North of our AirbnbThe Valleyview Trail connects to the Meadow Trail. Morris Reservoir is the concrete circle in the foreground.Aspen trees in Fall on our way to Park City
We woke up to a crisp morning: high 40’s, but our tent and sleeping bag kept us warm. Perfect weather for hiking and the first day that has felt like Fall. After breaking camp we headed to Bryce Canyon National Park where we hiked the Navajo Loop and Queen’s Garden trails: 3.1 miles and 649ft down to the canyon floor (and then back up!). It started raining as we drove back out of the park, and passed Butch Cassidy’s birthplace on the back roads before getting on the interstate to Salt Lake City to visit our siblings John and Jen.
Sunrise at our campsite in KodachromeView of Bryce Canyon from Sunset PointStarting down the Navajo Loop TrailSo many hoodoosHoodoo closeupThe view from Yovimpa Point where we had a picnic lunchFall colorsNatural BridgeRed Canyon in the Dixie National Forest
After three weeks in the Phoenix area, we’re back on the road again. A longer driving day today: 440 miles from Phoenix, through the Navajo Nation between Flagstaff and Page in Northern Arizona, then through Kanab in Southern Utah to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Glen Canyon DamThe white band shows Lake Powell’s normal level: years of drought have dropped it significantlyOur campsite for the night in Kodachrome, UTGorgeous Utahan sunsetMatt’s new phone also takes surprisingly good night sky photos
Matt embarked on his second week of work while Meg spent the days hanging out with her mom (and finally got a haircut!). We cooked a bit and also visited some favorite Phoenix restaurants including: North Italia, Greenwood Brewing, a return visit to Welcome Diner, and takeout from China Village. It was a relaxing week.
It was a busy week: Meg spent the week at Gammage getting ‘Wicked Bodies’ up and running (Meg’s mom and Matt saw the invited dress rehearsal on Friday), and Matt spent the first week of his new job at Vectorworks on-boarding, celebrating the launch of the 2023 version of the software, and getting up to speed on all of its new features. It was pretty wild to spend a week in the middle of our road trip with both of us working!
Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, AZ. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.Production Office selfieCatching the tail end of Monsoon season means pretty flowers……and moody skies.Tech table still lifeLiz and Keith, right before the performance.Our new BFF Jack!
We started our 3 weeks in Phoenix by waking up to a flat tire, which lead to replacing 3 tires, and then new front brake rotors, rounded out with the 120,000 mile service on our intrepid Prius: thankfully we had Meg’s parents to help drop us off and pick us up from all of the various mechanics. Meg spent most of the week prepping for her performance at ASU Gammage, and we spent the evenings hitting up our favorite restaurants in Phoenix. We finished out the week with a trip Payson to fulfill Meg’s Aunt Sally’s last wishes.
Chase. Such a handsome boy.Welcome Diner is a must-visit for us in PhoenixGorgeous views from Mogollon RimMatt needed a headshot for his new job
We poked around Gallup in the morning before getting on Historic Route 66 for the first part of our drive, crossing into Arizona and on to Petrified Forest National Park. We started our visit in the Painted Desert, taking in the stunning vistas and visiting the Painted Desert Inn, before making our way to the Petrified Forest proper. We then descended into Phoenix via Tonto National Forest, wrapping up 275 miles of driving.
Painted DesertThe Painted Desert InnThe crows were enormous and utterly bored with humansA 1936 Studebaker marks where Route 66 used to cross through the parkBadlandsPetroglyphs The wood in the Petrified Forest turned to stone over millions of years. Fallen logs were eventually covered by silt, silica enriched groundwater percolated through the logs replacing the organic material slowly, and creating a replica in quartz. Eventually, erosion re-exposed the petrified wood and the weight of the stone caused the trunks to naturally break into segments.The size, wight, and colors of the stones (formerly logs) are amazing.
Albuquerque Day 3: This morning we headed East out of Albuquerque to Santa Rosa. We beat the heat with a dip in the Blue Hole and then had a picnic lunch: breakfast burritos (egg, hash browns, cheese, and green chilis) that we brought along from Golden Pride. On the way back to Albuquerque we dropped down to Historic Route 66 for the last 40 miles before picking up some serious New Mexican dinner from El Modelo. In the evening we attended our first baseball game since the start of the pandemic: a matchup between the Minor League Albuquerque Isotopes and El Paso Chihuahuas. Unfortunately, the Isotopes lost in the final inning, but it was a beautiful night for a ballgame.
We made one more visit to Cafe Du Monde this morning and then packed up the car for the 375 mile drive across the swamps of Southern Louisiana, across the border to Houston, TX. We encountered about 15 minutes of very serious rain and lightning outside of Lake Charles and were very happy when we got through it. When we got to our friends Nick and Jake’s (who sadly aren’t back from a visit to NY yet) place in Houston, we made ourselves at home, started some laundry, and picked up some delicious pizza and salad from Tiny Champions.
The flood wallLove these old street signsOne last view of our hotelWe picked up empanadas from Empanola before we left New Orleans and ate them on the way into HoustonThe sunset made it worth the wait
Back on the road today for a 200 mile drive to stay overnight with Karla, Josh, and Milo in East Petersburg, PA. We took the back roads through Pennsylvania coal country. The towns we drove through were mostly very small and arrayed on either side of one Main Street. The buildings were all crammed side by side, like row houses, crammed in very narrow valleys.
The Stone Arch Bridge was built in 1880 and was the site of “one of the few hex murders on record in the Upper Delaware Valley”!PoppySugarplum
